The small town of St. Johns, Michigan is roughly 18 miles north of Lansing. It has retail sprawl with every logo you could want. According to sprawl-busters in the area, the communnity already has a Wal-Mart and a Kmart. Now Meijer wants to build a store that is bigger than the both the national chain stores, and they want to locate their box at the new expressway bypass exit. Of course, Wal-Mart wants to put in a new supercenter nearby. According to our local sources, residents are afraid to even debate the issue of the combined impacts of these two proposed developments, adn the downtown business association says they can’t do anything about it. “These developments will kill the city of St. Johns,” wrote my correspondent, “along with stores in a number of smaller farm communities within 10 miles in all directions.” There ae already 2 Meijeres stores within easy shopping distance, one in Lansing, and one in Owosso. The St.John’s Kmart is reportedly not thriving, and the old Big Wheel store in a strip development sits empty. The County is about to move its offices into a new courthouse, leaving behind another large mall complex empty. “A number of downtown businesses are already gone, and storefronts are empty,” locals report.
Anyone who wishes for details of the sprawling of St. Johns, contact sprawl-busters.
