Wal-Mart changes its stores as casually as most people change shoes. Sprawl-Busters received the following report from the frontlines of the battle against Wal-Mart supercenters:”Wal-Mart is currently going through a process to get approval to build a 24 hour supercenter in the middle of Fairfield, California, and the location is in very close proximity to schools, homes, and local businesses. They want to transfer from their current location on Chadbourne Rd., in Suisun City, California, to the vacant Mission Village Center, here in Fairfield. This development can only negatively impact the current area, as traffic, crime, noise, local business closings, and pollution will
increase, and affect the way of life in the location where there are schools, homes, and even a church less than a mile away. As far as their claim of bringing more jobs
to Fairfield, it doesn’t hold merit because a majority of those currently employed at the location in Suisun City will just transfer when that location closes down.”
The Suisun City Wal-Mart at 300 Chadbourne Road is actually listed on Wal-Mart’s website as being in Fairfield, California, within two miles of the site being discussed in this report. In fact, there are four Wal-Mart discount stores within 15 miles of this location. The company’s goal is to phase out these discount stores, or expand them into supercenters. In the Fairfield case, the discount store will shut down if the superstore is built. Locally residents have correctly predicted that instead of creating new jobs, this is just a form of retail musical chairs, with Wal-Mart merely transferring jobs from one store to another. By adding the grocery component, they will shift jobs from existing food stores, to Wal-Mart’s supercenter. This is more properly labeled economic displacement, than economic development.
