I just wanted to take this chance to express my sincere concern over the possibility of a Walmart coming to Monroe. Monroe is a small town and we are trying to grow, but it really seems that we have no idea how to do it. If our goal is to attract more businesses to the area to expand our tax base, great, I’m all for it - but we need to THINK about how we do this. One way I can think of NOT to do it is to invite a big box retailer to the area that competes with every business imaginable from clothing to food to housewares to hardware to electronics and just about anything else you could think of. What possible incentive could additional businesses have to come to an area that already has a Walmart? Walmart sells everything and undercuts everyone – that’s the business model! How could additional businesses that sell a smaller selection of products for more money be convinced to come to the area? The answer is I doubt they could. In addition, many existing small businesses in the area probably won’t be able to compete and could slowly disappear.
Monroe has a real opportunity here to make a statement about what kind of businesses we want to locate in our town and what kind of businesses we want to attract. Why not a store that is unique to the immediate surrounding area like a Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Cabella’s, EMS, or REI? Why not take advantage and capitalize on the fact that the proposed retail location is on the bike path? Who bikes to Walmart for cryin’ out loud?! A retailer could literally incorporate the bike path into the store by having it pass through a rest stop with bike racks that could serve food, have a café with seasonal outdoor seating or even rent bikes for the bike path. Give people a reason to go to this location and keep coming back with friends and visitors from out of town. The current solution for Walmart incorporating the bike path was to create a brick or concrete pedestrian walkway. Seriously? Not even talk of a pedestrian tunnel going under what is sure to be heavily trafficked road.
Monroe has a choice. We can learn from surrounding towns who have made mistakes, or we can look to the ones that have said “not in my town” and make ourselves a thriving community that people want to spend time in, not simply just pass through.
