Walmart seeks zoning for new super center near Disney World

[njDizFan]

You know you have the freedom to not purchase "poison" if you don't want to, right?

If you can afford real food

 

[WhatJaneSays]

I travel the area near where this proposed Walmart would go almost every day – and I actually think it’s a good spot. It’s about half way between the two Walmarts park guests go to now.

From NOL Wilson/192 to the one by 535 it’s not quite 7 miles and to the one on 27 it just over 6 1/2 miles. Both of those existing stores are SLAMED. (The one on 27 is my “home” Walmart and it’s just as busy at 4 AM as my old Walmart was at 4 PM.)

That location would be significantly more convenient for people on property unless they’re over by DTD.

 

[Goofyernmost]

The problem is that there simply aren't are very very few middle-class, well paying jobs in that area. Sure you get the work experience and entry level into the world but there's nowhere to move up to. That's the issue for the area. For the most part, its all service industry & minimum wage jobs in the 192 corridor.

Osceola County needs to appeal and attract true business development beyond simple minimum wage jobs.

While I understand what you're saying, the area is not set up for high paying jobs. It is overrun with tourists and the problems that tourists bring with it. High cost decent housing and massive highway congestion. Kissimmee, in particular, became the tourist destination of the world, like it or not. The only way it could have been avoided would have been if the leaders at the time had told Walt to take a hike.

If you were an employee of a business that had a lot of high level positions would you want to deal with the traffic and the general mess that all that fun has brought along with it. No, of course, you wouldn't. The only locations that can really profit from that area are service or retail business. This is a direct sale area not a good business environment in any sense of the word for those not selling directly to the public. The majority of the people that live in the immediate area are either already working for the mouse or the wizard or shamu and/or are not educated beyond basic reading and writing, if that much. Go anywhere offsite and find someone that isn't speaking Spanish and it is almost a miracle. Where do they draw that high paid workforce from?

It was the roll of the dice. It is the center for tourism not industrial ventures. Downtown Orlando does lend itself to that to a large degree, but, Kissimmee will always be destined to be the place for the lower life forms. That happens in almost every state in the union. Places that just aren't that set up for the higher end. Regardless, Osceola County has done very well, economically without that, what would be their motivation.

 

[Donald Razorduck]

Yes there is and it's called encouraging business growth and development.... Seems Osceola county doesn't want that.

I mean, walmarts are good, right? They always bring positive things to the immediate surrounding areas, right?

I mean, wouldn't Comcast just love to have a data center or a call center right in Disney's back yard? Seems Steve Burke's MO.

Except for managers and day crew, the employees at Mc Donalds and Walmart should be teens and young adults working part time, learning what work is. Sadly, it's not anymore. Go at GE for moving xray machine production to China or Boeing sourcing out parts all over the world or ask Ford and GM why Toyota and Honda has more domestics parts them then theirs if you want to complain about jobs above min wage. These jobs never were meant to be careers unless you shined and moved up the management chain. Neither were bag boys at Kroger.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Except for managers and day crew, the employees at Mc Donalds and Walmart should be teens and young adults working part time, learning what work is. Sadly, it's not anymore. Go ***** at GE for moving xray machine production to China or Boeing sourcing out parts all over the world or ask Ford and GM why Toyota and Honda has more domestics parts them then theirs if you want to complain about jobs above min wage. These jobs never were meant to be careers unless you shined and moved up the management chain. Neither were bag boys at Kroger.

That really doesnt address the issues of Osceola County, which just another Wal-Mart doesnt solve

 

[ford91exploder]

As a constant Walmart shopper, I would like to comment on that comment. If you mean buying the same item for less money then other people spend, then I will take that highly undisguised insult and wear it with pride. I don't want to be one of those people that spends extra money on imagined status.


I see it as a great place to go and buy Disney souvenirs for a third of the cost of the same thing onsite.


Location, location, location. And seriously, do you think that all those mom and pop stores paid high wages and offered benefits that were status raising for their employees. What it did do was provide "working positions" for people that otherwise could not get employment. So, although in some eyes, it was a small positive, it was indeed a positive.

A large percentage of Wal Mart's full time staff is on public assistance, I choose not to shop at places where a companies business strategy is to have government subsidize it's low wage policies. I've always thought there should be a surtax on companies if their workforce's participation in public assistance exceeded the local population as a whole - so as to discourage such corporate behavior.

