Wal-mart's giving Southern Shopping Center businesses a reason to smile

WHEN BILL WHORTON, owner of Pets 'N Things in Southern Shopping Center, learned two years ago that another Wal-Mart Supercenter was coming to town, he knew it would be a good thing. "I wish they put it next to me instead of across the street," joked Whorton, whose business has been family run for 33 years. "But across the street is the next best thing." Turns out, his intuition was right.

Norfolk's second Wal-Mart opened early last year without any subsidy or tax breaks from the city. Even though there's another location on Military Highway, about five miles away, city officials hoped that the new mega-store would help revitalize Southern Shopping Center, an aging retail complex at the intersection of Tidewater Drive and Little Creek Road.

The Bentonville, Ark.-based store seems to have done just that.

"The Wal-Mart Supercenter is doing very well," said Chuck Rigney, assistant director of Norfolk's department of development.

His assessment is borne out by city numbers. In 2006, total retail sales for Southern Shopping Center were $71.6 million, down from the previous year of $71.9 million.

But with the Wal-Mart opening in January 2007, local sales jumped last year. Total revenue in the Southern Shopping Center area increased by about 170 percent in 2007, with retail sales hitting $194 million, online city records show.

For the city, the expanded Southern Shopping Center has also meant increased revenue. Norfolk collected $4.6 million in fiscal year 2007 from a variety of business licenses and taxes on sales and real estate, up 52 percent from the year before.

Did Wal-Mart single-handedly make the difference? Hard to say. Phillip Keene, Wal-Mart spokesman in Bentonville, said the company doesn't release sales for individual stores.

"That's not something we make public," he said. "We don't disclose that, for competitive reasons."

The overall effect of Wal-Mart on shopping in the larger area is unclear. Aside from the city's figures that show that sales increased at Southern Shopping Center from 2006 to 2007, another set suggests that nearby residents went more often outside their neighborhood to spend money.

Claritas Inc., a service that provides market research and demographic data, projected last year that $268 million was spent in retail sales in ZIP code 23505, down about $15 million from the year before. Claritas also projected that the amount of consumer expenditures for all retail items for those living in that ZIP - whether spent in 23505 or elsewhere - increased about $27 million year over year.

Sharon Ryals-Taylor, senior director of retail services for GVA Advantis, said Wal-Mart's presence has been good for Southern Shopping Center.

"My rents and sales have increased for tenants," said Ryals-Taylor, an agent for the complex.

"So, it's really been a plus for us."

Typically, when a mega-store like Wal-Mart comes to a neighborhood, it gets mixed reviews. Some say chains offer cheaper prices, while others say they wipe out locally owned stores or pose other problems.

Take Jay Turpin, owner of Turpin's Florist. He wanted no part of Wal-Mart's traffic and coincidentally moved farther down Little Creek Road around the same time the Wal-Mart opened.

"I didn't think that Wal-Mart would hurt or help my business," Turpin recalled. "I didn't think it would draw people to Southern Shopping Center to buy flowers."

Turpin, whose parents opened their floral business in Southern Shopping Center in 1959, said he had enough parking issues and that he didn't foresee Wal-Mart bringing him more business.

But pet-store owner Whorton, who says his is the second-oldest business in the 270,000-square-foot complex, said he wasn't concerned about his sales.

"I don't mind the competition. I love a good fight," Whorton said of the $30 million Wal-Mart. "Giants don't scare me."

In fact, his sales have slightly improved, he said.

Others, such as Josh Linton, manager of Tidewater Sew-Vac Inc. in Southern Shopping Center, said the company was also excited about Wal-Mart's arrival. Now, he reckons it's something of a Catch-22: Wal-Mart's pricing is less than his shop's but he welcomes the extra traffic in the area.

Customers will buy a cheaper vacuum or sewing machine from Wal-Mart, but if it breaks down, Linton said, they'll bring it to him because the supercenter doesn't offer such services.

"Small shops can't compete with their prices, but we can compete with their service," Linton said of chain stores.

Linton said that his store, which has been in Southern Shopping Center since 1984, has seen sales increase by about 15 percent since 2006. It's a rise that he attributed to Wal-Mart's presence.

Others are also taking advantage of the situation.

About five months ago, Patriot Computers moved its Wards Corner location to the Southern Shopping Center area to benefit from Wal-Mart's heavy foot traffic, said Daniel Simon, assistant store manager.

"This location is way better," said Simon, as his eyes widened.

Although he didn't give specifics, Simon said the location's "profits are slightly better than they were a year ago."

Some of his customers come from Wal-Mart, he said.

"If they're waiting for their computer to be fixed, they do some shopping, then come back," he said.

Consumer Viola Needham has been drawn to Wal-Mart because it's less busy than the one close to her house on Military Highway, she said. Needham, who's retired, opened her plastic bag and pulled out two bras. She paid about $18 for both at Wal-Mart.

They cost $20 at the nearby Kmart, she said.

"It just gives you more shopping power," Needham said of the retailer's prices.

Tristan Lucas, an Old Dominion University junior who once lived in Bentonville, unloaded her young daughter from her shopping cart, which ballooned over with groceries. "It's not my No. 1 choice of a store," she said, "but whenever you get everything in one place, it's convenient."

Jennifer Jiggetts, (757) 446-2643, jennifer.jiggetts@pilotonline.com