October 20, 2008

Wal-Mart files for store in The Dalles
A 149,174-square-foot super center planned off west freeway exit

By RODGER NICHOLS
of The Chronicle

     Wal-Mart filed an application Friday with The Dalles planning office for a 149,000 square foot Wal-Mart Supercenter store in The Dalles.
     The store would be located on the river side of Interstate 84, just off the west exit for The Dalles, known for the steel salmon on the overpass.
     According to company spokesperson Karianne Fallow, the company has no plans to close its existing smaller store in Hood River.
     “They serve different populations,” she said Monday by phone from her office in Boise.
     She described the store as featuring “variety, a full-service grocery and a pharmacy, offering our generic $4 perscription.”
     She said the store will employ 300-400 associates, as the company calls its employees.
     “The aveage pay rate is $11.71 per hour for full-time associates,” Fallow said. “That’s a lot higher than most retail.“
     She said about 75 percent of the associates would be full-time.
     “I can tell you we spent more than $400,000,000 for products and services in Oregon, and the year is not over yet,” Fallow said. “We’ve been working with almost 600 suppliers in the state of Oregon.”
     She also said Wal-Mart’s gave more than $6 million in cash and in-kind donations to Oregon causes and non-profits in 2007.
     Currently, there are 30 Wal-Mart stores in Oregon, 16 of them are the large Supercenters.
     Several attempts to expand the current traditional Wal-Mart store in Hood River to a Supercenter were rejected by Hood River County after fierce local opposition.
     Wal-Mart will buy 18.08 acres from WM3, Inc., a company owned by Bill Maley and Mark McCavic of The Dalles. It’s part of a 67-acre property WM3 puchased from the receivers holding title on the bankrupt Northwest Aluminum property.
     “We’ve been negotiating with them and with Costco and Target,” said McCavic Monday.
     “Our goal is to get two big boxes that are going to return this area to the regional shopping center it used to be,” said Maley. “And when people come in for that, they’re going to be spending money in a lot of other places.”
     Maley added that he and McCavic were happy to have an anchor tenant to promote a lot growth and increase the local tax base.
     He noted that, unlike Google, Wal-Mart would get no tax breaks, and would be paying 100 percent of its property tax locally.
     “I think this is a real positive thing for the area,” Maley said.
     “I think it’s a good fit in these tough economic times to have somebody that can give us a good value for our dollar,” McCavic added.