Wal-Mart has dropped its plans to build a supercenter in Hadley, Massachusetts. The company’s decision ends three years of efforts to build a 212,000-square foot store at the Hampshire Mall.
Representatives for the Pyramid Companies, which is developing the site on which the supercenter was to be built, have notified residents and local officials that Wal-Mart is no longer a prospective tenant. However, Pyramid says it will continue to develop the site and seek new tenants to take Wal-Mart’s place. Wal-Mart continues to operate a regular-sized discount store at the Mountain Farms Mall less than 300 yards away.
A brief press release is available. A portion of the site plan is seen below.
Wal-Mart’s decision to abandon the supercenter plan means that a smaller scale development could be built that protects the nearby Norwottuck Rail Trail and surrounding wetlands. The supercenter would have been the largest single structure in Hadley, with loading docks within 250-300 feet of the Rail Trail.
In 2007, Wal-Mart announced it was cutting back by about one-third the number of some 270 new supercenter openings nationwide this year. Pyramid representatives said the current economic downturn was a factor in Wal-Mart’s decision, as well as the fact that the Hadley location had become a “difficult” site on which to build a supercenter.
March 11, 2008 at 7:13 pm
THANKS TO ALL YOU LOSERS SINCE HADLEYS NOT BECOMING A SUPER CENTER YOU COST MY FAMILY THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN SAVINGS
YOU WANT ME TO CONTACT THE DEVELOPERS FOR THE 8 LB REPORTS JUST TO BOTHER THEM . WELL I WILL NOT CAUSE THAT WOULD BE A WASTE OF PAPER.- OH WAIT A MIN NOT PAPER BUT TREES
IF THEY WOULD OF WENT SUPER THAT WOULD CAUSE THOSE OTHER GROC. STORES TO LOWER THEIR PRICES WHICH IN TURN HELP EVERY ONE SAVE MONEY . IT WOULD OF ALSO CREATED MANY MORE JOBS WHICH IN TURN HELP THE TOWN OF HADLEY DUE TO THE TAXES IT WOULD OF CAUSED.IT WOULD NOT CAUSE TO MORE TRAFFIC ON RT 9 THEN THERE ALREADY IS . I CANT WAIT TO SEE LOWES AND HOME DEPOT COME IN
June 16, 2008 at 12:42 am
Woth noting: press reports said that Wal-Mart decided Hadley was “too difficult.” I like to think HNSD was part of that difficulty.
@John–the low prices (and not always true) come at a very high cost: environmental degradation, choking off of both suppliers and competitors, unfair labor practices and yes, tons of traffic. Sometimes a devil’s bargain is no bargain.