Has Wal-Mart finally found a way to open up at El Con Mall? TW contributor Dave Devine tells the TW Blog that El Con neighbors learned at a recent meeting that good ol’ Wally Mart was negotiating with Macy’s to take over the the department store’s now-vacated space at the west end of the mall. Bet the folks in El Encanto just love that idea.

Would a deal with Wal-Mart activate the restrictions of the city’s Big Box ordinance? If Wal-Mart remained within the footprint of the existing building—even if they tear it down—the world’s most favorite retailer might be able to sidestep the Big Box rules.

This article appears in Apr 24-30, 2008.

Getting hassled by The Man Mild-mannered reporter

3 replies on “Box Trot”

  1. I don’t really see why a “Big Box” ordinance is even necessary in the city. There’s a Target at El Con that’s quite large, as is the Home Depot. There are other shopping centers that are similarly huge.

    Such rules seem quite silly.

    El Con Mall is a dump with practically no stores, particularly when compared with the Tucson Mall or Park Place. Having additional mall traffic would definitely be a good thing for the area — there’s already some food places outside (like the In-N-Out Burger), a Target and Home Depot, a movie theater, and a few other stores.

    If Wal-Mart is able to attract more customers inside the mall itself (rather than staying to external stores like Target), that may well revitalize the shopping center. This would be a Good Thing.

  2. The big box rules only affects department stores that sell groceries and that have a square foot of a certain size. Walmart has begun opening “neighborhood” stores to avoid such rules. They’re smaller than their huge stores so the big box rules aren’t implicated.

  3. A neighbor of Red Star’s, an hysterical El Encanto Eastsider, worries that Wal-Mart may actually open TWO stores at El Con! One, a “Super Neighborhood Market” (less than 100,000 sq.feet) selling groceries only. The second, a few hundred feet away selling well, you know, non-groceries. Oh that 10% rule, she worries now.

    As a well-buffered Westsider, Red Star doesn’t scurry around El Con’s parking lot with a tape measure as most of 9345 seems met:

    http://urban-issues.com/Documents/elcon-bb/elcon-9345.htm.ed.txt

    And there matters sit.

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