"Are you closing?" I asked. Yes, a woman told me, empty coffee pots in her hands. "What's coming here?"
"A big store," she said, "you'll never guess."
"Brooks Brothers?" I asked. Nope. "Marc Jacobs?" Nope.
I begged her to tell me. "WalMart," she said. WalMart.
8/08
Recently, news came out that WalMart was "sniffing around Union Square," and now they're roaming around Ladies' Mile.
As for that corner of 14th and 8th--where the Korean deli, a bodega, and a liquor store all sit in the shadow of One Jackson Square--I'm still waiting for the inevitable. I checked in with someone who works in one of the businesses and he said the owner has turned down offers of up to $45 million for the whole lot. But on one sunny morning, I overheard two people talking about it, apparently a broker and a buyer.
She aimed her red-lacquered fingernails at the site and said, "It's good to have two floors."
3/09
wal-marts are a blight on this nation. cheap garbage from china that breaks down after a month.
ReplyDeletein the state the economy is in, we should all stop buy cheap garbage and demand well made products.
alas, Americas manufacturing sector has been desimated by years of republican rule. Everything is over seas now.
There are rumors that Wal-mart will be moving into the Virgin Mega Store after they close in June.
ReplyDeletePeople are starving and can't make ends meet, and yet you don't want Wal*Mart to move in? Boggles the mind. It's the like the one place people might be able to afford to buy food. You people are just so dumb I have to stop by every week just to remind you so.
ReplyDeleteWal*Mart's coming, so just shut up.
There are plenty of other places to get cheap, shoddy goods and poor quality groceries; No need for WalMart to come to town.
ReplyDeleteI'm a little morbidly curious to see how a Manhattan Wal-Mart would get along. Obviously it would mean instant death for all of the borough's remaining mom-and-pops but that's simply a matter of hastening a process that was already well underway. No, I'm more intrigued by the prospect of low-end, bargain-basement Wal-Mart muscling in on an island previously reserved for the rich and beautiful. I wonder how the yunnies would respond to the hoi polloi crowding their quaint European-style neighborhoods every day and night, foaming at the mouth for discounted products of poor quality. All this time we raged against the detached monied elite for destroying our city but quite frankly the prospect of New York becoming a generic, Wal-Mart blighted carbon copy of Middle America is even more terrifying than it becoming an exclusive community for the rich only. I'd take a million John Varvatos stores or Chocolate by the Bald Man confection houses before a fucking Wal-Mart. If you love Wal-Mart so much you have over a dozen to choose from in the areas immediately north, south, east, and west of NYC. Don't bring that garbage into the five boroughs.
ReplyDeletenothing wrong with wal-mart.
ReplyDeleteor any big box store. the problem is when they come into Manhattan, they're not big box anymore.
it's a suburban wal mart at a quarter the size. it will get dirty quick due to it's cramp quarters and high traffic.
I welcome them coming in, same way I welcomed K-mart. by shopping with them every week.
New York is DEAD. Has been for years.
ReplyDeleteI agree, what the heck is so wrong with walmart. The food is the same you will find at any other supermarket at a great affordable price. We need to have more and more reasonably price places to purchase our goods. The economy is hurting.
ReplyDeletewhat's wrong with walmart is a lot. too much for me to list here--basically, its employees are so underpaid they're on welfare and their business model is aimed at turning bustling downtowns into ghost towns, killing off all the competition and putting family businesses out of business.
ReplyDeleteplease take a look at this site for more info:
http://www.walmartmovie.com/facts.php
Within 10 miles of my home there are 5 Wal-Marts. Clearly, 4 too many. I've often wondered how in the world I could ever live without it. As my age advances, I know exactly how...don't get out of my car.
ReplyDelete