The Big Box Debate: To Build or Not To Build?

Recently the Wal*Mart corporation discontinued it's efforts to open up one of their super markets in the Northern California town of Santa Rosa, after five years of trying to bring a staple of the super center to town. The said store would've created an influx of jobs (which is beneficial for everyone in today's rough times), stimulated the region's economy, brought bargains into the lives of people who need to save money, and created tax breaks. All great things, am I right? Let's just assume I am and move on to why there will be no Wal*Mart in the town of Santa Rosa... the city thinks that by bringing another member of the Big Box Club (more on that later), would be too big of a risk in today's struggling economy and would cause too much stress on the environment. Uh, hello?, there are these great things called taking chances and recycling! Sure, I can see a couple of the down sides to bringing in a Wal*Mart to such an industrial town like Santa Rosa... for instance... more traffic! In the already crowded and traffic riddled city, the added amount of people traveling to and from the super center daily to stock up on necessities, would just further add to the hour long crawl on Santa Rosa Avenue. Another downside to Wal*Mart? It would contribute to urban decay, the store would produce thousands of pounds of waste daily with all of their boxes and packaging they use. By now you might be unsure of where I stand on this issue, so I'm going to set you straight. Build it!

Santa Rosa is already chopped full of stores that are members of the Big Box Club (yes, it's later... so I will tell you about the BBC as I have so aptly nicknamed it). In order for a store to be considered a 'Big Box' store, it has to be a part of a chain. You're familiar with chain stores, aren't you? There are over 20 Starbucks Coffee houses located through out Santa Rosa, which is a pretty large number for such a small city. Other Big Box Clubbers that have made their homes in Santa Rosa include Toys'R'Us, Barnes & Noble, Sears, Target, Costco, and Lowe's. These big named stores can be found just about anywhere and are constantly filled with consumers. Why not add Wal*Mart into the mix? It's just another store, apart of just another chain, taking over just another town.