Via the
Box Tank, Wal-Mart met with New York City reporters on June 30th to discuss Wal-Mart's desire to come to New York City. In addition to other speculated sites (Staten Island, East Harlem):
Now add a site near or within the Atlantic Terminal mall and Atlantic Avenue subway station as a possible site (think Target). "There are many situations where we are right across the street from a direct competitor," said Mia Masten, Wal-Mart's communications director. "In many of our competitive districts its not uncommon to see a Target, a Lowe’s, a Wal-Mart and a Kohl’s across the street from each other — and they all do well."
Wal-Mart is ready to modify its architecture to
accomodate New York:
Would a Brooklynized Wal-Mart be in the shell of a couple of brownstones? “Yeah, to the extent we could find the space, yeah, I think that could work,” Masten agreed.
The Box Tank responds appropriately:
There you have it. New Wal-Mart Architectural Style: Brooklyn Brownstone! Obviously Mia has never seen one of her stores and a couple of Brooklyn brownstones side by side, because it isn't likely a 100,000 square foot store will fit in a couple of brownstones.
The Box Tank also references the "
strife" over a rumored Wal-Mart in East Harlem, showing two flyers side by side, one in support of the big-box, one against. Though we must say from the scoping meeting we attended concerning the East Harlem project, there was
no love for Wal-Mart.
