Discounter Wal-Mart winning over shoppers

Finding a parking spot near the Wal-Mart Supercenter at Santan Gateway in Chandler is not easy on a sizzling summer day.

Still, on a recent sunny afternoon, hundreds of shoppers braved vast expanses of packed parking lot in searing heat to get from their cool vehicles to the megastore.

As the economy shrivels, the world’s biggest retailer, which a few years ago sparked local and vocal protests when it tried to build a new store or two in the East Valley, appears to be having a resurgence in popularity.

Wal-Mart hiring in Gilbert for Tempe store

“Wal-Mart is an amazingly likeable store when the economy is down,” said Daniel Petersen, director of leasing for Phoenix-based PDG America Shopping Centers, which owns several East Valley retail centers.

In fact, Wal-Mart is redoing one of its older stores in PDG America’s Sun Village Fair shopping center at Alma School and Warner roads in Chandler, converting the general merchandise store into a much bigger Supercenter.

The company plans to do the same with an old store on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community north of Mesa, said Delia Garcia, Wal-Mart spokeswoman.

And the retailer is converting into a Wal-Mart a Tempe big-box left empty when the Mervyn’s at Rural Road and Southern Avenue folded.

Even rural Carefree seems suddenly willing to let one of the big boxes into town.

The poor economy clearly is fueling Wal-Mart’s galloping growth at a time when most retailers are seeing sales sag, said Tom Rex, retail expert at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

While Macy’s revenue tumbled 5.4 percent in 2008 compared with the previous year’s take, Wal-Mart’s revenue jumped 7.2 percent.

“Wal-Mart is perceived as having low prices at a time when people are trying to make ends meet,” Rex said. “Whether that lasts after the economy recovers remains to be seen.”

Wal-Mart’s surprising backing of the Obama administration’s push for mandated employer-provided health care coverage for all employees may have quieted some previously vocal critics who complained about the retail giant’s treatment of workers, Rex said.

“A lot of people are not covered for health care, and Wal-Mart is a major employer,” he said. For people employed or unemployed and worried about medical bills, that stance may have helped the retailer’s image, Rex said.

A former employee said she never understood how Wal-Mart earned its bad rep in the first place.

Elizabeth Irwin of Mesa, who worked at an East Valley Wal-Mart for several years before leaving for a bank job, said she was always a contented Wal-Mart employee and still is a contented Wal-Mart shopper.

“I never had an issue with anything,” she said. “I always thought that was a lot of isolated incidents.”

And at a time of staggering unemployment, Wal-Mart is providing jobs. The company already hired about 50 for the Chandler store’s expansion and likely will be hiring another 50, Garcia said.

Another 200 local employees are needed for the new Tempe store, she said.

So, are bad financial times making people look more kindly at the retail giant, or are the Wal-Mart haters just staying silent till the economy recovers?

And in the meantime, are they shopping at Wal-Mart?

Based on bottom line sales figures, some shoppers have clearly switched allegiance to the discounter.

“If you have trouble making ends meet, chances are practicality will win out, and you’ll shop there even if you have some problems with the store,” Rex said. “If you have trouble feeding your family, you won’t stand on (principle).”

LaFon Baker of Chandler is one of those who likes the deals but not the store.

“I don’t like Wal-Mart, but I shop here,” Baker said. And she admits she does so often, for the prices and the convenience of one-stop shopping.

Annika Ford of Chandler said she will be spending more of her shopping budget at Wal-Mart than she has in the past.

After purchasing school supplies for 5-year-old daughter Amelia at an office supply store and finding the same items cheaper at Wal-Mart, she’s a convert.

“The prices are so much better (here),” Ford said.

Others said they always shopped the Supercenter.

“I know some people have angst against Wal-Mart, but we’ve always shopped here, and we’ve been really happy with the prices,” said Beth Walters of Mesa.

And despite several neighborhood uprisings about new store building plans, Rex said Wal-Mart may not be as unlikable as it sometimes appeared based on those incidents.

“Just because people don’t want a big store in their neighborhood doesn’t mean they don’t like them,” he said.

Wendy Saadi of Chandler said the same. She’s pleased that developer Vestar ditched plans for a Wal-Mart store in Las Tiendas Village, but she likes to shop in the Wal-Mart at nearby Santan Gateway.

“You maybe don’t want a Wal-Mart next to a Nordstrom, but you still want one,” Saadi said. “You need some of everything. “

Need a job?

Wal-Mart is hiring up to 50 people for the expansion of a Chandler general merchandise store into a Supercenter. Applications can be filled out at the store in Sun Village Fair, Warner and Alma School roads, a spokeswoman said.
The company also plans to hire 200 people for a new store opening in the fall in Tempe. Applications for the Tempe store can be filled out at a temporary hiring center at the Maricopa Work Center, 735 N. Gilbert Road, Suite 134, in Gilbert.

Interested persons can also apply online at:

http://walmartstores.com/Careers/7745.aspx