Wal-Mart memo: No growth plans north of Portland

Towns and cities in eastern and northern Maine are notably absent from a leaked Wal-Mart memo detailing the retailer’s plans to open or expand stores around the United States.

Three communities in southern Maine – Sanford, Scarborough and Westbrook – are listed in the document, which Wal-Mart Stores Inc. officials confirmed this week is accurate.

The document suggests relocated Supercenter stores in Sanford and Scarborough and a new Supercenter in Westbrook.

All three are slated for September of next year.

The 11-page list provides details that Wal-Mart has not made public about what type and size of stores it plans and by what date, as well as for which communities.

The world’s largest retailer operates four kinds of stores in the U.S. – Supercenters, which include a full grocery department; Discount Stores without the grocery component; smaller Neighborhood Markets that are mainly grocery, and Sam’s Clubs membership stores.

Overall, Wal-Mart plans to open or expand 484 stores across the country next year, some 100 more than previously disclosed.

The internal document was obtained by Wal-Mart Watch, a Washington-based Wal-Mart opponent. The list is posted on the Sprawl-Busters Web site. Sprawl Busters is another activist group opposing unchecked commercial suburban development.

Noticeably absent from the list are Bangor and the Thomaston-Rockland area, where upgrades to Supercenters were proposed but failed to come to fruition, and Belfast, where a store was proposed but shot down by voters.

“This report is simply a listing of all stores we expect to open over the next 12 to 14 months, and many are already under construction. Since the unions oppose us wherever we locate our stores, this new stolen document doesn’t seem to provide them any advantage,” Wal-Mart spokesman Marty Heires said Monday.

A call to a Wal-Mart spokesman to clarify the Bentonville, Ark., company’s Maine plans was not immediately returned Wednesday.

Belfast Mayor Michael Hurley, an opponent of big-box stores, wasn’t buying the list as an indication that Belfast was off Wal-Mart’s radar.

“I would say we’re absolutely on the list, even if we’re not on the list,” he said Wednesday.

Hurley said independent development companies that secure real estate options and work their way through local zoning regulations, then present the potential locations to Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Circuit City, The Gap and other national chain retailers drive the decisions.

“These development companies know where they want to be,” he said. “They literally work hand-in-glove with the Wal-Marts, the Kohls, the Gap.”

Hurley reasoned that since Wal-Mart has already indicated its interest in building a store in Belfast, the business logic behind the move remains true.

Belfast residents have voted in three referendums over the last five years relating to big-box development. Two votes were essentially in opposition to big-box development. One supported larger retail stores coming to one portion of the city.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.