So, Walmart is coming to Bellevue. Two stores, actually. From comments filling our website, apparently this means the world is about to end.
The giant retailer will open a grocery store in the Kelsey Creek Center on Main Street and 148th Avenue and a regular merchandise store in the former Mervyn’s location at the south end of Factoria Mall. Both of these will be a plus for the community.
The Kelsey Creek Center location has been an eyesore for years, even since Kmart left. All that remains are a number of small shops along the south side of the property and a mass of bumpy asphalt for a parking lot. Talk to merchants there and you’ll find that they can’t have the Walmart grocery store come soon enough since it will bring people, some of whom, they hope, will become customers in their stores.
As for Factoria, it’s been struggling for years. Mall owners have improved the look inside the mall, but nothing can change the fact that anchor tenants are necessary for success. Yes, Target is there, as are a few well-known specialty retailers (Nordstrom Rack, DSW, TJMax and Old Navy, etc.). But those don’t bring the high traffic that Walmart will – customers who can spill over to help smaller merchants.
A number of people criticize Walmart for not paying high wages or providing significant health benefits to its employees. That may be true, but there are few large, international companies that rise to the level of Costco or Microsoft. Even Microsoft, with its billions in the bank, is now asking its employees to pay part of their health insurance.
What too many seem to forget is that not everyone lives in Sommerset or along the lake in a Medina mansion. There are more – lots more – people living in modest homes in East Bellevue. In many of those homes, the kids qualify for free or reduced lunches. For these families, life is a day-to-day struggle for survival. For them, Walmart gives them a better chance of making ends meet.
There’s also some criticism that the city of Bellevue is somehow to blame for not keeping Walmart’s from coming here. We’d like to think they are kidding, but we’re afraid they’re not. Do we really want government officials picking and choosing who is allowed to open shop in Bellevue? We expect that those who say “yes” will be the first to be outraged when a company they like and want doesn’t make the cut.
We expect Walmart to be a good neighbor – as it has where it has opened other stores. It will provide jobs – several hundred of them. Even in affluent Bellevue, there are many people who will jump at a chance to get a job – and a paycheck.
The Walmart at Kelsey Creek Center is expected to open later this year. The Walmart at Factoria should open sooner.
Our final word to Walmart: Welcome to Bellevue.
– Craig Groshart, Bellevue Reporter
