COM 0032.002 2006-2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

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' n ~Y1 n KEY FINDINGS OF SUPERCENTER SURVEY ~,vjJC,v • Cher 9590 believe that Wal-Mart has `positively" impacted their community. • An overwhelming number of communities would recommend Wal-Mart Supercenters to other communities, and not one respondent expressed any regret of having a Supercenter built in their community. This support can be attributed to: o Supercenters provide communities with greater consumer choice and savings, new jobs, sales tax revenue, and charitable contributions. o Wal-Mart is viewed as a good corporate citizen. o Sales tax revenue for local public services and economic development were among the most compelling reasons for local government to approve Supercenter projects. o Respondents gave Wal-Mart high marks for working with communities to address community concerns and to develop accepting architectural designs that complemented communities and neighborhoods. • The primary concerns related to Supercenters being constmcted were consistent from one surveyed community to another. The most common concems associated with Supercenters were general quality of life issues, such as impacts on traffic, threat to local business, and concems related to Wal-Mart's employee benefits. In communities that experienced some initial opposition, respondents believe that perceived threats to small business, traffic, property values and crime were either not real or eminent, or were mitigated through the local planning process. OTHER HIGHLIGHTS: • The survey uncovered that despite the initial reaction of some communities, all came to accept the benefits of Supercenters after the projects were developed. o Cher 9090 of respondents believe that their Supercenter has made a `positive impact" on the issues of job creation and economic development. o An overwhelming number of communities did not believe Supercenters were responsible for other businesses going out of business. In fact, 63.5% believe Supercenters have a "positive impact" on existing businesses, and 32go believe that Supercenters have neither a positive or negative impact (no impact). o Dispelling concems that Supercenters increase community crime rates, 86go believe the Supercenter has neither positively nor negatively (no impact) impacted crime rates in their community. o While many communities believe that Supercenters had a positive impact on property values, not one cited an example loss of property values.