Tracy Press

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written by bla , August 02, 2008

I guess I don't understand Mr. Galea's statement: "Livermore and Stockton have both banned these types of stores". I know Stockton has a super Walmart! I am sure someone in blog land can explain this.

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written by Tracyite85 , August 02, 2008

If our town does not need a supercenter then why did Tracy approve a Costco, Home Depot, and most recently a WinCo?
"A supercenter will be bad for our downtown." Really? How? Which business downtown will suffer more if Walmart expands? Which businesses downtown are trying to compete with Walmart?
The only other major grocery stores in town are Savemart (or Savemart owned) and Safeway. I seriously doubt one of them will be forced to close doors or leave town.
I do agree that traffic in that region is horrendous. But that can hardly be blamed on the businesses. Chalk that argument up to another poor city planning job.
I do think the Walmart is an eyesore. I'm with the City Council on that point, always demand the best.

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written by Zonut , August 02, 2008

Being someone that moved here from Las Vegas where we lived close to a Wal-Mart Supercenter, I don't understand Tracy's, nor California's, opposition to Wal-Mart and Sam's Club! Are you afraid of the completion?! Isn't it time that we stopped shopping at three different stores just to get the goods we need and use every day? Isn’t it time we stopped traveling to one store for groceries, another for household items and yet another for prescriptions? You say that Wal-Mart would be bad for Tracy, and California; well isn't driving all over town for your necessities wasting precious (and expensive) natural resources and polluting our air? Is this your idea of doing what's best for Tracy? In my experience, local economies have grown where ever Wal-Mart builds a Supercenter, and they always give back to the local community in times of need. Not to mention that their courtesy and service are second to none. I don't know about you, but that's the kind of neighborhood store I want.

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written by Thinker , August 03, 2008

Very Nicely put Traceyite85 and Zonut. Mike Galea's argument in short is "since the unions lobbying, and their hired lawyers and representatives, were able to fool the silent majority in other cities, why can't that happen here in Tracy?"

The answer: BECAUSE AS A SMALLER COMMUNITY WE PAY ATTENTION, AND REFUSE TO BE A "SILENT MAJORITY"!! We want the jobs, the added tax revenue (from the freeway commuters), the green alternative, and the choice! Why can't we shop where we want???

If Tracy does not meet the needs of the consumer, someone else will! How will a Supercenter be bad for our image? Having a carlot full of cars, and this alleged traffic--is BAD? How is that? What an oxymoron! I say it is GOOD to see successful enterprise and that competition is GOOD. How dare these writers with their own personal interest try to monopolize! This writer claims it is bad for "downtown". Does he have any investments there? Everyone is afraid of competiton. The fact is that the draw to a grocery store fulfills a marketing niche. Nowhere in downtown is there a competitng "niche" of low prices in downtown. People will continue to shop near their homes or in an enviornment they support. Let those who want to shop at a Walmart have they rights as well!

Bla, two new supercetners planned in Stockton went down by the Silent Majority's inattention (Spanos and Weston Ranch). There are numerous organizers against Walmart's due to the threat of union jobs and local business'. They have a vested interst and can be very organized, while we just watch them with their bogus claims of "traffic" etc. We need to FIGHT BACK and give our citizens the right to shop where they want! FREEDOM RULES!

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written by bla , August 03, 2008

Thanks Thinker, that makes sense. My vote is for bringing in a super Walmart since my husband said I own part of it anyway with all the shopping I already do there. Most of their prices can't be beat. With the savings, I can afford to take a family of five out for a nice dinner once in awhile.

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written by brandon969 , August 04, 2008

So ... I need someone to explain this to me, we can have 3 savemarts 1 safeway and 1 food 4 less but the impact of ADDING a supermarket to walmart (mind you that land is just sitting next to walmart creating and eyesore) would be too great to the enviorment to handle. As far as downtown impact ..... well I cant recall the last time I found and bought groceries down town. However farmers market is great and with a "walmart superstore" it would not stop me from patronizing The Farmers market. So here we sit in an ecomony that is struggling to say the least, gas prices all over the board, and a job and housing market in the crapper, I get to waste fuel driving to Stockton "SUPER" walmart and spend what little money I have left in gas and spend it out of TOWN. Great job City Council. I commend you in looking out for my financial intrests. Enjoy the raise you got last year.

