Labor, neighbors rally against Lakeview Walmart

By Alejandra Cancino
2:16 p.m. CDT, April 21, 2011

Lakeview East community members, union representatives and local labor organizations on Thursday rallied against a proposed Wal-Mart store that they said would send local shops out of business. The proposed 32,000-square-foot store would move into the first floor of the Broadway at Surf building. It would share the building with Bed Bath & Beyond and T.J. Maxx. Mark Thomas, owner of The Alley Stores, was among the about 20 people who stood in front of building on the 2800 block of North Broadway Street to increase awareness to their cause. Thomas said he has been a retailer and manufacturer in Lakeview for more than 30 years. "I don't need to see a study to know what happens when a national chain moves in," he said, adding that when a Designer Shoe Warehouse opened in Lakeview, five locally owned shoe stores closed. Bruce Alan Beal, owner of a 30-unit condominium, worries that Wal-Mart would not stop at 32,000 square feet and would try to run T.J. Maxx and Bed Bath & Beyond out of the building. "Wal-Mart will hurt the community," he said. Ald. Tom Tunney has said that he is considering an amendment that would change the building's code to limit the size of retailers moving there to 25,000 square feet. Wal-Mart spokesman Steve Restivo said in a written statement that “in most cases our stores are magnets for other new businesses, large and small.” Restivo said that businesses near the store in the city’s West Side specialize in areas Wal-Mart can’t compete or offer products and services that Wal-Mart doesn’t offer. “These businesses want to be as close to us as possible so they can take advantage of the increase in customer activity that comes with a Walmart store,”Restivo said.

acancino@tribune.com

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