Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2001 | 11:30 a.m.
Reno sued over store denial
Wal-Mart has sued the city of Reno over the denial of a special use permit for a new superstore.
In the Washoe District Court lawsuit, the corporate giant claims the City Council's Nov. 29 vote against the project was "arbitrary, capricious, unlawful and was not supported by substantial evidence."
Council members voted 5-2 to reject Wal-Mart's bid to build a 207,000-square-foot store in northwest Reno, citing concerns about increased traffic congestion.
Wal-Mart lawyer Stephen Mollath said traffic issues should not be grounds for denial because the property has long been planned for major commercial use.
He said it's not Wal-Mart's fault the roads near the property haven't been improved before now. Wal-Mart would pay $650,000 in impact fees for regional traffic improvements.
More than a half-million square feet of new Las Vegas retail space in three stores opens today and Wednesday, and 1,380 local jobs have been created by the nation's largest retailer.
Wal-Mart, the Bentonville, Ark., retail giant, is opening two of its controversial "Supercenters" as well as its fourth SAM'S Club warehouse membership store in the Las Vegas Valley today and Wednesday.
One of the Supercenters -- which includes grocery items as well as standard Wal-Mart department store fare -- sits side-by-side with the new SAM'S Club store in the burgeoning northwest, on West Tropical Parkway, near the Centennial Parkway exit of U.S. 95.
The other store is at 540 Marks St., near the Sunset Station hotel-casino in Henderson.
Not only is the three-store opening one of the largest retail rollouts by a single company in the city's history, it's part of a three-day, 46-store parade of Wal-Mart openings nationwide.
The SAM'S Club store, a 136,000-square-foot facility, will have 180 employees -- known in the Wal-Mart culture as "associates" -- and opens at 5 p.m. today. The store will have hours of 7-9 a.m., Monday through Saturday, for business customers and 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. for all customers. Sundays, the store is open to all from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Tropical Parkway Wal-Mart occupies 222,335 square feet and will have 650 associates; the Henderson outlet is a 219,750-square-foot store with 550 employees. Both will open Wednesday morning and will be open 24 hours.
Theresa Celis, general manager of the new SAM'S Club store, said the store doesn't just carry bulk-packaged items -- although large quantities are available.
"That's a popular myth," Celis said. "But as you can see, that isn't all that we have."
The primary difference between SAM'S Club and Wal-Mart is that the store is open only to members, who pay an annual fee to shop there. Business accounts pay $30 while regular consumers pay $35. There's a grand-opening promotion that knocks off $10 for business accounts and $5 for regular shoppers.
SAM'S Club now has twice as many stores in the city as Costco, its biggest rival in the Las Vegas market.
Wal-Mart also is the dominant player in a retail category shared by Kmart and Target in Las Vegas. The northwest store, managed by Scott Jolley, and the Henderson store, managed by Alan Matulka, have in-store bank branches managed by First National Bank of Nevada.
The stores also will offer vision centers, Tire and Lube Express stores, Radio Grill restaurants, one-hour photo labs, photo studios and pharmacies. The Henderson store also will have a hearing center.
Not everyone is happy with the arrival of the stores. Supercenters were a source of controversy the last year and a half when the Clark County Commission debated ordinances that would have prohibited large retail operations in the area. Proposals to ban the combination grocery and department stores were lobbied for by unions fearing nonunion Wal-Mart would dominate the market.
Last June, the commission approved a "residential protection" ordinance requiring companies to notify residents within 1,000 feet of a new store and a 500-foot separation between a large store and single-family homes. The ordinance replaced a county ban on superstores approved in October 1999 but challenged in court.
But union organizers pressed ahead with efforts to sign up Wal-Mart workers.
The United Food & Commercial Workers launched a nationwide recruitment drive among Wal-Mart's 885,000 employees nationwide in December. Union officials fear Wal-Mart will drag down hourly wage standards, saying Wal-Mart employees make $6 to $7 an hour while union workers make $10 to $14.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Jessica Moser acknowledged that union pay is higher because "they've been in the market longer than us." But she said cashiers actually start at $7.50 an hour. She also said the company is one of the few that offer health and retirement benefits, profit sharing and stock options to part-time workers as well as full-time employees.
Wal-Mart also has sought to balance some of the ill will generated by the controversy by promoting its "Good Works" community involvement program, a charitable effort that is putting more than $105,000 in the coffers of local nonprofit organizations.
Last year, Wal-Mart stores raised and contributed more than $175 million to support charitable causes. The company also was named the fifth most admired company in America and one of the top 100 best companies to work for by Fortune magazine.
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