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Walmart representatives have announced that they will open their Neighborhood Market in Pleasanton in mid-July, wrapping up several years of contentious debate over whether Walmart should be allowed to expand here.
The Neighborhood Market will be one of about 200 of the company’s grocery stores in the U.S. and similar to one opened late last year in San Ramon.
Construction crews are now renovating the former Nob Hill store, a unit of Raley’s that was closed three years ago. By agreeing to make only upgrades to the building, Walmart was able to acquire a Pleasanton permit to move into the store since there are basically no major construction changes to the site, which has long been zoned for a grocery store.
Former Councilman Matt Sullivan and union representatives opposed Walmart’s bid to open here. They claimed that Walmart pays its employees “below scale” wages and benefits and that, as a non-union grocer, it could undercut other grocery stores in the way it prices merchandise.
Walmart first opened its Neighborhood Markets in 1998 as part of a grocery-focused business that is separate from regular Walmart stores, including one in Pleasanton. The new Pleasanton store will be approximately 34,000 square feet and feature a wide variety of products, including fresh produce, meats and dairy products, frozen foods, dry goods and staples. The store will include a pharmacy, deli and bakery.
Chester Gray, district manager for Walmart, and Amelia McLear briefed City Manager Nelson Fialho and others on the city staff earlier this week. They said the new Pleasanton store will bring additional economic activity to Meadow Place, which is located on Santa Rita Road, and will create up to 65 new jobs. They said Walmart’s full-time hourly wages as of Jan. 1 are $12.93 an hour.
In 2011, Walmart, the Walmart Foundation, Sam’s Club and customers and associates throughout the state gave more than $33.3 million in cash and in-kind gifts to communities throughout California.
In the Pleasanton area, those benefiting from Walmart contributions included Tri-Valley Haven Food Bank, Open Heart Kitchen, Alameda County Food Bank, Valley Humane Society, Foothill High School and Alisal, Fairlands and Donlon elementary schools.
Thank goodness. We need some more competition in this town to keep grocery prices down and to put some heat on the unionized grocery workers. This is a great victory over the union slugs.
Remember when you are voting in the election for the new city council member to check closely which candidates are bought and paid for by the unions, and for God’s sake don’t vote for them! Of course, another good reason to keep another union lover off the council is to pare the out-of-control compensation and pensions to Pleasanton’s municipal workers.
Robbie- Why all the hate towards unions? Unions are made up of people, your neighbors, your friends, maybe even your family. Unions are not some faceless entity, they are people looking out for their members, their families, and their communities. Walmart has not shown itself to be a good corporate citizen paying its employees below market wages, not providing healthcare coverage, and driving out small businesses in towns through predatory pricing and anti-competitive practices. Walmart has been implicated in the factory collapse in Bangladesh, they purchased textiles from the factory and did not provide any oversight to ensure safe working conditions. Is that how you want to acquire your cheap goods – on the lives of others?
Unions may have their issues, but they are people looking out for each other, their families, and their communities. Unions drive safe workplace regulations and help ensure the health and welfare of their members.
I would rather pay a little more for goods than being complicit in the destruction of small business and the possible death of foreign workers.
I’m happy a non-union grocery store will be opening – especially since there is no low-cost grocery stores for seniors who don’t care about eating all the organic crap. I’m just worried it’s going to attract the wrong kind of people from out of town.
I don’t care what grocer goes in that building I think it’s great and I’ll be shopping there. I do fear long lines at WalMart though because their employees even slower and speak less English than DMV employees. It has been such a pain to get groceries since Nob Hill closed. Trader Joe’s is close but their parking lot is so bad and their service is so slow. There are 2 Safeways nearby but you have to endure horrible traffic to get to either one during commute hours.
Walmart pays $12.93 an hour for FT employees? what do they pay for all their part time employees then? Didn’t know they had ft ones even with the exception of management.
Sure hope they don’t buy Fresh and Easy from Tesco and shut them down here and keep Walmart open.
No one wins here.
Stella, you don’t have to worry about Walmart buying Fresh & Easy, since they will be out of business long soon. Their parking lot is always very quiet, which is a good indication that their business model is not working. You have to give them credit for finally buying some radio advertising time, as though more exposure will help them bring in business.
Have you heard their radio ads? They refer to themselves and ‘F ‘n’ Easy. Really? Staying classy…….
Saving money and living better…why not?!
I know it is always fun to bash the DMV, but I had a very positive experience there a couple of weeks ago. I had to take the written test and get a new picture. I had contact with five different DMV employees. All were very friendly and knew what they were doing. One even came over and asked if she could help when one of the lines got backed up. I had a 10 AM appointment and was done at 10:45 AM.
Good work DMV!!!!
I’m glad we will have a market close to Fairlands Elementary School again. Many of my neighbors are waiting for it to open, we can walk there every few days and that is wonderful! Now if they would just put another mail box there, it would be perfect!
Unfortunately for Fresh & Easy their business model was flawed. Nonexistent customer service, limited major grocery items, overpriced (IMHO) selection of organic produce that they did carry and a huge problem with keeping the organic produce fresh. Countless times I encountered wilted lettuce & greens, floppy broccoli & asparagus & usually moldy citrus. In my very unscientific study I found that Trader Joe’s was at least 7-10% less for better quality produce and 100% better customer service. Even Grocery Outlet of all places has more consistent quality for their produce/fresh food and if low price is your main concern, they beat everybody.
