Thursday, February 3, 2011

"Upscale" Walmart coming to Encinitas?



Have you seen this woman? Coming soon to a store near you!







The Internets are abuzz with rumors of Walmart coming into the old Home Depot Expo location in the El Camino Pension Revenue Corridor.

Look what Walmart (they've since dropped the hyphen) tried to do in Carlsbad in 2007:

Wal-Mart has purchased a 17-acre site at College Boulevard and El Camino Real in Carlsbad and hopes to build its most upscale store in the nation there, according to a company spokesman.
"It will be an absolute paradigm shift," said Wal-Mart spokesman Aaron Rios in an interview Thursday evening.

Wal-Mart, which has long sought entry into Carlsbad, recognizes that if it succeeds in building a store in the affluent, carefully planned community, it could not be a typical "big box" store, Rios said.

"We believe the community of Carlsbad would say, 'That's not for us,' " he said.

[...]

Most stores, for instance, sell wine costing between $7 and $25, while the proposed store would have bottles selling for as much as $100, he said. It would also offer a pricier line of clothing, such as the newly introduced George ME by designer Mark Eisner.

Well, the Carlsbad store doesn't seem to have worked out, probably because of political resistance. So they seem to have rolled down El Camino to anything-goes Encinitas.



There aren't a lot of People of Walmart in the geographic area this one would serve. We're surrounded by Walmarts all along the 78, and to the south there's one in Kearny Mesa. So this one would really only serve Del Mar to south Carlsbad. It may be the wealthiest Walmart territory in the country. If they're coming, I certainly wouldn't be surprised to see them try out a new upscale concept.







What kind of wine do you get for $100 at Walmart?

UPDATE: Yup, it's coming. No word yet on whether it will be "upscale."

17 comments:

  1. I was talking to a developer and they said that the Home Expo, across from REI, will be turned into a Wal Mart Mini.

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  2. The beginning of the Oceansidification of Encinitas!

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  3. There's not enough parking for a Walmart. Friday night half the parking lot was filled with cars.

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  4. no thanks! bring back the ordinance for economic impact study for any big-box in sd county. other than marty emerald, sd city council are spineless!

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  5. What kind of wine do you get for 100 bucks at Walmart? A very big bottle of wine, like 5 gallons.

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  6. If the City of Encinitas was smart, they would turn the old Home Expo into something like this.

    http://www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com/

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  7. Ferry Building is cool. I'm a former Dirty Friscan myself.

    But the Ferry Building is a nice historic building with awesome bay views in a tourist mecca.

    The vacant Home Depot Expo in the El Camino Pension Revenue Corridor? Not so much.

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  8. I just scrolled thru the "people of Walmart" - ARRRRGGGGGGGGGG I'VE GONE BLIND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  9. Walmart?? What a joke! What about Costco so we don't have to drive to Carlsbad or La Jolla. They took over the Home expo building in Kernny Mesa and works great for them and costco is already upscale shoping!

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  10. I will say i would shop there so i don't have to be stuck in traffic up the coast on the 5 for 40 min that should only take 10 min to get to Costco. We The people blocked any type of convienence to shop or travel to shoping from Encinitas to Del Mar. Costco has been trying for 20yrs to get another store on the coast. We don't want to widen the freeway so we can get to the places we need to shop. To the stores we won't allow to build from Encintas to Del Mar! It would be nice to travel 5 min to shop and get everything at one place!

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  11. just watch the documentary "Walmart - The high cost of low prices"

    http://www.walmartmovie.com/facts.php

    It opens your eyes. Encinitas does not need such a place.

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  12. Go near any Wal-Mart and watch the parking lot. There are many cars coming and going. So in addition to needing a lot of space for shoppers to park, there needs to be a lot of access for all that traffic in motion.
    The back entrance is bad: Anyone who has driven on Calle Barcelona knows that the traffic bunches up as they line up to get into the Forum, and that driveway is even closer to Leucadia Blvd.
    The front entrance is bad: From Town Center Place, the traffic already backs up into Leucadia Blvd. in front of the Pei Wei, Starbucks, Islands, and gas station.
    There simply needs to be something less high-density in there.
    Sure, you can rely on Wal-Mart's own traffic study. Better yet, go take a look.

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  13. please no Walmart! we have target leave that stuff in oceanside!It wont look right in Encinitas.i Agree with the other Cost co would be perfect:)

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  14. If walmart came to encinitas it would get so much money... Thats exactly what we need here!!

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  15. I love how elitist liberals created the wlmart people website, making fun of walmart shoppers. Liberals claim to care about the poor disenfranchised, yet are doing online humiliation and bullying of those they claim to care about.

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  16. Walmart can take it's back woods BS to other areas of San Diego. We do not need a low end cusotmer base trashing our streets and shopping areas and running our local store owners out of business.

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  17. This Walmart is so nice, but limited stock. :))

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