Editor:
Walmart, for or against?
Zellers, Walmart, Target, Hudson Bay, K-Mart, they are all the same.
My understanding of this move is that Walmart is taking over the Zellers location. Therefore Rupert is not gaining or losing a commercial outlet.
In all malls you need an “anchor” tenant, in Rupert it is Zellers. When Zellers leaves it will be Walmart.
In effect Zellers will now be called Walmart and instead of seeing the big red Z in the store you will see the bright yellow happy face and the sales associates will be in Walmart blue rather than Zellers red.
As far as saving money, that is yet to be seen. Yes they will have deals, just like Zellers, Canadian Tire and every other large retail chain. Remember this, Walmart just as every other company, will follow the price line set in the community. The pricing will be what the market will bare.
In my view the local retailers will not be significantly impacted by this move. It will be business as usual.
In fact this may help the local retailer in the long term as it will keep people in Rupert rather than going to Terrace to shop Walmart.
Len Lovering