Wal-Mart is not always very popular, and when the giant retailer comes calling many communities erupt in a battle between supporters and opponents.

Belmont, N.C.

A case in point is Belmont, N.C. When plans for a Wal-Mart supercenter were announced on land the monks at Belmont Abbey were trying to develop, there was a backlash from the community.

Crime at Charlotte’s Wal-Marts
8709 JW Clay Blvd.
Oct. 2002 through March 2003 Number of calls received by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police: 243 Average time spent responding to call: 49.2 minutes April 2003 through Sept. 2003 Number of calls received by police: 406 Average time spent responding to call: 50.18 minutes Oct. 2003 through March 2004 Number of calls received by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police: 419 Average time spent responding to call: 53.34 minutes
9101 Albemarle Road
Oct. 2002 through March 2003 Number of calls received by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police: 291 Average time spent responding to call: 65.87 minutes April 2003 through Sept. 2003 Number of calls received by police: 368 Average time spent responding to call: 54.13 minutes Oct. 2003 through March 2004 Number of calls received by police: 325 Average time spent responding to call: Not available
3304 Eastway Drive
Oct. 2002 through March 2003 Number of calls received by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police: 411 Average time spent responding to call: 46.07 minutes April 2003 through Sept. 2003 Number of calls received by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police: 447 Average time spent responding to call: 55.26 minutes Oct. 2003 through March 2004 Number of calls received by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police: 441 Average time spent responding to call: 52.12 minutes
8180 S. Tryon St.
Oct. 2002 through March 2003 Number of calls received by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police: 499 Average time spent responding to call: 48.97 minutes April 2003 through Sept. 2003 Number of calls received by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police: 615 Average time spent responding to call: 57.58 minutes Oct. 2003 through March 2004 Number of calls received by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police: 446 Average time spent responding to call: 53.94 minutes
3209 Pineville Matthews Road
Oct. 2002 through March 2003 Number of calls received by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police: 488 Average time spent responding to call: 51.6 minutes April 2003 through Sept. 2003 Number of calls received by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police: 501 Average time spent responding to call: 52.92 minutes Oct. 2003 through March 2004 Number of calls received by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police: 519 Average time spent responding to call: 60.72 minutes

Wal-Mart presented Belmont with an option similar to the one Tega Cay city leaders face. They planned to design the building to fit in with the architecture of the abbey, said Bill Monroe, a Belmont city planner.

"They are going to put in landscaping and architecture to match the abbey," Monroe said. "The building will be brick and it's going to have gothic arches and windows."

The Belmont Wal-Mart will be on a 22-acre site in a larger 100-acre commercial development. All of that land is being leased from Belmont Abbey, Monroe said.

Belmont needs the more than 400 jobs Wal-Mart promises to bring, says City Councilwoman Becky Burch. Burch supported the Wal-Mart from the beginning and she looks forward to its construction. Unemployment in Belmont has been running high since many textile mills in the region have closed, she said.

She said the town also needs banks, hotels, restaurants and other retail stores.

"The whole development is waiting on Wal-Mart," she said.

While the effort had many supporters, it also had many opponents.

Citizens for Responsible Growth formed in opposition to the Wal-Mart supercenter at Belmont Abbey. Their concerns about traffic, crime, safety, environmental issues and threats to local businesses mirror the concerns raised by Us Against the WAL in Tega Cay.

"Where we lost our battle against Wal-Mart was in not organizing well enough for the last city council election," said Kristen Comstock, a spokeswoman for Citizens for Responsible Growth. "Once sprawl starts, you can't ever go back."

After months of heated discussion and a 3-2 city council vote, ignoring the recommendation of the city's planning and zoning board, Wal-Mart got the green light to begin construction on the site in January.

That would have been the end of it, but the property owners adjacent to the site have filed a legal challenge that has stalled construction since May.

Hartwell, Ga.

Hartwell, Ga., got a Wal-Mart supercenter in January of 2003. It is a town of more than 5,000 located on Lake Hartwell, just across the state line and close to Greenville. City Manager Phil Hurtz said many of the residents commute to Greenville, just as many folks here work in Charlotte.

Wal-Mart already had a small store in Hartwell, which closed so that the retailer could build a larger supercenter. Hurtz said unemployment was a big concern in Hartwell, so they welcomed the possibility of more jobs at the larger store.

Both Hurtz and Hartwell Police Department Chief Cecil Reno said the supercenter has been good for the city. They also said there was no community opposition to the supercenter.

Wal-Mart met all the state and local erosion controls, and Hartwell has not had any environmental problems stemming from the retailer, Hurtz said.

"Wal-Mart has been a big commercial boom for us," he added. "There has been a substantial amount of commercial development around the store."

Since Wal-Mart opened, a six-shop strip center, a Best Western Hotel and a Wendy's have opened nearby, he said.

But that substantial commercial development has brought along an increase in the volume of traffic on Hwy. 29, where the Wal-Mart supercenter is located.

In 2001 before the supercenter was built, a Georgia Department of Transportation traffic study counted approximately 13,000 cars using Hwy. 29 each day. As of the last half of 2003, traffic had jumped to between 52,000 and 53,000 cars per day on that road, Hurtz said.

Hartwell annexed the land that the supercenter is sitting on before it was built, increasing the coverage area of the city's police and fire departments. It has not been necessary to hire any new police officers or firefighters, though, Hurtz said.

As far as crime goes, Chief Reno said his department gets fewer calls to the supercenter than it did when the Wal-Mart was in the smaller store location.

"They work with our detectives, they provide us with surveillance tapes of the parking lot, they have helped us more than we help them," Reno said.

The Hartwell Police Department is staffed by 19 officers including the chief and four dispatchers. Reno said there has not been a need to increase the size of his force.