The developer of the first Walmart Supercenter in Fairfield County is nearly ready to begin construction of the new store in Monroe ”” likely bringing  a significant boost to retail in Monroe and drawing in other nationally recognized brands ”” but the flagship retailer”™s presence will not come without consequences, according to Monroe residents and the town”™s First Selectman.
“Anytime with any big box stores unfortunately it will knock out the smaller businesses that have built a town like Monroe,” said Monroe First Selectman Stephen J. Vavrek. “I”™m not going to say if it is good or bad, it is just a sign of growth in a small town.”
Vavrek acknowledged that while Monroe businesses have been hurt by national and regional chains that have opened in nearby Trumbull, he added Monroe”™s tight-knit group of small to medium-sized businesses have maintained their presence with a loyal local customer base.
“While it may hurt initially, people who don”™t want to shop at big box stores don”™t have to,” he said. “I look at the positive, what it can bring.”
According to Vavrek, the Kimball Group, the Monroe developer constructing the new 150,000-square-foot supercenter, have indicated that there is significant interest by other retailers to join Walmart on Victoria Road at Kimball”™s ongoing development known as the Shops at Victoria Place ”” but only once Walmart has been established as an anchor store.
Walmart”™s Northeast director of communications, Phillip Keene, expects the store to hire about 300 employees and to be open by the middle of 2017.
Vavrek estimates the new store will generate jobs and more opportunity for the community in addition to $600,000 in tax revenue for the town.
But not all Monroe residents are eager to see the type of growth Walmart and Vavrek are anticipating.
An online petition and Facebook group “Keep Walmart out of Monroe” has been challenging the supercenter claiming the big box store will harm the small town of less than 20,000 residents by driving down tax revenues from closed small businesses, increasing traffic congestion and destroying the bedroom community”™s character.
“Shelton is close enough,” wrote Monroe resident Karen Woodford on the petition. “This will close local businesses.”
The petition has thus far gained 354 signatures out of a stated goal of 10,000.
Walmart currently has several store locations in Fairfield County including Bridgeport, Danbury, Norwalk and Shelton, though none are of the “supercenter” classification such as the soon-to-be built Monroe store.
As opposed with other regional Walmarts, the supercenter features a fully stocked grocery complete with produce, dairy and baked goods.
Reverend Bill Terry, a former Monroe resident now living in Ohio, referred to Walmart as the evil empire of commerce and took particular exception to the quality of jobs being offered by the company.
“Whenever Wal-Mart enters a community, local business is destroyed,” he wrote on the petition. ”The business practices, which are detrimental to employees and the town, are not worth selling the soul of the community. Not to mention the support of sweat shop labor in other countries which make the ‘low, low prices’ possible, or the traffic nightmare which would ensue.”
He questioned the quality of the 300 jobs expected to be gained, which he said are often minimum wage and part time.
Speaking on behalf of Walmart, Keene said the lowest wage for any employee at the Monroe store will be $9 per hour. Wages of $13-$15 per hour are typical for department managers and wages can reach as high as $25 an hour as employees reach leadership positions.
“There will be a substantial amount of 300 associates that will make much more than $9 or $10 an hour,” he said.
Vavrek said he has not heard of any commitment from Walmart to exclusively hire locally and acknowledges that the company”™s reputation has been tarnished at times, particularly with its reliance on foreign made goods, but states the company does have a recent history of working well with the communities its stores are located in.
Regardless of the opposition, the supercenter is all but a done deal with all town boards and public hearings satisfied and only final approval of a building permit standing in the project”™s way.
“Some people love it and some people hate it,” Vavrek told the Stamford Advocate. “But either way, they”™re coming.”
