Walmart to close one of its three DC stores

During the period of the (post) 2008 recession, Walmart, recognizing that it achieved about as much growth as it could in the suburbs and exurbs, decided to focus on cities.  DC, not being particularly sophisticated politically, was ripe for the picking, and local elected officials welcomed them with open arms.

I and many other residents were opposed on business grounds, although yes they would hire people and make available goods often not available in various neighborhoods.  Another big issue was urban appropriate building form.  It turned out that Walmart didn't care very much.  They would be fine with mixed use buildings (two of the three in DC were such), which they didn't seem okay with before.  But at the same time, they were fine with single use buildings too, so long as that was a location they wanted.

Sadly, many prominent urbanists thought that this was a breakthrough decision by Walmart when it wasn't.

I was involved in opposing the Walmart that ended up being built up the street from my house -- and ironically a second Walmart was built 1.25 miles from our house, in the other direction in Fort Totten, making our area likely the most densely served by Walmart of any other area in the US.

But the elected officials wanted it to happen -- JOBS! JOBS! JOBS! -- and for the most part it was a matter of right use so it couldn't really be opposed successfully.  And an area of DC law that offered a way to oppose the entry -- the environmental impact law -- was underdeveloped, and those lawyers who were willing to oppose except for JOBS! JOBS! JOBS! weren't sophisticated enough to follow that line of reasoning.

I ended up writing many entries on the issue:

-- "Walmart: in the city, vs. of the city," 2011
-- "Lessons from Walmart's foray into DC," 2011
-- "Wal-mart plays hardball with DC," 2013
-- "What community benefits are supposed to be versus what people think they are about," 2013
-- "More Walmart in DC," 2013
-- "6Ps, Walmart in DC and "I hate to say I told you so"," 2014
-- "Lessons from Walmart's foray into Washington, DC," 2011
-- "Piling on City Council for Walmart," 2013
-- "I hope for Aspen Hills' sake that Montgomery County is smart enough to learn from DC's planning errors with regard to Walmart's entry," 2012
-- op-ed piece, Washington Business Journal, "Temper Walmart glee with planning"

Anyway, Walmart first proposed five stores, then a sixth in response to calls for equity in the area East of the River.  They built three ("First Walmart Stores In D.C. To Open Dec. 4, Will Employ 600 People," WAMU/NPR, 2013):

• Georgia Avenue NW
  
• Fort Totten NE
  
• 50 New Jersey Avenue NW

The store on New York Avenue never came to be.  Nor did a store on East Capitol.  And the store site that they agreed to later to appease elected officials and opponents, in the Skyland Center, ended up being dropped as well ("Walmart will pay DC $1.3 million over canceled plans for SE store," WTOP radio).

Now they've announced an upcoming closure of the store in Lower NW DC ("Northwest DC Walmart location closing March 31," WTOP radio).  

"Sadly," of the three it has the best building, a traditional design mixed use style that fits in with nearby buildings including the Government Printing Office. 

I argued that they chose this location because their lobbying/government affairs national offices were located there as well.

 And it had one of the best transportation demand management signs I've ever seen in a retail store.

But it wasn't particularly close to teeming amounts of residential population, so I'd say it was a bad location, and I'm not surprised.  It probably had issues with personnel and "shrink" as well.

Walmart Fort Totten, photo by Beyond DC

Walmart Georgia Avenue NW

The store has underground parking but refuses to allow it to be shared with local businesses. 

The site was originally approved for a mixed use development with 400+ apartments above, which would have generated more income, sales, and property tax revenues for the city. But with the recession, the developer wanted quick and easy money and sold the development rights to Walmart--a 75 year lease, with renewables. Walmart paid for everything including constructing the building. 

FWIW, this is the building that many urbanists said heralded a new day for Walmart's urban design and city appropriate design.

====

Mea culpa.  Here in Salt Lake we do shop at Walmart, just for a couple items.  The store is a bit farther from us than the two in DC. In DC, I did buy a bunch of shipping supplies there while preparing to move.