Wal-Mart fits a store inside the Beltway

It's not in Washington DC proper, but Wal-Mart opened its first store inside the Capital Beltway Expressway yesterday. The new store is in Landover Hills, a small suburb in Prince George's County, Maryland.

The Washington Times has a write-up on the opening. Here's the part I like:

The shopping center, on Route 450 off the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, had fallen into despair following the departures of Montgomery Ward and Hechinger in the late 1990s. Other retailers followed, and customers had no reason to go to the mall.

"The mall needed something to happen. It's been dead," said Mimi Gioni, owner of Italian Inn Restaurant across the street from Wal-Mart.

She said the restaurant's register felt it when Capital Plaza no longer drew crowds. It was "not enough to put us out of business, but it hurt," she said.

The anti Wal-Mart crowd, undoubtedly pleased that they can take the Green Line from their K Street offices for a nearby protest site, showed up the day before the store's opening to to present their view that "Wal-Mart has a depressing effect on wages and benefits."

However, if you scroll down a few posts, you'll read that Wal-Mart recently awarded bonuses to over 800,000 employees.

Hat tip to Marshall Manson of Edelman for the story.

Technorati tags: Big box Labor retail business Wal-Mart The Left Maryland Washington DC