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written by maybenotdumBcommenT , August 04, 2008

I thought the expansion was already approved a while back so now there is this stall tactic. Is the permit going to run out soon or something, to expand it.

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written by mymia , August 04, 2008

I lived in Tracy almost my whole life. After moving to Florida and getting to shop at a super walmart then moving back to Tracy i have to tell you you dont know what you are missing. It is so nice to go do one stop shopping and they have great deals. It is not going to hurt the other local stores. We have 2 super walmarts in the town i live in here in florida and we still have plenty of small stores that are doing very well. Walmart is good for the economy providing more jobs for the local people.

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written by Bar Fann , August 05, 2008

I agree with Galea, this will be horrible for downtown. Sometimes I want to go pick up some used kids clothes, some thrift store stuff, get some illegal pirated Dora the Explore piñata at the Dulceria, and then go next store to Mi Esperanza for some dried meat, and then head down to Mi Ranchito for some barbecue and to watch the bum fights, and then come back to the Discoteca and Joyeria for some Disco and Joy, and then top it all off with some tatoos? I think Super Wal Mart will have all this and more, and no one will go downtown for any of this stuff, and then where will we be?

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written by maybenotdumBcommenT , August 05, 2008

Bar Fann, funny, but you left out the annual bar fights. Course, that could be entertaining as long as there are no weapons involved.

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written by jmd1280 , August 05, 2008

Walmart Rocks. GO SUPERSTORE!

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written by Steve Reshakis , August 07, 2008

Mike Galea...Hippy "tool"

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written by tazevedo , August 08, 2008

As I signed in to comment on this Wal-Mart issue,I never imagined I would read what I read!!! Thank you to bla,Tracyite85,Zonut,brandon969,maybenotdumBcommenT,mym
ia,Bar Fann,jmd1280,and Steve Reshakis. All of you are on the right page. The ones who are against Wal-Mart are just haters. If they didn't have WM to hate they would have something else. My husband has worked for WM for over ten years, and through my heathen kid's court dates, arrests, group homes, and other misc adventures, they stuck by us and bent over backwards to accomodate us with our schedules for everything. It is not easy being a parent in Tracy these days God knows, but without WM as his employer it would have been sooooooooooo much harder. Again, thank you all for not hating!

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written by carpet bagger , August 08, 2008

I have to say I am on the fence about this one. I am all for free trade and more shopping choices and I don't find anything to purchase down town except for an occasional cup of coffee, school supply or subway sandwich. My bank is not down town, I do frequent the farmers market, but I have to say I liked it when there was an alternate location in the Kaiser parking lot. I do frequent the Grand theater for classes as well as the dance studio. I would not get any of these things anywhere else in town. But there are no groceries that I would frequent there. I would also say that I do not plan to shop at the Walmart center except for fabric, as there is no other place in town to purchase fabric and sewing supplies. I wish there was another selection for fabric.
I recently watched a documentary about Walmart driving businesses out of down town but I don't think that would be the case here. The documentary also pointed out that Walmart is known to recommend their part time employees sign up for government funded healthcare rather than providing an affordable option. They were also sued for promoting racist and sexist hiring policies. Now, we already have a Walmart in our town, so protesting their existence is useless. They apparently will not hurt for business, as they already have some established clients, and they will gain new clients, due to the location, prices and needs of the general population.
What will keep me away from there is the service I get at Safeway and Costco. The employees there, bend over backwards to help me out, when I ask for it. I don't frequent Savemart. They just haven't impressed me and their locations are not where I generally go. I truely hate going to Walmart. I have no legitimate reasons, I just do. I prefer Target and I will continue to shop there. So the only choice that we can make is a personal choice of who we support. I won't protest Walmart, but I probably won't shop there.