In the summer of 1999, residents of Ashland, Virginia, put on a strong campaign against the development of Walmart store in the area. The planning commission also voted unanimously to reject the setting up of the store. If was a resident of Ashland, Virginia I would not be in favor of the setting up of Walmart megastore in the city. This paper will analyze the benefits and costs of setting up a Walmart in Ashland, Virginia from a planning perspective.
Cost
First and foremost, Walmart store destroys the very foundation of a community. The foundation and the identity of a town is its close-knit community. A local community is made of a vibrant local retail economy consisting of small stores connected by sidewalks. It is a place where residents buy goods from stores owned by their neighbors while private and public spaces overlap. However, with the setting up a Walmart store, pedestrian streets are replaced huge stores limiting the size of public spaces. Local retail stores replaced by a huge retail chain which has no long term attachment to the community.
Huge retail stores like Walmart have become new public spaces in urban centers. However, the stores are owned by private individuals and are not real public spaces. They only provide access to wealthy individuals with enough disposable income.
Benefits
Setting up of huge retail stores like stores like usually on the urban periphery. This drives development and employment to the urban fringes decongesting the urban centers and creating more space for the public. Walmart also pays huge sums of money to local authorities in terms of taxes providing more resource for the development. Development can take the form of new roads within the town and development of recreational spaces.
