6.12. SR 10-18-1999 - Laserfiche WebLink

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. . . Chapter 10 Page 10 of25 4. Causing the waste or abandonment of previous public and private investments in existing buildings, streets, parks and other community assets. 5. Homogenizing America by building stores that have no relation to their surroundings. While these points have been made in Chapter 1 of this study, they must be reemphasized as part of the conclusions of this work. What other challenges did the Trust provide in its formidable 1994 study?17 The National Trust for Historic Preservation asks the mega-retail discount chains to answer the following challenge: "Can the' consumer benefits provided by the superstore be achieved only through the creation of more urban sprawl and all the sprawl brings: traffic congestion, automobile dependence, air pollution, dispirited or dead downtowns, despoiled country sides and weakened community ties? Or could some ofthe benefits be provided without so much damage to the environment and local communities? We think these are questions that should be asked." 19 The Trust also poses an equally important challenge to the many communities facing the invasion of the super "boxes: "And communities havt; choices. They can encourage or discourage certain types of development. If a community doesn't want superstore sprawl, it can take steps to prevent it. If a community wants a superstore, it faces a whole host of other questions relating to whether the store comes in on the communities terms. Where should the store be located? How big should it be? How much new retail space can the local economy absorb without suffering fiscal and economic impacts created by a commercial glut? Can the store be designed to help preserve the communities livability and attractiveness? Hew can the store minimize negative environmental, cultural, scenic, fiscal and economic effects? Above all, what is the long term impact of the decision?"12 Supercenters and Comparative Labor Costs Earlier in this study, PaineWebber was quoted as having a negative opinion of "one stop" shopping. They apparently did not care for alternative advertising and promotion with an additional example from Kmart's ads as "We've got juice, jumper cables and jeans" and "Shop here for carrots and car mats." Paine W t:bber may have mistakenly believed that only a small minority of Supercenter customers would "shop both sides ofthe store." Paine Webber earlier suspected that Kmart would have financial and management problems which have come to the fore prior to the completion of this study. As the writer indicated in Chapter II, Paine Webber had stated: "Kmart's well-known corporate problems give it a negative image among consumers as well as developers." As oflate 1995, Kmart's per share price on the New York Stock Exchange appeared to be dropping sharply while Wal-Mart's securities prices appeared to be relatively stable. The Paine Webber study also reported that Kmart's decision to use third party food wholesalers saved http://www.shilsreport.org/chapIO.html 10/6/99