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Wal-Mart's local ship "has gone and sailed"
Chris Clegg
for South Peace News
It is very unlikely Wal-Mart or Canadian Tire will ever consider building a store in High Prairie, says a member of Nichols Applied Management.
And the reason is simple: Slave Lake and Peace River were more aggressive in getting stores to locate in their towns than High Prairie.
“The Wal-Mart ship has sailed,” says Grant Lee, owner of Grant Energy maintenance.
Shane Posposil attended the High Prairie economic development pursuit committee’s meeting April 26 and told them why.
“They scope out two traveling areas for potential customers,” says Posposil, who works for Nichols, an Edmonton company which provides management and economic consulting services. “One is half an hour by car and the other is 90 minutes by car. You have two stores within 90 minutes.”
Therefore, both stores already serve High Prairie in the minds of the company.
“Those stores are within 90 minutes of High Prairie,” says Posposil. “They’d look at that.”
“They counted us,” says Lee, referring to Slave Lake and Peace River’s efforts to land a store.
High Prairie could have done the same years ago but failed to do so.
Posposil agreed with committee member Barry Sharkawi’s passion to bring a big box store town.
“It’s not a passion, it’s a must,” says Sharkawi. “We want to see some action.”
“I’m just trying to give you some insight,” says Posposil. “These companies are profitable because they stick to plans.”
Lee agreed saying big box stores study demographics and rely on them.
However, Sharkawi says there are other stores High Prairie can pursue such as Costco.
“Slave Lake doesn’t have one,” he says.
Lee says High Prairie does not have the demographic information ready to pursue business interests that Slave Lake has.
“We lack any tools we can go plug in,” says Lee, who later added those gaps can be plugged as High Prairie moves forward. Once the demographics are identified, High Prairie can pursue businesses which fit into the demographics.
Posposil was very direct in his advice to help economic development officer Brian Holmberg attract business.
“You need to equip Brian with the tools,” says Posposil. “You need that data. That’s what the national players respond to.”
“No one is promoting us,” says Sharkawi.
Chair Wilfred Willier noted when Wal-Mart opened in Slave Lake they asked for the postal code of each customer who spent over $25. Posposil was not surprised.
“They wanted to validate their research,” he says.
Posposil added words of encouragement before leaving and promised to try to get the demographic data together for the town.
“It doesn’t mean the game is lost,” he says.
Sharkawi agreed saying Loblaw has bought land to build a food store in town.
“One foot is here. You have to market your town to gain something. That’s how it goes,” says Sharkawi.
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Slave Lake has a Wal-Mart but the chances of High Prairie getting one is virtually none unless a huge population growth occurs.
The reason: High Prairie was less aggressive than Slave Lake.
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