Many Liberty residents welcome Wal-Mart

LIBERTY — Barbara Pringle of Liberty Township shops at the Liberty Plaza on a regular basis. With the coming of a new Wal-Mart Supercenter, she’s anticipating being there even more.

The construction of a new Wal-Mart store can lead to apprehension, and sometimes opposition from those living nearby and concerned about noise and congestion. The retailer’s efforts to seek a zoning change and locate in Canfield Township are a recent example. Residents, at informational meetings there, have shown strong disapproval for a store opening.

But the soon-to-be store in Liberty has evoked a different emotion.

Pringle has four kids living at home and said it’s often too difficult to take the children to areas with more available shopping. She said even leaving the kids at home and venturing out alone to shop still leaves the problem of traveling.

“I am just happy that I won’t have to travel to Austintown or Niles anymore,” she said. “I think the store will bring some good to the town.”

Wal-Mart is tearing down a major section of the Liberty Plaza off Belmont Avenue and plans to begin erecting the supercenter sometime late this month. The new store is slated to open at the end of the year or in early 2009. The plaza had been home to a Hills Department Store, Phar-Mor discount drug store and an Ames Department Store over the years — all gone.

Traffic, noise and congestion have been cited in other places as major concerns of those opposed to a new Wal-Mart, but Liberty residents such as Pringle and those who shop here don’t seem to have those concerns.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.