When Wal-mart built a super center in Plymouth, almost one year ago, residents there were of two minds about its arrival.
Some welcomed the added convenience of having the store nearby. Others worried Wal-mart's presence would decimate downtown businesses.
A few months shy of the Wal-mart's first anniversary, the store has an undeniable presence in Plymouth.
New Hampshire Public Radio's Shannon Mullen has this story on how one town is trying to build its tax base while retaining its traditional character.
NAT FULL
Bells on door
T2, 5:20, Joe Hyde
I need one of these with a larger thing?
5:22 Rand
Down there in aisle S, right hand side, I can be with you Joe in a minute if you need me. This happens all day long.
Steve Rand owns a hardware store that?s been on Main Street in downtown Plymouth for more than one hundred years.
The store weathered two world wars and the great depression.
But Rand has found himself on a new front ? this time he?s up against the world?s largest retailer and the convenience of one-stop shopping.
T1, 5:47 Rand
It?s another war, it?s a different war, Walmart is a big outfit, very efficient, tough competitors. They?re a little on predatory side.
Walmart opened a Super-Center in Plymouth almost one year ago, a few miles outside of town, on the Tenney Mountain Highway.
The store?s managers make sure their prices are always lower than Rand?s. That means competition for customers comes down to service.
T1, 23:10 Rand
We?ve been changing our business to make it Walmart proof by segmenting our business, the kinds of things that are not duplicatable. (25:00) Our plumbing department is famous. If you have a plumbing problem, you see us.
(23:15) Our rental dept. is a very strong part of our business. We rent everything from backhoes to bolt-cutters. From tents to fountains for your wedding. So it?s a very complete, service-oriented business. It takes good people and it?s not something Walmart can do.
T3, 1:07 Moorhead
I think everybody?s getting their piece of the pie.
Clare Moorhead is executive director of the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce. She says the competition from Walmart has several downtown businesses looking for a niche.
1:58 They?re trying to get the same group of customers but that?s kind of what being in business is all about, you know free enterprise.
But another part of being in business in a small town like Plymouth is getting involved in the community. Moorhead says that?s where Walmart falls short.
Rand has the same complaint. He says local businesses support the town with more than merchandise.
D1, T1, 20:56 Rand
These are the people that support the little league and do the hot dog flipping, make the towns a better place in ways that are driven by their involvement in the community, not in ways driven by how good it will appear when the big check appears in the newspaper.
Walmart has made some modest donations to the town. Their latest effort was a one-thousand dollar scholarship for 2 area high school students.
The biggest check comes in the form of tax revenue ? the store pays 4-hundred-thousand dollars in property taxes.
Plymouth has a lot of tax exempt property with most of its downtown area serving as the main campus of Plymouth State University.
For that reason, the town counts on commercial development to build its tax base.
That strategy has some Plymouth residents concerned. They look at the arrival of Walmart and worry their town won?t be able to keep growth within the margins they have in mind.
Community planner June Hammond Rowan.
D2, T3, 7:18 Rowan
Plymouth is growing and growing fast and there?s growing pains that come with that, and how can we best manage it?. But it?s a matter of feeling overwhelmed by it, and watching changes happen in your town, that you didn?t expect 5 years ago. It?s sometimes, sort of happens so fast, and you wonder, ?does Plymouth really need, or where did this come from, or do we need it, there?s good and bad with each type. Sort of changes the character of the town.
It?s a concern facing communities across the state. But the way Plymouth has dealt with Walmart demonstrates a strategy local leaders say will boost the tax base without altering the town?s appeal.
So far the planning board has kept commercial growth to the land along the Tenney Mountain Highway, some three miles from downtown.
As for the location of stores along that strip, Walmart is set so far back in the hills, you can?t see it from the road.
And the store looks different from traditional Walmarts. It?s a neutral beige color with green trim.
Town Administrator Elizabeth Corrow says this is all part of the town?s mission to manage growth.
T9, 3:19 Corrow
If you look at Burger King a recent addition to the Tenney Mountain Highway, it fits into the area? Doesn?t look like your standard Burger King? I think when you develop in that way, you develop without hurting the community.
Plymouth is counting cars on the highway and looking to other, more developed towns to see what works and what doesn?t.
Town Planner Rowan.
D2, T4, 2:30ish Rowan
I know in Concord Loudon road has been a lot of discussion (laughs), not to say we?re anywhere near that number of businesses or traffic that road sees, or any of these places, North Conway, and other examples. You can say ?hey look, we don?t want this to happen, we want to maintain our rural character, which I think every town says they want. Figuring out what that means for us, to make sure Tenney Mountain Highway doesn?t become a series of 5 or 6 traffic lights?
That challenge is already clear. On the first mile there are a few small strip malls and car dealerships. And this stretch of road already has three traffic signals.
One of them is at the intersection of the road that links Main Street with the commercial strip.
On that spot sits a plot of land whose fate some locals see as a test of the town?s commitment to retaining the look and feel of Plymouth.
D2, T4, 12:14 Rowan
There?s a beautiful cornfield out there that locals have a lot of sentiment for and it?s currently being used for farming. A working farm grows corn out there for their cattle, and if that was to become a Home Depot or something, all of the sudden people would feel like something really has changed in Plymouth.
A group of residents has applied for a conservation easement on the cornfield.
If they get it, their success could be a sign of whether Plymouth will be able to stick to its growth strategy in the long run.
So far, the planning and development process has been about learning, in part by the example of other towns.
If Plymouth?s approach works, other communities will be watching.
For NHPR News, I?m SM.
