Wal-Mart? Costco? Lowe’s? New study stacks up three scenarios for North Auburn site
Plans for a 155,000-square-foot building that could house a Costco, Wal-Mart or even a Lowe’s home-improvement center are moving forward in North Auburn. The state-required environmental impact report will be reviewed in its draft form today at a meeting of the North Auburn Municipal Advisory Committee. The project site is near Luther Road and Highway 49. Area residents have expressed concerns about traffic onto narrow Canal Street and on Luther Road. The main entrance would be on Hulbert Way while a second entrance would come off Canal Street. Richard McClellan, a resident near the proposed development, said Monday that those in the area hope the access issue gets settled. “We prefer no access except for emergency vehicles,” McClellan said. “We hope they don’t bother with the Canal Street access.” Titled “Bohemia Retail” the five-inch-thick, three-volume report prepared by Sacramento’s Raney Planning & Management, is the third proposal Roseville developer Jim Conkey has tendered with Placer County for the property. The cost for the report has already gone over $300,000. A 1993 environmental review weathered a lengthy court battle with Auburn-area residents opposed to a planned Wal-Mart but was withdrawn in 2000. Conkey tried again in 2007 with a low- to moderate-income housing development on the 18.6-acre site. But he backed off when market conditions kept it from being profitable. This time around, Conkey maintains that Costco has been part of the development process with the county. Costco has been contacted several times but remains silent on what its plans are. Conkey says he doesn’t want to rule out the possibility that Costco’s participation plans could change, leaving him looking for another tenant – so he’s applying no label to denote what kind of store will be going in. While it doesn’t name names, Raney Planning & Management is touching on three categories of potential retail for the site – a club store such as Costco, a discount superstore like Wal-Mart and a home-improvement center. “The number and type of future tenants are not known but will be selected during or after improvement of the site,” the Raney report states. The projected sales for all three types of stores were researched for an “Urban Decay Study” by consultant firm Economics Research Associates that is part of the environmental impact report. The report is being presented today to the North Auburn MAC. The council could make a recommendation that would go to a Feb. 25 hearing on Bohemia Retail in front of the Placer County Planning Commission. The study projected the club store would total $143 million annually in sales, compared with $79 million for the discount supercenter and 45 million for the home-improvement business. Under the club-store scenario, shopper demand for goods in the area would outpace the club store’s impact on existing businesses by 2015. The estimate is based on population and growth projections made in late 2008. The lone downside for existing retailers would be in appliances and furnishings, the report stated. “It’s possible that existing retailers will simply be unable to compete with the new project,” Economics Research stated. The new store – in whichever form it takes on – would prove a moneymaker for county coffers, according to the report. A separate transportation study that’s part of environmental documentation being considered by the MAC tonight states that the discount club store would generate a net increase of 6,025 vehicle trips daily while the discount superstore would generate 7,334. The review period for the environmental document started late last month and runs through March 4. Comments on the merits of the project will be considered at a later hearing dealing with entitlements on the property. ------------------------ Fast facts: What’s in store -County revenues from property taxes and sales taxes for a discount club store would be $898,000 annually – while costing the county just $50,000 a year in operational costs. -A new discount super center would provide a net benefit of $586,000 annually to the county while a home-improvement center would bring in $415,000. -Dollar amounts represent “best-case scenarios.” -The “Urban Decay Study” bases its projections on stores with hours of operation from 6 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week. -It also estimates that the store would need 200 full- and part-time employees. Source: Economics Research Associates ------------------------------ North Auburn Municipal Advisory Council When: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9 Where: Planning Commission Chambers, Community Resource Development Agency Building, 3091 County Center Drive, North Auburn
Keywords
walmart, costco, lowe's, bohemia, north auburn, jim conkey, planning commission, eir, draft,
|
Change Location:
|
COSTCO! Home Depot is already in Auburn, don't need a Lowes and WalMart is junk. Make sure Costco brings their cheap gas too
Please, let it be Costco.
Gus, I see your blatant pro-box reporting continues. The LONE downside...according to the report paid for by whom? Jim Conkey, that's who. How about some investigative reporting on the effect of box stores, especially on a community like ours, with vacant space and halted development, and empty homes indicating growth has slowed, the empty big boxes in Roseville? Your bias is so obvious it's making me have to question your neutrality on this issue.
