Walmart plans in Fayetteville receive mixed reactions
FAYETTEVILLE (WTVD) -- The Fayetteville City Council is set to hear a rezoning request Monday evening that would make way for a fourth Walmart shopping center in less than a ten mile radius.
A proposed neighborhood store would be built at the corner of Hoke Loop and Cliffdale Roads.
It would look much like the store being built a few miles away, near Seventy-First High School on Raeford Road. That store is a couple of miles from a Walmart Supercenter on Raeford Road, which is about 10 miles from another Walmart Supercenter on Fayetteville Road in Raeford.
"It's business and economics," said James Morrison. "Walmart is one of the biggest commercial retailers in the area, and they claim they have the lowest prices, and that's what spurs the building."
Morrison is a farmer who sells produce across the road from the proposed Hoke Loop store. He's spent the past decade or so selling watermelon, grapes, white corn and other daily picked products.
His customers know him as the neighborhood store with the lowest prices.
"I got my corn, and I always buy my musk melon here," said Chris Kissell, who lives about a half a mile away from the proposed neighborhood store site. "So don't take him away. Give him a spot on the corner or something. Leave my farmer man here."
Kissell said she can see the benefits of commercial growth. Wider roads, potential sidewalks and jobs are all appealing. However, some neighbors said they worry about the retailer buying out property to make way for the traffic increase and accompanying shopping centers. They've been told a Family Dollar and other retailers aren't far behind.
"I don't know, it seems a little off the wall," she said of the proposed store's proximity to other Walmarts. "I guess it would be more convenient. I wouldn't have to go that far."
