Supercenter not needed

Are we really still contemplating a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Bangor? I thought the Super Wal-Mart in Bangor was put to rest. Isn’t it enough to have a huge Wal-Mart in town and a huge Sam’s Club in town and a Wal-Mart Supercenter within a 10-mile radius? Does it mean that we will have a huge empty store in the Wal-Mart current location? Do we need more big empty buildings around our town? Isn’t it enough to have all the options for shopping with the new strip malls everywhere? Will we have these stores closing up because we can’t support them? Take note that they are currently not full. What does a Supercenter offer that we don’t already have? How much more savings is there? Is it really saving our community anything?

As for Wal-Mart touting more jobs, I see “Help Wanted” signs everywhere – Hannaford’s, Sam’s, Target and Starbucks to name a few – so there are places for people to work, if they want to. And as for construction, they probably wouldn’t be hiring a Maine Company anyway.

Is it fitting with the city’s mission to entice young professional to move – and stay here? I have never once heard “Oh boy, let’s move to Town X, it has a Supercenter.”

To me, this is “dumbing our town down.” Let’s focus on what is really important, like businesses that create higher paying jobs, businesses that create a sustainable economy, business that keep the money in state and businesses that attract money from out of state. Not a Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Ann Marie Orr

Bangor