Like my fellow Salem blogger Trey, I too was thrilled beyond words (until now, obviously) when I picked up today’s Statesman-Journal newspaper and saw the front page story: “3rd Wal-Mart fills racks: Salem will have more Wal-Marts than any other city in Oregon.”
Recently Laurel and I had been talking about what new businesses we’d like to see in Salem so our quality of life could be improved. We mused, perhaps a Trader Joes? A Whole Foods Market? Or a Middle Eastern restaurant?
We were thinking so inside the box. More precisely, inside such a small box. I realized that when we went to Lowe’s yesterday and passed by the soon-to-open Wal-Mart Supercenter on Turner Road, which is a big box.
When it opens Wednesday it will indeed be super, offering everything that a Salemite could want: general merchandise, groceries, a pharmacy, optical department, hair salon, Tire & Lube Express, and, thank god!, a Murphy’s Take N’ Bake Pizza Store.
Of course, Salem already has a jillion (more or less) businesses that sell exactly the same goods and services. But Wal-Mart has a unique international flair. Newsweek reported recently that 80% of Wal-Mart’s suppliers—5,000 out of 6,000—are in China.
Even though we have Toyota and Volvo cars, plus my watch is a Casio and my cell phone a Nokia, I’d been worrying that Laurel and I weren’t doing enough to make sure that the United States’ trade deficit will continue rising to ever higher record levels.
This 3rd Salem Wal-Mart store will make it more convenient for us to buy foreign, and I’m sure our Prius soon will visit the Supercenter parking lot along with lots of Ford and Chevy pickups plastered with American flag decals. Knowing Salem, our patriotic citizens will be eager to step up and help make China’s economy grow even faster.
Salem is #1! In Wal-Marts at least.
What I would like to say is that I am ALL FOR getting a Trader Joe's down here AND a Whole Foods Market AND a Middle Eastern store. These are GREAT ideas!!! Me and my husband have thought of running our own Eastern type restaurant, but, we'd have to win the lottery or something to front the money for it. How could we make these other things happen in our community- Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and Middle Eastern stuff???
My husband thinks we should build a community that resembles tiny European villages, where you live above the shop/market you own/work at. And everything would be organic and freshly picked every morning like in most areas of Italy.
Posted by: Laura | June 01, 2005 at 01:21 PM