 

[Goofyernmost]

A large percentage of Wal Mart's full time staff is on public assistance, I choose not to shop at places where a companies business strategy is to have government subsidize it's low wage policies. I've always thought there should be a surtax on companies if their workforce's participation in public assistance exceeded the local population as a whole - so as to discourage such corporate behavior.

I would bet that if someone decided to do a study on it, all those other retail places have the same situation, you just don't know about it. Let's face it, the majority of those jobs are taken by people that either lack the education or skill set to have higher paying jobs. Businesses do not determine wage levels based on what would be nice and pretty much every company that ever existed have gone by that system. All that happens in those other companies is that their profit margin is higher even if their gross yearly sales are less but the low end employees are still minimum wage and without much of any benefits and are, in all likelihood on public assistance as well. It's just that 60 minutes hasn't done a program to expose them yet.

 

[Donald Razorduck]

That really doesnt address the issues of Osceola County, which just another Wal-Mart doesnt solve

Walmart builds where they think they can make a buck, it's not Walmart's fault their employees are on assistance. That's a failure of society and gov't as a whole. If all the poor folk would have used the vast amounts of ways to get educated like the ones many Walmart employees likely blew off in high school. If everyone took advantage of the many ways to better themselves in this country, Walmart would be forced to pay higher wages because, otherwise, it's back to teenagers and those in school learning a better trade. In NWA you can work at Walmart for 8.50 or you can work at a chicken plant for 14. Many choose the lower wage because of pride or fear of hard work which scanning cans of Beanie Weenies isn't. Americans are spoiled, I saw that when I worked at a wheel casting plant on third shift in college, I got hired for the production line and within a year was a lead. I was told I was 1 out every 20 non Hispanics that dudn't quit in the first two weeks and the next 4 years that was about the ratio they lasted when I got them. Three years there, you were making 32,000 a year with decent benefits. 32,000 in Arkansas is 70,000 in some places.

You'll see this phenomenon played out at a UPS sort facility as well, working the sort for little money weeds out the pretenders and those destined to McDs duty, if you stick with it, you end up getting a truck and you have a good job.

Sadly, almost all production has shifted to Mexico, not because it's so much cheaper, but the logic was with mostly Hispanic workers because whites and blacks turned their nose at the jobs, why not just go there. They did, many employee followed them back home as well. Good deal for Chihuahua I tell you.

 

[LL2WDW]

That really doesnt address the issues of Osceola County, which just another Wal-Mart doesnt solve

There is the new smart sensor facility that will be built in Osceola, which has over $100 million investment from the county, and $10 million from UCF: http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/...ridge-osceolas-smart-sensor-facility-has.html

 

[lazyboy97o]

A large percentage of Wal Mart's full time staff is on public assistance, I choose not to shop at places where a companies business strategy is to have government subsidize it's low wage policies. I've always thought there should be a surtax on companies if their workforce's participation in public assistance exceeded the local population as a whole - so as to discourage such corporate behavior.

This would require companies and the government to audit and manage the private lives of their employees. It would also encourage discrimination against those more likely to be eligible.

 

[photomatt]

I was suggesting that the problem to the disaster the 192 corridor has become is a lack of good paying jobs. WalMart just reinforces the problem. As towards taking a more active role? Well, when the only jobs in the area are ones that just pay minimum wage, thats an issue.

It's an issue that the workers can solve. I was trying not to say it, but I'm just going to do it. If these low wage workers would get off their *** , register to vote, and then vote for candidates willing to raise the minimum wage, then these jobs would no longer be low paying. Business owners are not going to voluntarily pay a living wage when they don't have to. It's up to us to pay attention to the issues that affect us personally, and take action to fix them.

I'd like to see Osceola take a more proactive role in encouraging tech companies and other well-paying middle class jobs to relocate to Kissimmee.

I agree.This is part of the solution.

 

[FutureCEO]

This must be to the replace the Walmart that is currently on 535 just north of 192. I can't imagine them building a second store within 3 miles of another one otherwise.

You would think that but we that happen all the time up here. Like 6 Dunkin Donuts with 3 miles. Two CVS's within one mile, etc. Two Targets on the same road.

