NFL
By: Mark T. Wilson
Times are changing and yet, NYC continues to stay hell-bent on staying the same. Why don’t we have a Walmart Supercenter here? Yes, some are sprinkled around the state but as far as the main 5 Boroughs, we’re still on the outside looking in.
The argument can be made that it will shut down some local businesses, but with food prices and prices of everyday essentials rising around the county, now is the time for the decision-makers to focus on their residents.
Think about what a Walmart Supercenter would mean for residents of the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan (Harlem), Brooklyn, and even those on Staten Island. It means the cost of food would be cheaper. But many believe that it will come at the expense of markets such as Stop and Shop, Cherry Valley, and all the other neighborhood grocery stores in our neighborhoods.
Yes, there is a chance but most likely that won’t happen. NYC is a huge place and not everyone can get around like that. This is a busy city with people moving 100 miles per hour during the day. In the South, Walmart is big due to access points. They’re everywhere because they need to be everywhere. In NYC, they don’t need to be everywhere.
Up here, we shop out of necessity not convenience. It would be nice to go to Walmart and buy a $5 bag of shrimp instead of going to the store in our neighborhood and paying $12 for the same size bag.
Another argument that can be made for Walmart is that Instacart has changed the game as well as Amazon Fresh. Shoppers now have the option of getting food for cheaper by using the Amazon app. While not as cheap as Walmart, we still see that residents of NYC still choose to go the local route because that’s what we know. Get home from work, off the bus or train and a supermarket is right there. As I stated earlier, necessity.
However, while Walmart does continue to grow, it still has not thrown its weight around in the Big Apple. And to be fair, it doesn’t have to be one in every Borough to begin with. Maybe set it up in one and see the amount of traffic they will get.
It will take some adjustment for the residents and small business owners but the truth is, not having a Walmart Supercenter in NYC has been an injustice.