There are other ways to generate revenue without using a failed model like box stores to do it.
Disappointing that people sell out to this illusion of savings, one way or another, it costs you more than what you see on that receipt. Fight the born, consume, die merry-go-round you've been sold by advertisers. Stop being a slave to conspicuous consumption, you're destroying this country by gobbling up all that Chinese throwaway crap you know you don't really need but you whip out the plastic anyway.
This is an irreversible path he wants to take our community down. WalMart isn't going to waltz in to town without a fight.
We sure don't want anything that will create jobs and increase revenues to the city and county. We should turn that land into a community garden and grow organic food for kttyv.
We don't need the minimum wage/no benefit type jobs that big box stores provide - we need real jobs providing a living wage from companies that are invested in the community in which they build. The business models of the big box stores do not match up with small town community values. I also question the numbers in the "study", as the economy has suffered drastically since 2008 and both growth and spending have dropped significantly. The "best case scenarios" noted in the study are just that - and there's no way those can happen in the current economic environment.
Placer county already has all those box stores in the county how does shifting customers from one part of the county to another part of the county increase sales in the county?????
Motowngirl, I bet if you asked 100 unemployed people, your response would be the only one on your side of the fence. Those big box stores do have many lower positions, but all have benefits available. They also have supervisor, anf managerial positions that offer nice pay and benefit packages. The other nice benefit is the real construction jobs that go with it. Bring it on!
We need restaurants :O)
"The study projected the club store would total $143 million annually in sales, compared with $79 million for the discount supercenter and 45 million for the home-improvement business. "
In this economy? What about all the local retail struggling to get by now? Where will all those jobs go when they close because Wally Mart is here?
Nothing more than greedy developers and a county with dollar signs where it's loyal local support once was.
Ptooey on you money grubbers! especially Conkey, you and your ilk turned Roseville into the retail pit it is today now you want to expand in Auburn, GO AWAY!
Effective local business people thrive when the evil big box store come into a community. Find a niche and fill it. "We fix $6.00 haircuts".
RaiderDave - I don't know about Costco, but Walmart is a repeat offender when it comes to paying a living wage . "In 2008, the average full time Associate (34 hours per week) earns $10.84 hourly for an annual income of $19,165. That's $2,000 below the Federal Poverty Line for a family of four. [http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/08poverty.shtml] ". According to Walmart itself, its benefits cover only 50.2% of its employees; "If an average full-time Wal-Mart employee chooses the least expensive family coverage plan, they would have to spend over 20% of their income before the health insurance provided any reimbursement.[ EBRI Issue Brief October 2007] ". In 21 of 23 states where data is available, Walmart employees have to resort to taxpayer funded healthcare more than any other employer. I know we need jobs in Auburn - but we need good jobs that pay above the poverty line and include benefits while not hurting our local economy. Further - "A 2007 study found that the opening of a single Wal-Mart store lowers average retail wages in that county nearly 1%. In the general merchandise sector, wages fell by 1% for each new Wal-Mart. And for grocery store employees, the effect of a single new Wal-Mart was a 1.5% reduction in earnings. [Arindrajit Dube, T. William Lester, and Barry Eidlin, "A Downward Push: The Impact of Wal-Mart Stores on Retail Wages and Benefits," 2007].
Costco yes! ...and yes the True Value stores still survive despite Home Depot...and other businesses that change will do as well...
and Motowngirl, sounds like you are one of those union people, pricing themselves out of the market,...
I am not a union member, nor have I ever been one. I simply believe that people should be paid a decent wage - and anything below poverty level is not a decent wage. Since when is a expecting to be paid fairly for one's work "pricing themselves out of the market"? If we continue to treat sub-standard pay as acceptable, the negative effects on our economy will continue to grow - people who live below the poverty level do not have money to spend at local businesses, they can't afford healthcare so they end up in the emergency room at taxpayer expense, and they cannot even think about buying a home. Better wages = increased buying power= more money into our local economy. I's pretty simple, basic economics.
The only time I shop at Home Depot is when the local True Value doesn't carry or have what I need. The same goes for Easly Nursery and my all time Favorite Anderson's Sierra Pipe, over the years they have taught me a lot saving me hundreds ir not thousands of dollars that I would have had to pay to have someone fix, install or whatever the case.
