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Times Argus, The (Montpelier-Barre, VT)
July 25, 2007
Section: NEWS01
Home Depot's impact a worry for Barre, Montpelier
Susan Allen TIMES ARGUS STAFF
BARRE - Supporters of downtown businesses in Montpelier and Barre have begun meeting to discuss the impact of a proposed Home Depot
store on their city centers, looking for ways to prevent a big-box
hardware store in neighboring Berlin from siphoning the life out of
their communities.
"No one has their head in the sand to think that downtowns, whether it will be Barre or Montpelier, won't feel Home Depot's
presence. We will," said Matt Lash, executive director of the Barre
Partnership. "However, both of our downtowns have weathered the big
storms very well."
Home Depot hopes to build a new 134,389-square-foot store
and garden center in the plaza once anchored by the now-vacant Ames
Department Store on the Barre-Montpelier Road. If approved, the
business would be Home Depot's fifth store in Vermont, with others located in Williston, Rutland, Bennington and Brattleboro.
The $7.1 million project requires the approval of the local development review board and an Act 250 land-use permit.
"It brings me back to when the Berlin Mall was being built and the
Wal-Mart came in," said Lash. "The bottom line is downtown Barre is
still here."
Lash said that if a Home Depot
is built, local downtowns will have to make some changes to continue to
draw customers. For example, parking needs to be easy to find and
affordable, and customer service - extending store hours into evenings
and weekends, for example - should be improved.
"The folks in our downtowns actually care about the consumers," he
added. "Those things will help us weather the continued onslaught of
big box stores."
Lash said big-box development is impacting small communities across the
country, forcing cities like Barre and Montpelier to market their
downtowns to consumers and promote the benefits of buying local.
"No matter where you are in this country, you will be touched by the
strip-mall mentality," he said. "The key is to continue to educate
consumers about what's available here."
Suzanne Hechmer, director of the Montpelier Downtown Community
Association, agreed. She said studies show that big-box stores draw
consumers for between 36 and 60 months before local shoppers realize
they can find what they want downtown and begin returning to local
merchants for purchases.
The problem, she added, is keeping those local stores viable during that period, until customers return.
"In the short term, Home Depot
could reduce business to our local merchants who have been here for a
long time," Hechmer said. "Over the long term, people are going to find
the convenience is better at our local stores."
Both communities have a direct stake in the fate of the Home Depot
project, with several hardware stores situated in the heart of the
downtowns or on the edges. Those include Nelson's Ace Hardware and
Aubuchon Hardware in Barre, and Aubuchon and Somer's F.I. & Sons,
Inc. in Montpelier. Allen Lumber Co. also sits just outside each city's
downtown core.
Local garden centers and nurseries could be impacted, as well as
several paint stores; and Hechmer noted that other downtown businesses
could suffer if hardware shoppers are drawn to Home Depot and consequently run other errands closer to the Home Depot store.
She said that even Berlin, which would host the Home Depot,
should weigh the impact of the big-box store on other businesses in
town. The garden center could draw shoppers away from Boulevard Gardens
and Legare Farm Market, for example, Hechmer noted.
But Patricia McDonald, chair of the Berlin selectboard, said she welcomes the Home Depot and believes it will enhance Rt. 302.
"It is really consistent with what our town plan says, to make sure we
have vitality here in town. I think it can only help us," McDonald
said. "Plus, it's been a vacant store for a very long time. And it's
bringing more than 100 jobs."
She said the Berlin selectboard has not officially discussed the Home Depot
project, but she felt the big-box store would complement - rather than
weaken - work to create a town center near the Berlin Mall off
Interstate 89.
McDonald said she was aware of worries that the Home Depot would draw business away from nearby downtowns and locally owned businesses.
"I've heard concerns from people concerned with some of the smaller
stores in the surrounding area," McDonald said. "I certainly respect
those comments."
But, she said, the project tracks with Berlin's vision of its community.
"It's absolutely consistent with what we want. It will only enhance our
town center," she said. "For me personally, it's a very exciting thing."
Copyright, 2007, The Times Argus
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