Region mixes old and new to grow economy

Vermont Business Magazine, Aug 01, 2004 by Barna, Ed

That scenario tended to be confirmed by the release of US Census data that showed significantly faster population growth along Addison County's southern tier between 2000 and 2002 - between 3 and 4 percent in Shoreham, Leicester, Orwell and Whiting, compared with 1 percent in most parts of central and northern Addison County.

Wall Out Wal-Mart?

There didn't need to be suggestions at the national level that Vermont communities are endangered by the growth of "big box" retailers like Wal-Mart for that to become an issue in Addison County. For the striving and moderately successful downtown revitalization movements in Vergennes, Middlebury and Bristol, the possibility of a Wal-Mart superstore arriving somewhere in the county has sparked intense concern in some quarters, and vigorous debates generally.

When Ames closed in Middlebury, the effect of not having an anchor store was clear for the Plaza, and the initial thought was that the lack of a large discounter was leading people to leave the county generally in search of what Ames had supplied.

To investigate that scenario, the Middlebury Business Association (associated with the downtown special taxation/special benefits district there) hired RKG Associates of New Hampshire to do a study. They concluded that existing Middlebury stores were only getting about 60 percent of the spending potential in the market area (Brandon to Charlotte, Granville to Moriah, NY), losing about $8 million a year for lack of a big discounter.

But that finding was discounted at a follow-up MRA forum by Ripton's Bill McKibben, a nationally known environmental author who is a visiting scholar at Middlebury College. Historically, McKibben said, RKG had been closely associated with Wal-Mart, so their findings were no surprise.

Any big discounter, not just Wal-Mart, would provide lower cost goods at a longterm price, McKibben argued. Dollars stay in the community 2.3 times longer when spent at local stores, and donations to community causes are far higher as a proportion of profits, he said. Local businesses are typically casualties of such competition, he said.

Is Middlebury too small for Wal-Mart? McKibben said there are hundred of places around the country that are

smaller but have one of that company's supercenters, which compete with grocery sellers as well.

Paul Bruhn, executive director of the Preservation Trust of Vermont, said WalMart had indeed been looking at the Middlebury area - "poking around and looking on Route 7" were his exact words - as they had been in other areas of the state.

At that meeting and since, the MBA has been getting input from Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Local SelfReliance (author of "10 Reasons Why Vermont's Homegrown Economy Matters & 50 Proven Ways to Revive It").

After looking briefly at the idea of a group-owned or cooperative equivalent to a discount store, the forums have concluded that, too, could hurt local businesses. The emphasis has been on finding out what people want and need, adding them to what the existing stores carry, and finding ways of letting people know the goods are there.