Politics from the Palouse to Puget Sound

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Sneak Peek

As promised, I stopped at the new Wal-Mart Supercenter in Rogers, AR on my way back to the airport yesterday to get a sneak peek at what our new Pullman Supercenter will look like. According to the Wal-Mart press release, the store opened on May 13, 2005 and was designed as a new prototype for Wal-Mart.

As you can see from the picture I took of the Rogers Supercenter and the plan for the Pullman Wal-Mart Supercenter below, they are exactly the same except for the Pullman Supercenter has a red gabled roof over the entrances.



The interior of the Rogers Supercenter is fabulous. The high ceiling, supported with exposed steel trusses, has large sun lights every 25-30 feet, giving the store a bright and airy feel. The floors are faux marble.

According to the Wal-Mart press release, the store has 36 general merchandise departments including apparel and accessories, fine jewelry, a lawn and garden center, health and beauty aids, and a full line of electronics (this was especially nice, about 10 times the selection of the Moscow Wal-Mart). In addition, the store offers a bakery, a delicatessen, a frozen food section and meat, dairy and fresh produce sections. It is open to customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week and will include 14 full-service, 16 express and four self check-out lanes.

It was exciting to think we could have something this nice in Pullman in a year or so.

The Rogers Supercenter is part of a larger one million square foot retail development. I was green with envy.

There are now five Supercenters in the Bentonville/Rogers area. According to Chris Lupke, the area should be totally blighted, right? Wrong. Bentonville/Rogers is booming, and I mean BOOMING. I saw new construction on every corner. Meanwhile, the downtown area is still vibrant. It’s not blight the capitalist-hating, anti-growth socialists fear, but the new development they KNOW Wal-Mart will bring.

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2 comments:

April E. Coggins said...

We will have the best, most cutting edge Wal-Mart ever built. Just like our new hospital and new schools, sometimes it's worth the wait.

Oh, and did I tell you about our new airport? http://www.pullman-wa.gov/airport/masterplan.htm

See how this is all coming together? Pullman will be able to annex the corridor! Whitman County and Pullman will have the revenue to build this new development and provide better services to the citizens.

April E. Coggins said...

I would just like to add that we are fortunate that we have people with vision in charge of the future of Pullman. The Mayor, the city council, Mark Workman, John Sherman, etc., get beat up on a regular basis. City planners and the BOA get beat up, but on a lesser scale. We should thank them all for standing up for the future of Pullman.