Walmart Sticks Toe Into City

Why not locate in the old K-Mart site across from the Broadway Market?

This is good news for the residents of South Buffalo. I would love to see WalMart move into the Central Park Plaza area as well. That would be a tremendous boost for the residents of the East Side as it would bring jobs, shopping options, and much needed growth to that area.

Say goodbye to the remaining small businesses on Seneca Street, though. Game-changer indeed.

They need something there, I grew up right next door on Edson, and have been surprised how long this lot has sat. I'm not a big fan of Walmart but a store here makes sense.

Seneca street is in rough shape - this may be the nail in the coffin for any chance at urban retail ever making a real comeback. Would be shortsighted and a major shame.

Small storefront businesses already can't compete with big boxes located in other areas. Those storefronts can only succeed with niche products and offerings not found at the big boxes. You're not building on greenfield and are reusing a currently underutilized big box location. I think it is a win for the area.

Talk about tucked away... This store will have no frontage. Are there any tax abatements associated with the project or is it a purely organic decision by Walmart?

I'm not a big fan of walmart, but sometimes something is better than nothing.

This should (and is becoming) WalMart's best scheme for new stores - replacing vacant suburban style shopping centers. They're doing it in Amherst at Sheridan and Bailey, the old Lockport Mall and they did it in Hamburg on Rt 20. These are areas that were accustomed to heavy retail traffic until the stores died and sat vacant. These are established retail areas that are much better to redevelop than at virgin suburban sites (the stereotypical WalMart scheme). This will increase traffic on Seneca in a good way - it will draw people from West Seneca back in, and suddenly the businesses on Seneca get a second look. What killed Seneca Street was probably the development around the Seneca Mall area 40 years ago by the I-90, a typical location for a WalMart. I'm glad this site is being considered.

City officials should push for WalMart to open up in the Central Park Plaza. Take the land from its current owner and do it.

I grew up a few blocks away. When I was a kid that plaza was a Hills and Fays, with a Fantastic Sams too. The other plaza in front was full (Blockbuster, Dollar Store, Furniture place, a few smaller stores). Sad to see it deteriorate and sit empty for so long.

People are so quick to jump on Wal Mart. When they built a Walmart in Lockport, the only places I saw go out of business in was KMart and Hills. The little shops in the city that were struggling before didn't get effected, and in fact there is more development around that area then there was before Wal Mart. I would take issue with Wal Mart building on Elmwood ave, but the proposed site is fine.

If anyone has pics from back in the day when this was Hills and you'd like to share them, please let me know. Thanks - davidtorke@gmail.com

Just saw this: http://www.wkbw.com/news/local/94283379.html

WKBW reports the following from Bentonville...

Part of the site lies in the city of Buffalo. “This is an exciting development project that will add hundreds of new jobs for residents in this region,” said Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown. “My administration is committed to working cooperatively with Walmart Stores, Inc., Assemblyman Schroeder and Supervisor Piotrowski. We want to insure that the redevelopment of this vacant property continues the revival of commercial activity along Seneca Street, produces jobs for our residents and strengthens the quality of life for the community.”

So does this mean Buffalo has risen?

Can we all get lives now?

Wal-mart represents the worst of America. Low wages, discrimination against women, low quality disposable crap, exploitation of third world workers, and concentration of profits in the hands of a greedy few. Anybody that sees this as positive just isn't paying attention.

Question for all of you economic development experts: if big boxes are detrimental to small shops, how come Hertel Avenue is flourishing? Big Lots, Kohls, Kmart and Target have not killed that strip.

WCP and Jimmy suggested Central Park Plaza for the next Walmart. That location isn't on anywhere near a big enough street for them to select. Also, I doubt the surrounding density of shoppers would be enough.

Beyond all that, I'll be suprised if Walmart ever tries for a store in the city (even the Hertel site) and subjects itself to our Common Council. We'll see if part of this West Seneca site being in Buffalo causes any problems for them, but if a whole WM project is ever fully in Buffalo I'd expect the protests and demands would be more hassle than it's worth.

Right now it's proposed, we all know how the Walmart saga's playout....HSBC closed it's Seneca Street Branch, Ettore Winter Photographers ( there for fifty years) moved to Amherst (of all places) and Seneca Street has been in a constant state of decline for the past several decades. Rumors were that the South Side consolidated library (after closing Cazenovia Branch, the 2nd busiest branch at the time)may have been built along Seneca....never materialized. We do have a new liquor store and Fransesca's! and Americorps...and Mickey Kearns reclaimed the library as the Cazenovia Reading Room....The million dollar question becomes.....how do you divy up a limited pot of money and get the biggest bang for your buck? Walmart might not be the greatest solution but business along Seneca Street won't suffer, there isn't anything left.

So, what about the new City Development Codes that were recently updated? Will it NOT apply here? So, Wal-Mart gets a green light on a 'Suburban' style store in the city? So, that new zoning update means NOTHING???...Oh, that's right, this IS Buffalo, nothing changes.

Does Benderson Development own this lot?

We don't restaurants following Wal-Mart into the city there are plenty of amazing restaurants here already. Keep the big box and chain restaurants in the suburbs. The city does need some help but not from the vacuum cleaner (Wal-Mart). Ps if you disagree try reading The Geography of Nowhere by James Howard Kunstler.

Just to check, everyone here that is against this store does not patronize big box stores right?

Also, is there any other proposal to utilize this location for an alternative development or is vacant preferable? It's not like bringing a big box to this site is a new, there's decades of precedent.

For all those saying "Wal-Mart should locate at Central Park Plaza" ... they won't. The site selection criteria for Wal-Mart, like most national retailers, requires that the store be located on a major arterial street with a certain minimum level of "ADT" - average daily traffic. CPP is not located on a major arterial; its a couple of blocks away from a minor arterial street, and the ADT of Holden Street and Hill Street are in the hundreds, not the tens of thousands Wal-Mart demands.

Face it - retail will never return to CPP, not necessarily because it's on the "wrong" side of Main, but because there's just no traffic passing by the site. Yeah, it's nice to dream of Wal-Mart or Ikea or Crate & Barrel or Whole Foods at CPP, but major retailers do not locate on side streets.