 

[IMFearless]

Regarding the parcel shipping.... That could work out really well! There are lots of items in the UK, namely Cadbury's chocolate (not the same as the stuff made in the USA by Hershey's under licence) the real thing, people export that from the UK to the USA all the time. Would be great to have a board for UK / USA export exchange. I guess there would be other things like PG tips tea bags that we can get much cheaper here.

 

[IMFearless]

my heart goes out to you, that sounds incredibly horrible to be without the best candy bar

You know, if you made friends with a few people from this board, you might be able to convince people to occasionally mail you those items. When my sister was stationed in Germany, we used to send her care packages all the time of her favorite items she couldn't purchase there.

I frequently email ASDA (UK Walmart) to try and get more of the Reese's candy across but Fastbreaks are the one we can never get and they are by far my favourite.

 

[IMFearless]

No corn syrup or vanilla pudding? The UK sounds like an absolutely dreadful place.

Hence why I spent two months at Disney World over the past year!

 

[fugawe09]

There's another Wal-Mart already approved to be built just north of Magic Kingdom at the corner of SR-429 and New Independence Pkwy. The massive Horizon West project is building over 40,000 new homes to the north and west of Disney. There's a lot of resident growth in addition to tourist growth.

 

[71jason]

This must be to the replace the Walmart that is currently on 535 just north of 192. I can't imagine them building a second store within 3 miles of another one otherwise.

Not hardly. Nowhere near the same "neighborhood." Closest in terms of perception would be the one in Cagan.

Really, this makes sense. I live not far from this area, and there are three Targets closer than the nearest Wally World. Bentonville did not anticipate the way central Florida has grown up in the past decade. This will capitalize on the tourist communities along Old Lake Wilson and Orange Lake, as well as the de facto homeless living along 192, and even pull a fair amount from Celebration and its new mushrooming apartment complexes (to live there need to save money somewhere, I suspect this will be perceived as nicer than the Wal-Mart by Medieval Timesm).

 

[71jason]

This has nothing to do with Disney.

Actually says a lot about CM migration, if you read between the lines. Which is probably the single biggest issue facing WDW at the moment, but hey, let's armchair engineer a Star Wars land so we can inevitably be disappointed in 2024.

 

[71jason]

A large percentage of Wal Mart's full time staff is on public assistance, I choose not to shop at places where a companies business strategy is to have government subsidize it's low wage policies.

And yet you obsessively follow a forum dedicated to Walt Disney World? They are worse than Wal-Mart on that particular issue.

 

[71jason]

While I understand what you're saying, the area is not set up for high paying jobs. It is overrun with tourists and the problems that tourists bring with it. High cost decent housing and massive highway congestion. Kissimmee, in particular, became the tourist destination of the world, like it or not. The only way it could have been avoided would have been if the leaders at the time had told Walt to take a hike.

If you were an employee of a business that had a lot of high level positions would you want to deal with the traffic and the general mess that all that fun has brought along with it. No, of course, you wouldn't. The only locations that can really profit from that area are service or retail business. This is a direct sale area not a good business environment in any sense of the word for those not selling directly to the public. The majority of the people that live in the immediate area are either already working for the mouse or the wizard or shamu and/or are not educated beyond basic reading and writing, if that much. Go anywhere offsite and find someone that isn't speaking Spanish and it is almost a miracle. Where do they draw that high paid workforce from?

It was the roll of the dice. It is the center for tourism not industrial ventures. Downtown Orlando does lend itself to that to a large degree, but, Kissimmee will always be destined to be the place for the lower life forms. That happens in almost every state in the union. Places that just aren't that set up for the higher end. Regardless, Osceola County has done very well, economically without that, what would be their motivation.

Sorry but--perhaps not surprisingly given that I don't believe you live within 30 miles of WDW--you're completely wrong. Plenty of young professionals are choosing to move to this area. There is unprecedented building (seriously, I can't imagine even the early 70s were at current levels), most of which is apartments starting at $1,200. Professionals are fleeing downtown, which is underbuilt, looking for places they can afford to live. Now is the ideal time for Osceola to entice better-paying businesses to the area; their potential employees are already moving here, offer them an easier commute, and pay lower taxes than downtown or up north.

Just because you spend two weeks a year or whatever in a DVC condo, don't presume you know the Orlando area.