Big-box store approval has ripple effect
Step into Nassau Park, the mega colossus of a shopping center on Route 1 in West Windsor, and you might be bowled over by just how many options there are.
Among them are a Borders, a Best Buy, a Linens and Things, a Home Depot, a Babies R Us, a Target, a Sam’s Club and, as if Sam’s Club was not enough, a Wal-Mart.
Proponents of super centers would say their presence provides significant tax ratables and jobs for people, people who might not otherwise find employment for a host of reasons because of age, education or a disability. We would agree it is good and necessary for everyone who wants a job to be afforded the opportunity. But, when major players such as these come to town, the playing field narrows dramatically, both for local businesses and for those taking advantage of these "low, low prices."
Such may be the case should Wal-Mart come to Spruce Street in Lawrence. The proposed location, approved Monday night by the Planning Board and now awaiting county Planning Board approval, is within a hairsbreadth of both Ewing and Trenton, and only about 10 to 15 minutes from the aforementioned Route 1 shopping monster. It is located in a section of town surrounded by housing developments. It provides people on lower incomes in Mercer County the ability to afford certain necessary items they might not otherwise be able to afford, such as clothing for their children.
Also, it provides a host of non-essentials. Who really needs a $600 wide-screen HDTV? Regardless of one’s opinion on whether catching the Giants or Eagles or the latest nail-biting episode of "C.S.I." in crisp 1080i is particularly important, such rock bottom prices hold the potential to drive prices down so low that local competitors cannot hope to compete. Not only could such drastically low priced items kill the business of those respective retailers, there could be a ripple effect on other markets. If you’re going to buy a new $375 computer at Wal-Mart, why not pick up a gallon of milk, a new dining room set and dinner while you’re at it?
Wal-Mart has become the poster business for the wrongs of the big-box movement, and the arguments are well known and plenty. An increase in traffic; low wages; a lack of any real money going back to the community besides those low- paying jobs and the token image buffing sponsorship of some local event; the environmental damage, both from the paving of natural lands and the amount of power it takes to run these beasts; the creation of clone communities, where driving through South Brunswick is the same as driving through West Windsor is the same as driving through Lawrence and any other community that has been infiltrated by big-box stores; and so on.
We don’t fault those on limited incomes or even the frugal consumer from patronizing the places with better deals. But, is this really a great way to live? Some may throw up their hands and say, "it is what it is," but does it have to be? Have we, as a society, resigned ourselves to the inevitable big-box store, the townhome development and the McMansion next door? Does a packed conference room of protesters hold absolutely no weight in such arguments? If the law indicates the Planning Board has no reason to turn down an application, is there no way to change the law?
Arguments about Wal-Mart specifically, and big-box national chains broadly, have been broadcast before. And while Lawrence is no stranger to national chains within its borders, the approval of Wal-Mart on Spruce Street is a major symbolic defeat. Should this proposal ultimately be approved by the county and be built, it will surely provide ratables, jobs and items families need (and $600 HD televisions).
But, what will be lost? Local business? Identity and community? Any notion that we, as concerned Davids, can take on Goliath and hope to prevail? Only time will determine what ripples this latest link in Wal-Mart’s vast chain will have on Lawrence and the rest of this region.

