DURANGO, Colo.—In the early 1990s, rumors began to spread throughout town that retail titan Wal-Mart was eyeing Durango as the next stepping stone on its path to global growth.
When tax bills for an 18-acre parcel on South Camino del Rio started being mailed to Bentonville, Ark., in 1994, battle lines were drawn. The bills were proof of the company’s land ownership. Vocal opponents painted a picture of a deserted Main Avenue, tumbleweeds rolling across its decrepit surface while a dusty wind rattled shutters on vacant businesses.
“It was a classic Durango land-use battle with 30 percent of the people saying ‘you better not let them in,’ 30 percent saying ‘you better not keep them out,’ and 40 percent saying ‘we know you can’t keep them out, just make sure they do the right thing.’ And that’s what we tried to do,” said Greg Hoch, city of Durango’s director of planning.
Wal-Mart opened its doors in Durango on July 15, 1998. Ten years later, many of the fears surrounding its arrival have yet to be realized, and the local Superstore has avoided many of the criticisms that Wal-Mart commonly fends off as the world’s largest corporation.
“I’ve hated to see Durango change so much. I didn’t support Wal-Mart coming in then, either,” said Carol Ann Canzona, a 22-year Durango resident and retired teacher.
“But quite honestly, I try to balance my support. Wal-Mart saves a lot of us who can’t afford the luxury of paying more for basic supplies or appliances. By going there for those things, it allows the common folk to support our local people, too,” Canzona said.
Critics claim that those low prices often come at the expense of smaller businesses and upsets what Canzona refers to as an economic “balance.” Local research indicates that, as in many cases, Durango again bucks the trend.
“There are a lot of reasons that businesses fail, but I don’t think anybody has been directly forced out by Wal-Mart,” said Bob Kunkel, who as Durango’s downtown coordinator keeps a constant watch over the financial health of the city’s Main Avenue merchants.
He attributed most failed downtown businesses, of which there have been many in the years since Wal-Mart’s arrival, to more traditional factors such as undercapitalization, poor management and inexperience.
Criticism of Wal-Mart’s business practices is commonplace throughout America, and Durango was no different in the 1990s as debate raged about whether the city should allow the retailer to come to town.
Countless Web sites, including walmartwatch.com, wakeupwalmart.com and hel-mart.com, as well the feature documentary film, “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices,” have accused Wal-Mart of unfair employment practices, irresponsible business practices and wreaking havoc on local economies by driving small businesses out through lopsided price wars.
Hoch said he, the planning commission and City Council heard many of the same complaints from residents in the years before Wal-Mart opened its doors. He said it was one of the most challenging planning processes in which he’s ever been involved.
“I was totally immersed,” Hoch said.
Hoch said the city placed stringent requirements on Wal-Mart for its Durango store. This included the use of more skylights, less electricity and a more attractive and subdued design than many other Wal-Mart stores. The corporation also planted 343 trees and was required to pay for several improvements to nearby intersections and streets that would have increased volume because of Wal-Mart shoppers.
“It was not an easy process for them to go through. They resented what they had to do here in Durango,” Hoch said.
“In the big picture, I think it dawned on them that if they built a good-looking building, it had a positive impact on their sales volume. Now people from Farmington come up to shop here—and they have their own Wal-Mart down there,” he said.
Whether shoppers are local, tourists or commuters, they shop, and Wal-Mart’s financial impact on Durango cannot be ignored. City sales-tax records indicate that Wal-Mart’s success did come at the expense of downtown Durango’s place at the forefront of the local economy, but not necessarily at the expense of downtown merchants.
Individual tax records are considered proprietary information, and Wal-Mart’s are not public. But the city’s finance department does break down sales-tax receipts by geographic region.
In August 1997, Wal-Mart’s South Durango region accounted for about $79,000, or 13.4 percent, of sales-tax receipts. Receipts from the Central Business District were $338,000, which was 57 percent of the monthly total.
One year later, after Wal-Mart’s first full month in business, the South Durango contribution for August 1998 was $156,000, accounting for 22.6 percent of the month’s receipts. While Central Business District receipts were slightly up at $356,000, the contribution slipped to 51.6 percent of the total.
The most recent numbers are even more indicative of Wal-Mart’s impact after 10 years, but those figures also include sales tax from Home Depot, which opened in 2004, as well as more than 20 businesses that opened in the shopping center adjacent to Wal-Mart in the ensuing years.
In June 1998, South Durango accounted for 15.7 percent of city sales tax, while the Central Business District contributed 56 percent. By June, 2008, the Central Business District contribution had fallen to 35 percent and South Durango swelled to 41 percent.
But although Durango’s economic center has apparently shifted to the southern big-box corridor, downtown Durango continues to teem with tourists and locals, not tumbleweeds.
“It’s been shown there’s need and room for retail at all levels, but downtown can’t be duplicated, and you can’t replace the experience of a downtown environment,” Kunkel said.
Peter Schertz, who owns Maria’s Bookshop on Main Avenue with his wife, Andrea Avantaggio, said he was never a fan of Wal-Mart. He said he has visited the Superstore only once in its 10-year existence. Schertz said he was and remains opposed to the corporate giant for many reasons, but fear of competition is not one of them.
“We’re thriving down here, and we credit a lot of that to the community who sees the big picture and is willing to support businesses like ours. But I wouldn’t say they’ve ever been a threat to our sales,” he said.
Kroeger’s Ace Hardware, which in 1998 still carried the True Value corporate banner, was considered by many to be a barometer of Wal-Mart’s impact on in-town merchants. Despite its recent corporate affiliation, the independently owned store has been in business in its Town Plaza location under the Kroeger name since 1921.
Because Kroeger’s is one of the largest retailers in the Central Business District and offers many of the same products available at Wal-Mart, management kept a close eye to see who was willing to drive a few extra miles to save a few dollars at the South Durango Superstore.
“I’d have to say they’re welcome as far as we’re concerned because they haven’t affected our business one way or the other,” store manager Bob Thom said, admitting that he shops at Wal-Mart a couple of times each year.
Thom said the arrival of Home Depot likely created more competition for Kroeger’s than Wal-Mart, but said neither of the big-box stores is considered a serious threat.
“We’ve been here since 1921, so we’re not going anywhere. We’re just so doggone friendly here people like to keep coming here, and I think they’ll keep coming here,” Thom said.
