HERMITAGE Merchants prepare for super Wal-Mart

One businessman said he began diversifying his operation two years ago.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- Joseph D'Onofrio isn't afraid that a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter to be built just down the road from D'Onofrio Food Center will put him out of business.
"There's some concern anytime a new store comes in," said D'Onofrio, a co-owner of the store at 1749 N. Hermitage Road (Pa. Route 18).
The food center has been here 39 years and has a strong customer loyalty base, however, he said.
"I think we'll be OK," he said, noting that his store is bigger than a mom-and-pop operation that might not be able to compete with a big company like Wal-Mart.
Warning
A couple of miles away, Michael Magnotto, owner of the Shop 'N' Save, 2191 E. State St., makes no secret of his concerns about what a Wal-Mart Supercenter can do to the local business community.
"I've traveled to other parts of the country, and I've seen the devastation that a big box like Wal-Mart does to a community our size," said Magnotto, who has been in his current store just under four years but who has a family history in the grocery business going back at least 80 years.
There may be some short-term gains for the community when a big-box store (a term used to describe large retail establishments) comes in, but there are long-term losses, Magnotto addedd.
Those companies are "predatory pricers," he said, explaining that they will price their merchandise at a figure needed to beat the competition and put it out of business.
It may take two or three years, but the negative effect will become evident, he predicted.
Magnotto tried to alert city officials to the dangers to businesses two years ago when rumors that a Wal-Mart Supercenter was coming to Hermitage first surfaced.
He even paid to have Al Norman, a self-styled "sprawl buster" from Greenfield, Mass., come to town to offer the city commissioners ideas on how to take a stand against the influx of big-box retail stores by limiting the size of retail developments.
Commissioners didn't take the advice, and now a 207,000-square-foot Supercenter is being proposed on a vacant parcel on the west side of North Hermitage Road just south of Stupka Motors at 1361 N. Hermitage Road, Magnotto said.
No formal plans
City Manager Gary Hinkson said the city has not received formal plans for a Wal-Mart Supercenter although an Akron-based developer has presented some informal plans for the project.
The developer has run into some problems with a series of small wetlands on the target site, which has prompted it to revise its site plan that at one time showed a Supercenter and four outparcels for other small businesses, said Marcia Hirschmann, city planning director.
The developer is now back at the drawing board trying to address those issues as well as city demands for an interconnecting road at the back of the property to Dutch Lane and an interconnecting road between the outparcels, she said.
There had been discussions about a July groundbreaking for the project, but Hirschmann said the developer would be hard-pressed now to even break ground by the end of the year.
Magnotto said he began making plans for this day two years ago, deciding then to diversify his grocery business to give it a broader customer base.
He added a beer distributorship and a floral shop to the store and is now putting in gasoline pumps just across the parking lot.
Current store
The company has had a 115,000-square-foot Wal-Mart in operation at the intersection of Hermitage Road and U.S. Route 62, about 1.5 miles south of the proposed Supercenter, for nearly 12 years.
A Supercenter is different, Magnotto said, noting that it usually brings in tire services and grocery operations that the regular store doesn't have.
The Supercenter developer told city officials that tentative plans call for the current store to be closed and sold, although officials, local planners and even city residents are skeptical that a building of that size can be easily marketed.
Hermitage already has some sizable, vacant commercial properties within a few hundred yards of that store, including Hermitage Square Plaza, which is empty, and the former Hermitage Hills Plaza, which is mostly empty.
Officials have said the city doesn't need another large, vacant building, and they want to press Wal-Mart to do something with it. There have been suggestions that officials ask the company to donate it to the local YMCA for recreational programming.
Not frightened
Most local merchants contacted by The Vindicator had a less-than-frightening image of the big-box retailer.
Mark Sloan, owner of Direct Maytag Home Appliance Center and California Hot Tubs at 151 and 161 N. Hermitage Road, said the new store should generate a lot of traffic past his store, but he's not enthused that a Supercenter might come here.
"I know there's nothing you can do to stop Wal-Mart from coming into our community," Sloan said, explaining that he fears it could damage the business community.
It probably won't affect his much, as long as the Supercenter doesn't start selling major home appliances, he said, noting that he diversified his operations by moving into the hot tub business several years ago when Lowe's, a home improvement store, moved into Hermitage.
Lowe's sells major appliances, he said.
Gene Flowers, one of the owners of Flowers Radio & amp; TV Service at 3765 E. State St., said he isn't worried.
Wal-Mart deals in "bottom-end" electronics, particularly TVs, Flowers said. Wal-Mart doesn't deal in the more expensive, larger screen sets and has no expertise in installation, no service and no delivery.
"I don't know that it's really going to have much of an effect [on business]," Flowers said.
Likewise, Archibald Tires, 2410 E. State St., a tiny tire retailer in business since 1988, isn't worried, either.
Archibald had a chain tire store move in right next door several years ago but didn't lose any business, said spokeswoman Leslie Dilley. That store folded and Archibald is still here, she said.
The company, which has just two employees in addition to the owner, has regular customers who have been coming back for service and new tires for years and would expect that loyalty to continue, Dilley said.
A spokesman at Faller & amp; Allen Electronics in nearby Sharpsville said his company may actually pick up some business as a result of a Supercenter moving into the area. Faller & amp; Allen doesn't sell electronic equipment. It just repairs it, he said.
Others in area
If the project goes through, it won't be the only Wal-Mart Supercenter in the area.
There's one less than 20 miles south in Union Township, Lawrence County, that has been there for about eight years and another opened about 20 miles north in Hempfield Township, just outside Greenville, nearly four years ago.
There has been new retail growth in Union Township around that Supercenter, but some of it has come at the expense of the business community in nearby New Castle.
The most obvious example is Sears, which abandoned its downtown location to move into new quarters in Union Township, right across the street from Wal-Mart.
Doug Riley, executive director of the Greenville Area Chamber of Commerce, said Greenville hasn't lost any small businesses as a result of a Superstore opening just outside of town.
Both the Jamesway and Quality Farm & amp; Fleet stores in Hempfield Township closed after the Supercenter opened, but Riley said both companies were in financial trouble long before Wal-Mart came to town and their closing can't be attributed to the giant retailer.
The Greenville area had a lack of retail business and Wal-Mart has helped fill that gap, he said. The Supercenter also has boosted traffic flows and business for some smaller stores in the immediate vicinity, Riley said.
Other stores have changed the mix of their products to ease competition with the big-box retailer, he said.
"In our case, the plusses have outweighed the minuses," Riley said, acknowledging that isn't always the case when a large retailer comes to a small town.
gwin@vindy.com