Group opposes Wal-Mart plans for Marple center

The Marple Crossroads Shopping Center, riddled by corporate-bankruptcy vacancies, will soon be home to a major new tenant. But its chance for revival has sparked community controversy, as some fear the heavy price the retailer may bring.

After talks over the last year, Wal-Mart recently signed a lease with the shopping center's management to open a 110,000-square-foot store, possibly by late 2011.

The store will fill vacancies left behind by bankrupt retailers Circuit City and Linens 'n Things. And Marple Township recently added space for Wal-Mart by approving a waiver that will move Marshall's into space left by the also-bankrupt Filene's Basement.

In response, a group of 50 residents calling themselves No Marple Wal-Mart have banded together to inform their community, obtain signatures, and lobby local government.

"We're not just anti-Wal-Mart. We're against anything big box, and we're going to be distressed with any store that size," said Patricia Naughton of Springfield, a member of the group. "Wal-Mart is a different beast with different market shares and different types of issues."

Wal-Mart has 88 supercenters in Pennsylvania. They can be as large as 185,000 square feet, considerably larger than the one planned for Marple. There are two discount stores within five miles of Marple, one in Glenolden and the other in Eddystone.

Naughton says she spoke out at public meetings but thinks that township officials could have done more to involve the community in their decision.

The group worries that the store could bring more traffic, crime, higher taxes, decreased home values, and a loss of small-town feel. It is collecting signatures online and door to door.

Yet some of the center's shoppers think Wal-Mart is precisely what the community needs.

"The center has gone downhill, the stores are basically running out," Katie McCann of Drexel Hill said. "It needs a spruce-up, and Wal-Mart would definitely do it, if it's a good store."

"If I wanted to go to a store like Wal-Mart and I'm already here, it'd be easy," said Debbie Allen of Philadelphia. "I could just go next door."

Jason Klipa, senior manager of public affairs and government relations for Wal-Mart in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, said the store would benefit the community. It would create about 400 jobs with an average full-time wage of $11.69 an hour, he said. Pennsylvania's minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Wal-Mart employs 48,000 people in the state.

Over the years, some communities around the country have protested the arrival of Wal-Marts. In response, the company has made efforts to reach out. This month, for instance, it announced that it had given $467 million in aid and donations to food banks, teachers, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and Haiti earthquake victims.

Paul Aschkenasy, president of Blank Aschkenasy Properties, which manages the shopping center, said the township had approved renovations of the empty tenant space to accommodate Wal-Mart and the first phase of construction has begun. More permits still need to be filed, he said.

Although Naughton said her group would like to see smaller tenants filling the spaces, such as grocery stores or gyms, Aschkenasy said he had received no other offers. Waiting, he said, could have led to additional vacancies or the failure of the shopping center as a whole.

"Unfortunately, in this economy, there's no one else out there," he said. "An empty shopping center with no money to maintain it is a bad thing in a community."

Professor TL Hill of Temple University's Fox School of Business said it was preferable to keep smaller tenants if possible.

"The big economic-development challenge is to keep money circulating in the community for as long as you can before it goes back out into the world," he said. "So, build it small, make it community-oriented, and you'll have local economic vitality and a robust portfolio to get you through the ups and downs.

"But if a mall is already built and has had vacancies for over a year, some cash is better than no cash for the developer and even for the community," Hill said.

The No Marple Wal-Mart group will continue to pursue initiatives such as traffic and impact studies that have been used in other local communities to keep big-box stores out.

"We're going to keep doing what we can to keep Wal-Mart from coming in," Naughton said. "Or if all else fails, we're going to see that it's done with the biggest sensitivity to the community."

"I understand it's a big conglomerate and a lot of people don't like it," said shopper Virginia Allen of Aston. "But, hey, it's cheaper, so I think it would be a good thing."