Wal-Mart opinions aired at meeting

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Everyone has a point of view about the possibility of a Wal-Mart coming to this area, and the latest meeting of a group of concerned citizens proved no exception Thursday night.

At the beginning of the meeting, members of the group heard from Tony Miller, a machine operator for 3M, who came to the meeting to voice his opinion on the issue.

"I don't want to say I'm completely in favor of it," Miller began, "I just think people should keep an open mind. I'm not a tourist, I'm not a business owner, I'm just a resident of New Ulm of 40 years and I make $30-35,000 a year and support four people."

Miller said he frequently makes trips to Mankato to shop at Menards, Wal-Mart and ShopKo even though he'd rather spend his money in New Ulm.

He noted that while New Ulm Chamber of Commerce is remaining "open-minded", the New Ulm City Council is "close-minded". He particularly questioned a comment made by City Council President Dan Beranek, where the president said the day Wal-Mart approached New Ulm is one he has dreaded for 20 years.

"Nothing's going to change his mind," Miller said. "His mind was made up 20 years ago."

Miller also noted that he used to stop at filling stations in Mankato, Courtland or Nicollet during his trips but now fills up in New Ulm because Little Duke's gave other gas stations some competition, which lowered prices. He also said that Lambrecht's opened a successful store in Mankato despite the presence of "big box" retailers.

"That didn't hurt," he said. "It seems like competition is good."

He also questioned why residents weren't invited to the group's initial meeting at Turner Hall, saying, "I couldn't go to the meeting. I wasn't invited."

Miller also said that several of his coworkers at 3M also find themselves going to Mankato to shop.

A woman in the audience asked Miller, "If Wal-Mart comes, are you never going to go to Mankato again?"

Miller replied that he would likely continue shopping at Menards and ShopKo, but would travel to Mankato less often. He reiterated an earlier point, saying that he believes the problem is that "the city council has closed their minds."

"Instead of making people go out of town, maybe we should try to get people back in," Miller said.

Curt Lambrecht, co-owner of Lambrecht's Gifts and the Christmas Haus, replied to some of Miller's comments. He began by thanking Miller for coming.

"It's important that people hear other points of view," Lambrecht said. "And I agree that a lot of people see nothing but positives with Wal-Mart."

But Lambrecht said the main idea behind the Turner Hall meeting was to gauge how local business owners felt about the possibility of having a SuperWal-Mart in the New Ulm area.

"It only seems to work well in places like Brainerd and Hutchinson," he said. "There's enough growth so it doesn't hurt."

Lambrecht said that while he couldn't speak for Beranek, he said he thought the city council president was referring to a Wal-Mart proposal made to New Ulm city officials several years ago. Lambrecht said the city council doesn't have an official point of view on Wal-Mart yet and the Chamber of Commerce has remained neutral even though some business leaders wish it would have an opinion.

Lambrecht said his Mankato store didn't sucked because he didn't see a way for it to compete with 'big-box' retailers.

"If that's the way this community wants to go, then we need to get on the bandwagon because it's going to be tough to compete with Mankato," he said.

Lambrecht said later on in the meeting that New Ulm probably won't be able to stem all the retail traffic that goes to Mankato. He said the reason he is against Wal-Mart is that he doesn't think it "plays the retail game fairly. It doesn't work with the community and it can do whatever it wants with pricing."

Lambrecht also said he had no problem with Target when it announced plans to build a store in New Ulm and added that he doesn't want "this to be seen as a retailer's battle against Wal-Mart," since leader Pat Reedy started the group for an entirely different reason.

The group plans to hold another meeting on Thursday, Sept. 30, at the Bohemian Bed & Breakfast.