One of the many reasons I like traveling out to Blacksburg is because of all the independent shops around town that I don't get to see here in Roanoke. A Wal*Mart is going to start a beginning to ruin that image for me. Blacksburg will be a better place if the huge shopping centers stay out of it.
Wal-Mart is cheap. Why? Cut-throat pricing to drive out competition and outright bullying of suppliers; employees are treated and paid like dirt and literally spied upon (see washingtonpost.com this week); purchasing from transnational corporations moving good middle-class jobs overseas for dirt cheap (and often child) labor. If this means nothing to you and you still must sell out for your bottom line, please do so 5 miles away at the Wal-Mart our community already has to suffer.
How about we keep our hearts and souls intact instead of selling them to the highest bidder in corporate America for no reason other than just because, hey, it's convenient! Support local businesses, not greed driven executives! Good grief. This is a no brainer indeed.
Christiansburg already has a lot of big box stores. We don't need to make traffic worse in town to save a 8 minute drive to C'burg. It would also be a shame to see more locally owned stored pushed out of business.
I definitely don't want to lose the small-community feel of Blacksburg. Let's keep the big boxes in Christiansburg. Convenient enough, but without the traffic and eyesore (and yes, without the tax revenue, too....)
Blacksburg does not need yet more development, especially on a larger scale. There is already a wal-mart in christiansburg among other retail options. Please don't let the usual big-business chain of events happen to us - they move into an area, sell cheap goods at low prices because of cheap foreign labor, destroy the local economy, then force the competition into bankruptcy. As someone who grew up here, I have seen first hand how the addition of the c-burg development has already had a dramatic effect on local business. These business owners are my family and friends. I haven't shopped at a WalMart in over 5 years - and I discovered I could buy computer paper and pens and anything else WITHOUT the need for mega stores. I commend whomever had the forethought to protect their hometown before it's too late.
We are surrounded by Wal-marts. There is one in C'burg, Fairlawn, Pearisburg, and Salem. Why wold anyone think we need another one? Blacksburg is a beautiful town regardless of the direction from which one enters. Putting a wal-mart or other "big box" store on the south end would make it seem like and extension of the mess at intersection of Va 114 and US460. I say no, no, a thousand times no!
The Peppers Ferry Road/460 traffic mess was the result of over development and under planning. Putting a big box store behind Kroger is another example of developers developing instead of planning. The traffic pattern is all wrong and would cause even more problems at the school. Planning Dept - PLAN! There is too much sprawl going on in that area of town without any apparent reason/planning.
A Wal-Mart or other big box store within the city limits would further pressure the already shaky economy of downtown Blacksburg. If we want to preserve a vibrant downtown area, we need to resist this.
There's no need to make Main and Country Club like Franklin and Pepper's Ferry in Christiansburg.
I urge the town council and local citizens to support this ordinance and thank councilman Langrehr who had the foresight to present it. The redevelopment of South Main provides an excellent opportunity to apply thoughtful urban planning principles that would reflect the character of our comprehensive plan, and the town’s recent sign-on to the cool cities program. This area could be developed in a local, pedestrian-cyclist-bus friendly manner. I love living in Blacksburg - please don’t screw it up with poor town planning (e.g. with something like a Wal-mart which will kill local business and encourage heavy car traffic). There is no need for stores like this, since they already exist only a few miles away.
I think most of us moved here, or decided to stay and invest of ourselves here, for a reason other than national retail stores. They have a place, but that place isn't Blacksburg!!
Blacksburg has no need of a Walmart. If people only want to buy cheap things, they can go to Christiansburg. But Blacksburg has a wonderful small-town feel, and a megastore like that would change the town and hurt the local businesses so many of us love.
I am opposed to Walmart opening a store in Blacksburg. The Christiansburg location has the market covered. We don't need a big box store on Main Street in Blacksburg. We don't have the infrastructure to support it. We already have a very pedestrian unfriendly intersection at Main Street and Country Club Drive as it is. We don't need more vehicle traffic there!
I object due to the effect such a store would have on our local business, which are already struggling. And I object generally to the effect Walmart and such outfits have on their suppliers and on their employees, as well as on the local community.
Wal-mart would really hurt local buisinesses such as Annie Kay's and Eats now that they carry cheap organic products.
Plus there's already too many chain stores already. Blacksburg needs to stop catering to the students' love of chains!
I am relocating to Blacksburg, with the intention of settling and making a career in what appears to be a wonderful small, pedestrian town. I am excited about its downtown and its feeling of community, evident from my visits and from the unanimity of current residents with whom I've spoken. The news about big-box stores is severely disheartening. I fully support smart, controlled growth; which the big-box plan decidedly is not. Don't trade short-sighted (and, more likely than not, short-term) economic gain for long-term sustainability of the quailities that make Blacksburg a place of which residents are proud, and which, like myself, new people desire to live.
Keep Christiansburg, Christiansburg and Keep Blacksburg, Blacksburg. Keep Walmart(s) and the sort in Christiansburg and keep Walmart(s) and the sort out of Blacksburg, please.
A Walmart or store of this nature is not needed or wanted in the Blacksburg area. It lends no consideration to the environment nor to the community. Keep Blacksburg the nice, small college town that it is.
There is already a Wal-Mart in Christiansburg...this area is too small to have these massive stores so close to each other, its not McDonalds we are talking about here...
Wal-Marts are an ugly fact of life, but we already have a NRV Wal-Mart. We have bus service to the NRV Wal-Mart. Why do we need to have another Wal-Mart here in Blacksburg?
