To those of you who have  been following our story, we feel we owe you a timely update.  Even though it is now three months after the Supreme Court ruling that upheld the permit, there is still no activity at the site.  The story we’re getting is that the projected opening date for the store has been pushed to much later than originally projected.  Now the developer says he “hopes” to open the store in March of 2013.

We remain extremely skeptical of Walmart’s commitment to the project, bearing in mind that as the permit now stands, the store will be significantly different in scale from anything Walmart is currently looking to occupy; and that only 10,000-sq. ft. of sales area can be devoted to grocery items, with gas sales prohibited.

Gas and groceries are the big profit sectors for Walmart now, and any store that does not provide maximum opportunity for those sales seems unlikely to be occupied by Walmart for long if at all.

Still we take nothing for granted and are actively seeking to persuade the Northwest Regional Planning Commission to monitor the impacts of  the new Walmart store,  if and when it is finally located here.  We hope that, in so doing, our experience with location of the first big box store in our rural community may serve as an information resource for other communities facing similar challenges, all over the state and the country.