If you look into what the Wal Mart Neighborhood Markets model is you’d have to make the Whole Foods/Gene’s analogy in that they will stock some “upcsale” items but the focus will be on value priced, organic & natural foods selections. I for one will give them a shot.
I’m looking forward to the opening of the New Leaf over on Bernal at Vineyard. But it is hard to forsee how well it will do in Pleasanton. It certainly won’t be a competitor for Mall-Wart, but it won’t be cheap food. Only good food from a local business (started in Santa Cruz).
One day, perhaps, everything will be two or three companies. WalMart, Best Buy and Costco will own the world. Until then, I’ll keep looking for the local businesses that support their workers and promote healthy business practices.
Cheap and easy isn’t the only thing worth living for…
Looks like free markets working to me … Safeway, Walmart, F’n Easy, Trader Joes, New Leaf, Raleys, Luckys, Margarite’s, etc … Gotta love it!
Where did my comments go? I posted a note in response to Yay! who was critical of the DMV employees. I said I was pleased with my experiences at the DMV. My comments are gone!
I guess praising the DMV was “objectionable”.
Let them slug it out, the consumer will be the winner, good and less expensive food, get off the snob train , we can’t all afford Whole Foods and the likes.
Fresh & Easy is leaving the states….all stores.
Albert EXACTLY! We can all choose where we want to shop. If I want to shop at Walmart why is it anyone’s business where I shop. I’m spending MY money, not theirs!
I can’t afford Trader Joes and Whole Foods. So does that make me a bad person.
Jenna, your question about whether shopping at Walmart makes you a bad person requires a bit more context if it is to be seriously answered.
If you are naive about Walmart’s foreign and domestic labor practices — its repeated exploitation of child labor abroad, its astonishing lack of concern for health and safety issues in its foreign plants as well as its subcontracted plants, its heavy-handed anti-union practices in this country, its refusal to hire an overwhelming number of its employees on a full time basis, paying them minimum wage, and then expecting American taxpayers to foot the bill (e.g., public health costs, food stamps, etc.), its disruption of local/regional economies … well, then you are simply naive, and rather woefully naive at that. That doesn’t necessarily make you a “bad person,” though you might give Hannah Arendt’s ‘Eichmann in Jerusalem: The Banality of Evil’ a read, in which she talks about how naive/ignorant/unthinking people tend to be likeliest among us to make bad moral decisions.
If, on the other hand, you know about these things but shop at Walmart just the same, from a moral standpoint I’d argue that some might be quite justified in calling you a “bad person.”
I think the excesses of the public sector unions have ruined the reputation of unions overall. It’s a shame for the private sector ones because they did a good job of building a strong middle class in America.
Henry, misread your post. Thought you were talking about Apple Computer…
For the Wal Mart Grocery Store, I expect they sell the same grocery items as other stores around, but at a cheaper price. I am sure that Wal-Mart is not buying Nabisco products from foreign plants while the other grocery stores are not. Consumers will have a choice with cheaper prices and less service and higher service. The consumer will have to make the determination on what they prefer.
Many people are concerned that WalMart will hurt the current smaller grocery stores. I think we are past that as the smaller grocery stores were pretty much eliminated by grocery stores like Safeway, Albertsons, etc.
You miss the point, Jay B. Supporting WalMart, or Apple too if you wish, is a moral question. Why you seem oblivious to this point is anyone’s guess, but certainly way beyond my pay grade.
At any rate, that Apple too has engaged routinely, at times systematically, in inhuman practices surely should not serve as rationale for letting Walmart off the hook.
Of course, if we are dealing with folks who lack any semblance of moral sensibility, then shopping at the cheapest store might make sense.
I do not shop at Walmart, on moral principle; nor do I purchase Apple goods, again on moral principle.
Can you provide me with a moral justification for shopping at Walmart, Jay B? Or are you going to post under another name in an effort to change the subject?
Having been a customer of Raley’s since it’s opening, I value the excellent service I receive.This neighborhood store manages to convey the small town feeling we so treasure as Pleasanton Residents. Very rarely do I have to wait in line. The food is fresh, the shelves are stocked properly. The deli is excellent. A little food magazine (Extra)is beautiful and fun to boot.It shows Raley cares about making the customer happy. We all know, cheap is not always better or a choice we should make.Walmart is like a steamroller, locating its businesses only a few miles apart. In order to compete, everything will be short-changed: Wages, Benefits,customer service, Quality etc.
If Walmart’s competition closes the doors, Walmart can then call the shots and raise prices as well as onsolidate stores. If you want a healthy community this not a recipe for honest trading. I for one will stay true to my values and shop where I am treated well.
Let’s talk about unions. I wonder how many people know that the unions “guilds” date back to the Middle Ages. Some of our most artistic and admired buildings and churches were built by guild members, who where highly respected. Holland became very rich.
A guild would look after you-as a member of it. It would help families of dead guild members. Medieval Guilds played an important role in Medieval towns as guilds attempted to guarantee standards among crafts. A group of skilled craftsmen in the same trade form
themselves into a guild.A guild would make sure that anything made by a guild member was up to standard and was sold for a fair price. Membership of a guild was an honor as it was a sign that you were a skilled worker who had some respect in society.
Andy, I have a feeling you’ve never shopped at a WalMart neighborhood market.