Buffalo prepares for Wal-Mart Supercenter

Buffalo and its 2,700 residents will soon have a new Wal-Mart Supercenter. The store – on Truman Road near Highway 65 – is expected to open in early 2008.

Buffalo Area Chamber of Commerce President Bill Bryant said the Supercenter may have a marginal impact on locally owned businesses, but the positives outweigh the negatives for the area.

Employment and tax revenue

One positive will be jobs for the region. Dallas County’s September unemployment rate of 5.1 percent was the highest in the Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area, which comprises Christian, Dallas, Greene, Polk and Webster counties. That figure is up from 4.6 percent in August and 4.2 percent in September 2005.

Though it’s unknown how many employees the Buffalo Supercenter will initially hire, town officials can look to Marshfield, 35 miles to the south, where a new Supercenter opened July 19. Wal-Mart hired 330 associates for the Marshfield Supercenter.

The new store also is expected to increase tax revenues to support city and county emergency personnel.

Bryant cited numbers from the Missouri Department of Economic Development that show 65 percent of Dallas County residents commute to Springfield for work.

“All of those people who commute, I will promise you that half of them go to a Supercenter in Springfield to shop,” Bryant said. “They’re now going to shop in Buffalo, a large majority of them, because it’s more convenient.”

Marshfield City Administrator Dan McMillan said that while it’s still too early to fully assess the Supercenter’s impact on the community, sales tax revenue for the city so far this year is $30,000 higher than the same period in 2005.

He added that construction on two strip centers was recently completed, and three new businesses have moved into the retail space.

“The general feeling that I’ve gotten, just from talking to people, is that they like having the Supercenter here,” McMillan said.

“A lot of people were looking forward to it opening.”

Long-term effects

Some people, such as Bill Chapman of Bill Chapman Hardware, are more reserved in their expectations of what the new Supercenter will mean for the small town. Chapman said he’s unsure how the Supercenter will affect his business.

“No one knows,” he said. “We’ve tried to predict it before, and we don’t know.”

Bryant – who also owns a photography studio with his wife – said he’s not overly worried about the impact. He cited several examples of local companies, including Chapman’s, that have strong local followings.

“We all know scenarios of Wal-Mart coming into small towns and putting small businesses out of business and hurting the mom-and-pops,” he said. “There will be a little bit of that. But local business has a strong foothold here.”

Bryant added that the Supercenter also might help attract residents and businesses to Buffalo. He said that although no companies have yet decided to come to the town in the wake of the Wal-Mart announcement, he expects new businesses to arrive soon.

As an example, he pointed to a series of new retail and office spaces that were built next to Dollar General, across the street from Wal-Mart’s site. Approximately 25,000 square feet of office space is waiting for tenants. The property, Bryant said, is owned by Willow Springs-based grocer G&W Foods. G&W officials were not available for comment.

“They’re ready for businesses, and I’m sure that project was because of the (Wal-Mart) announcement,” Bryant said. “I think they got fortunate in that they purchased property right across the street, but either way, those businesses are going to come in. Overall, the Supercenter coming in will have a positive effect on the community.”