SKOWHEGAN — Adding Wal-Mart to the retail mix in a community isn’t necessarily all bad, Skowhegan businesspeople learned during a Thursday night workshop sponsored by the Skowhegan Promotional board. The board is a combination of many of Skowhegan’s marketing groups including the Downtown Merchants Association, Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development Corp. and others.

Leslie Bray of the Bray Agency in Skowhegan presented a detailed assessment of Skowhegan’s retail sales over the past five years using taxable sales figures as reported to the state. Bray displayed page after page of data demonstrating the comparision of Skowhegan to overall state sales in six categories. The information was refined further to show the loss or gain of sales in the categories based on comparisons to similar communities. He also offered comparisons of potential sales to actual sales. Skowhegan topped its estimates of potential sales in most categories.

In several areas, Skowhegan rated above the state median sales information. And overall, the economic picture for Skowhegan did not appear as bleak as some businesspeople may have thought when Wal-Mart came to town, and two major chain stores left.

Sales in general merchandise took a significant jump in 1994 when Wal-Mart opened, but other areas did not decline as people had expected. Growth was seen in consumer retail, building supplies, auto transportation, restaurants and lodgings. The areas that declined in sales after Wal-Mart opened were food stores and other retail.

The point of the numeric comparisons, Bray said, was that despite the anticipated loss of retail sales, Wal-Mart was a draw for most communities. The location of a “big box” store, as he termed them, in any community was usually accompanied by growth in other taxable sales. Bray’s information demonstrated that 13 of the top communities in general merchandise sales had Wal-Marts.

Bray offered marketing advice for the businesspeople attending that centered on the changing look of Main Street everywhere. Business were advised to:

Emphasize their uniqueness and differentiate their benefits from all others;

Target markets too small for retail giants;

Target markets that value service above price;

Position yourself where your competition isn’t;

Find a need and fill it.

Skowhegan Town Manager Patricia Dickey was impressed by the data. She pointed out that most of the people attending represented downtown businesses.

“This [information] proves you can draw to an area with a Wal-Mart and other businesses can improve,” she said. “we have to look at what Wal-Mart doesn’t offer. This can be a positive thing for many businesses and it will keep people [shopping] in the area.”

She said it appeared the business climate was rebounding from the initial loss of Kmart and Ames.

“I think people were worried at first. But I see things happening, and there isn’t as much negative feeling as there was,” she said.