I don't shop WalMart simply because I hate crowds but I would definitely shop Costco for certain things, for those items that are too much for just the two of us we will continue to shop at Raley's, Safeway, etc.
There is room for everyone and everything with moderation, I would hate to see Auburn turn into another Roseville or Rocklin.
Motowngirl, do you think Gottschalks payed better than that? they didnt. Do you think these mom and pop family owned stores in Auburn pay more than that? Yes walmart is a low level position, but there are people that need those jobs. Unlike working the counter at a Chevron station atleast walmart gives you opportunity to go up! The other point I want to bring up is the business that benefit from having this new business. Some lucky landscape maintenance company will get a nice contract. A local forklift repair company will have a few more forklifts to maintain and repair. A few local restaurants will increase there business. The number of support businesses that benefit is a big boost to our economy. Costco would be nice!!
Costco would bring a lot of jobs for the 18+ year olds and Costco pays very good. When i worked there 10 years ago i was making 10 dollars an hour, the minium wage back then was 5.25 an hour. Costco would bring a lot of money to Auburn, with wages and taxes. If Costco brings a gas station it would also lower gas prices in Auburn.
You go Kittyv... Just walk into any WallyWorld, WalGreen, most 'drug stores' and look at the crap they sell... singing fish anyone? How about a Hillary doll that talks, or a Sarah Palin, or a John McCain? Then walk into a second-hand store and look at the racks of this crap they're collecting! Don't y'all realize that as we buy this cheap crap from China, our dollars go into THEIR coffers? They don't even care how the stuff is made... toxic lead paint on childrens toys (eg).
Further your knowledge... watch the documentary "The High Cost of Low Prices".
NO TO WALLYWORLD!
How about a Trader Joe's?
Motowngirl: I like your idea and thoughts on 'Better Wages' but it does not always work that way in reality.
In reality a businesses overhead or operating cost has a direct impact on the price of it's product. If the price of a product to the consumer is too high, the consumer will not buy it. And without buyers there is no need for the product, so less need for employees.
The consumer is the one who really holds the cards in employee wages. Consumers are smart economical people who want the best value for the lowest amount of money, and that is why most everything we buy in America today is made in China. It cost the business owner in China next to nothing to make a product with their slave labor, no health care costs, no vacation pay, holiday pay etc. etc.
The typical American business can not compete with that in this consumer driven market.
I would love to have a Trader Joe's in Auburn - why don't they throw this choice into the hat?
Reportingstaff: Not surprised by that, pretty much the same thing Pelosi does with her tax payer provided jet... Ya think?
Winco.
I just want a store where I can by a button, thread, or ribbon ---
I LOVE COSTCO!!! Please come to Auburn!!!!
I'm sure EVERYONE has noticed how packed the Costco is in Roseville in the evenings and on the weekends. There must be enough demand for them to be up here too.
I love Walmart too, but we already have a Kmart and a Target; and Lowes is great but we have a Home Depot & 84 Lumber, so all those would be overkill.
And yes 'jacrabbit', why can't we get a Trader Joe's up here?? They are always packed too; it would seem that they would want to put something up here as well.
It all comes down to us (as consumers) trying to save money, and Costco and Trader Joe's have great prices...period.
i spent 300 dollars yesterday between walmart and costco. someone was paid to stock the shelves, get the carts, ring the items, clean the bathroom and floor. i doubt they lived in auburn and the only way auburn benefitted from my purchases was the gallon of gas i used to get there and back was from flyers. such a shame.
Winco before Trader Joes! YES!!
Trader Joes have already said they have ditched the idea of comint to Auburn for now
anyway-move on-
But I wonder if the same situation will happen with a Costco etc. as happened when Home Depot was put in. Many people from other Home Depot stores were moved in to the Auburn store and there were so many people in our own community that wanted the job that barely any got it. I want to know whether they will hire a decent amount of Auburn people or just move it employees from other locations.
getalong, That is exactly right!
People want to shop where they want to shop. Do you really think if auburn doesn't bring in the big box stores that we will force ourselves to shop in the mom and pop stores in Auburn? NO! I'm drivin' to Roseville.
I vote Costco.
