Wal-Mart Cuts Both Ways

Here is an all too common tale about the impact of big box retailers on a small town.

Beech Grove, Indiana is a city of about 15,000 people and it is increasingly surrounded by suburban development on Indianapolis' Southeastside -- pharmacies, apparel stores and other downtown retail have given way to flashier malls and big-box shopping.

Soon local merchants will have something new to contend with: Wal-Mart. Although the city, which has no room to grow, sees the new store as an effective way to boost revenue, local meat cutters and other merchants see it as a sellout and extreme competition headed their way.

Wal-Mart plans to build a 200,000-square-foot supercenter in the Beech Grove just south of I-465. The company is promising more than 600 jobs and more than $300,000 a year in property tax revenue after the store opens in 2005.

Beech Grove, like Lawrence and Speedway, is trapped by Uni-Gov. Unlike communities such as Greenwood and Plainfield, there is no room for Beech Grove to expand. About 200 acres are left to be developed -- 30 of them, zoned commercial for many years, await Wal-Mart.

And once again, Wal-Mart cuts both ways as a source of economic growth and destruction.

Read more here.