Published in today's Kingsport Times-News...
Dis-carded Kingsport mayor urges residents to forget Sam's Club, buy local
Kingsport Sam's Club location is expected to close in March 2007.
By MATTHEW LANE [email protected]
KINGSPORT "? City officials are taking Wal-Mart to task over a recent letter sent to Sam's Club members about the reason why the retail giant chose to relocate its Kingsport club to Johnson City.
Kingsport officials announced in February 2005 Wal-Mart's plans to close the Kingsport Sam's Club and open two new locations in the Tri-Cities "? one in Johnson City on State of Franklin Road and another in Bristol, Va., near Exit 7. Wal-Mart officials say the move is strictly a business decision, that the company could not find a suitable location in Kingsport to relocate the Sam's Club.
City leaders have been critical of how Wal-Mart has handled the relocation, saying the company did not give them ample warning about the move and did not contact them about finding another location in Sullivan County.
Sam's Club Manager Adam Maurer sent a letter to members on Sept. 12, informing them of the reasons for the upcoming move to Johnson City.
"After an extensive search in both Kingsport and surrounding areas, we found that the best solution was to relocate the current Kingsport club to Johnson City and build a new club in Bristol, Va.,"? Maurer wrote.
During the Kingsport Board of Mayor and Aldermen's regular meeting Tuesday night, Mayor Dennis Phillips said the letter is "extremely misleading"? to Sam's Club members, adding that Wal-Mart never contacted anyone with the city over the relocation.
"I could find no extensive search and no one they contacted. They didn't contact anyone on the city staff, nor to my knowledge did they contact any Realtor, nor can they tell me anyone they contacted,"? Phillips said. "I think this is a CYA letter to the residents of Kingsport to justify why you need to travel to their new store.
"I would encourage people to take their Sam's Club card, cut it in half and spend the $75-a-year membership in Kingsport."?
Phillips said if Wal-Mart had contacted Kingsport prior to moving, more than likely the Model City would have given the company free land at one of the busiest intersections around "? Interstate 81 and 26 or "The Crossroads."?
"But no one bothered to ask us or let us know,"? Phillips said. "I would have liked for them to show us the same professionalism and respect in leaving that the city of Kingsport showed them upon arriving.
"I believe Kingsport would have been happy to provide Sam's Club land free of charge at several prime locations if they would have extended us the courtesy."?
Since Wal-Mart announced the relocation, Kingsport has been generous with some redevelopment projects in the city "? providing Roger Ball with $2.5 million in tax increment financing for East Stone Commons, donating $2.5 million to the Kingsport Pavilion project, installing a traffic light for Reedy Creek Terrace, and selling a portion of the Hunter Wright Stadium property to accommodate a new Lowe's on Stone Drive.
City officials have said Kingsport will lose around $700,000 in sales taxes when Sam's Club relocates.
Assistant City Manager for Development Jeff Fleming said either he or the Kingsport Chamber of Commerce would have been the contact for the city if Wal-Mart chose to contact anyone about the relocation.
"I never spoke to anyone from Sam's. They did have two employees who spoke at the small business breakfast. They were local folks, and I followed up after that because they said no decision had been made yet,"? Fleming said. "I contacted Wal-Mart headquarters, and the real estate manager said the locals were mistaken, that a decision had already been made and there was nothing to talk about."?
Fleming said Wal-Mart was apologetic about the move but called it strictly a business decision.
"I tried to leave it on good terms with them, because we certainly would like to do business with them in the future,"? Fleming said.
Although Kingsport was not given the opportunity to save the Sam's Club or find another location within the city, Fleming said there are several locations the city feels would be beneficial for Sam's to consider.
"I firmly believe they could be very successful in Kingsport, and I feel they will come to realization, as have many other retailers, that the Tri-Cities is in fact a three-outlet market,"? Fleming said. "We would have considered any combination of incentives to attract and retain them. They are a very important magnet for retail development. I can't say specifically what we would have done, but I feel like we could have put together a very competitive incentive package."?
Former Mayor Jeanette Blazier confirmed she was not involved with Wal-Mart over its search for a new location.
"We did not have sufficient advance notice from the headquarters. They did announce it without us having prior knowledge, and they have not been easy to be in touch with,"? Blazier said. "I wish we would have had more notice."?
Betty Martin, who now works for NETWORKS ? Sullivan Partnership, was the business development director at the chamber during the time of Wal-Mart's announcement. To her knowledge, Martin said Wal-Mart never asked anyone with the city or chamber to show the company property in Sullivan County.
"We never showed them anything. If they did, I don't know who it was,"? Martin said. "If they had talked to us and told us we have got to move or move out of this county, do you think we wouldn't have done handstands to keep them there? We would have worked with them any way we could have to keep them here."?
Kingsport developer Stewart Taylor said he sent Wal-Mart a plat at the Gateway property (the intersection of I-81 and I-26) three or four years ago when he first heard the company was thinking about relocating the Sam's Club.
"I passed it along to a manager, who sent it up to Wal-Mart. I never showed them the property, and I never heard from them,"? Taylor said.
Dennis Alpert, senior manager of public affairs for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said the company approved the relocation of the Kingsport Sam's Club in May 2004. Within the next six months, Alpert said the company would have gone out into the field and done an active search for a new location. No local real estate agents were involved in the search.
Six months prior to May 2004, Alpert said company officials would have likely come to town and worked with a developer to try to find various areas where they could do this type of relocation.
"At that time we could not find land or an area we felt was suitable or beneficial to this project,"? Alpert said, adding that the company understands Phillips being upset about the move.
"We wanted to stay in Kingsport. We had a great relationship with the people in Kingsport as well as the mayor who was there. We were happy, but unfortunately we needed more from that location, and we just weren't getting it,"? he said.
The new 138,000-square-foot Johnson City Sam's Club location will have an in-store bakery, cafe, full-service pharmacy, photo center, rotisserie, optical center and gas station. Alpert said the reasons for the move to Johnson City include the current status of development in the city and a lack of traffic coming through the Kingsport location.
"No other stores had moved into the area. We were there alone, and really no traffic coming through. We just didn't see that growth in Kingsport at the time,"? Alpert said, adding he is unaware of the current development taking place in Kingsport.
"There's nothing that would prevent us from not coming back to Kingsport either,"? Alpert said. "From our perspective, we loved Kingsport. We just had to make a business decision at that time and felt the decision was justified.
"If there is something in Kingsport that makes sense, we're always happy to look at it and hope the folks in Kingsport would welcome us back if we made the move."?
If Tweedle Dum Phillips is paying $75 a year, he's getting hosed. $35 a year is all it takes to get you in the door. Perhaps he should also alienate all of the stores just north of Kingsport in VA. I know quite a few Kingsport residents who shop in Weber City/Gate City just to avoid the higher TN sales tax. Why not just prohibit residents of Kingsport from buying anything in VA as well?
I'm quite glad Sam's is building a Bristol store as I was getting tired of driving to the middle of nowhere just to stock up on bulk consumables.
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