Sure, Costco, Wal-mart or Lowe's would provide jobs, but then after a few months, as more and more of the smaller businesses are shoved out of business by these moguls, there will be more and more people looking for jobs. Also, the figures reported for employee benefits, etc. are bogus. In order to get said benefits, you must work a certain amount of hours and the employers of these places are notorious for not scheduling enough hours. They like to say "this store employs X amount of people" but what they don't say is, X amount of employees being scheduled for 20 hours OR LESS per week. Driving to Roseville/Rocklin isn't that big a drive for those who need to shop there, and to keep Auburn and Hwy 49 less hectic is well worth the drive. I know it's not our choice, or even the developer's choice, but I'd really like to see Trader Joe's along with a Beverly's or Joann go into a vacant building rather than build a whole new complex. Why build more when there's so many vacancies as it is? Keep our small town small, and if you don't like it, MOVE! What brought you here in the first place? Nothing annoys me more than someone moving here "to get away from city life" and then complaining of the lack of shopping and restaurants. Go back to the city. Auburn is city enough for most of us here.
I agree with RTurner. How about a Michael's or JoAnn's? We could really use something like that in Auburn.
Costco is still on the table and not interested in the Luther road site but the Nevada street site. They just suspended their arrangements due to the economy. It would be a big boon to our City and offer services to people from the Hwy and 49 corridor that travel to Roseville. Also, they treat their employees fairly well. And do not think that Trader Joe's is off the table either.
Dr Bill Kirby
Auburn City Council
OOOOOHHHH NOOOOOOO, (sarcastic) Jo Anns would put cabin fever out of business. Even though they never have what i need EITHER! We are just asking for basic necessities without having to travel 30 min.one way to get it. I moved to Auburn because its beautiful, in the foothills, lots of trees, ect. NOT because it lacks restaurants, craft /art stores, decent retail shopping, no quality cosmetic retailer, No quality childrens clothes, should i keep going??? I mean, do we really need another consignment store or thrift store??? I can like living here but also like having some convieniences.
For those who don't like that walmart doesn't employ full time, then don't apply there. There are plenty of teenagers who wouldn't mind working there. Auburn could allow outdoor dining and add some more restaurants and that would really add to the charm.
Hey our economy is a mess for reasons other than 'box stores'. Times change - go with it. We need Costco, Trader Joe's, JoAnn's, etc. here because we NEED them here for the convenience of shopping at them, and we have the population here now to support them.
Auburn does allow outdoor dining and is encouraging more restaurants but the ones we have here are great!
Dr Bill Kirby
Auburn City Council
We need a Jo Ann's fabric store, constant driving to Roseville and standing in LINE forever..............There are many sewers in this area.
Dr Kirby,
I'm with you all the way. The Auburn City Council should be working their butts off to land a big tax generator like Costco. The County has been harvesting ALL the low, easy fruit in North Auburn for the past 30 years. It's time the City did something to attract some of that tax revenue.
kittyv,
I'm still laughing at your comment about "failed big box model". Really? I guess that's why people are flocking to them in droves. I wish my business had that problem. Of course, I understand your underlying concern for over-consumption of what you term "crap". I agree with everything you said in that regard. But the "failed big box model" still has me chuckling!
jacrabbit,
This is free trade in action. There is no "choice" on the part of the public, other than whatever stink can be raised over the EIR. The question of which stores come to Auburn is not up to the public, it's up to the folks who will be putting up the money to finance these businesses. If they think they can turn a profit, then you'll see a major effort to get into this community. Heck, all the big stores will be here sooner or later, and everyone who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves.
GailBegin,
Winco rocks, but I'm with Polly..........I'd rather see a Trader Joe's !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh yes please be a Wal-Mart! Auburn wake up your potential sales tax dollars drive to Rocklin/Roseville EVERY weekend! I would love to avoid the drive and shop in Auburn! Say what you want about Wal-Mart, it is the busiest store in Roseville because it is cheap and families today need all the help they can get.
WINCO WINCO WINCO. They are employee owned. Much better prices than Costco!!!
OMG, I would love a craft store in Auburn. Maybe if a big draw like Costco came in back there, the front stores up by 49 would fill up (where quiznos is). I would love to see trader joes and a Joannes up there.
Auburn needs all of these stores, It would save computing down the hill and bring jobs to Auburn.