A Town Divided Omak Residents, Retailers Split Over Wal-Mart Store

The comic-book character Wolverine glowers down on customers at Philip Bedard’s store on Main Street.

“You will shop locally,” says a word balloon from Wolverine’s mouth.

He doesn’t mean the local Wal-Mart.

The cartoon is one of the few attempts at humor about that issue in downtown Omak, where merchants who opposed Wal-Mart No. 1947 when it was built in 1993 say many of their fears have come true.

“I don’t carry anything Wal-Mart carries,” Bedard said.

The reason is obvious.

Wal-Mart sells trading cards of the superhero Spawn for 95 cents a pack. Bedard said he had to sell them for $2.50 to turn a profit. Now he just doesn’t sell them, or sports cards.

“Wal-Mart is the boss,” Bedard said.

“Wal-Mart is a negative,” said the owner of a downtown book store.

But local assessment of the store - part of the discount chain based in Bentonville, Ark. - depends on who’s talking, said Shanna Hammett of the Omak Chamber of Commerce.

“The downtown merchants would be all negative,” she said.

But the entire town benefits from the out-of-towners who come here to shop at Wal-Mart, Hammett said.

Officials of the Wal-Mart chain met with local merchants before the store was built and warned them not to even try and compete, Bedard said.

He heeded their advice. His business concentrates on high-end comic books, fantasy board games and collectible cards not sold at Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart’s opening initially did hurt local businesses, and a few closed, said Lou Venden, a retired businesswoman.

But downtown now seems as busy as ever, she said.

Kelly Brye, assistant manager at Wal-Mart, said he believes the store has been good for Okanogan County.

“What Wal-Mart has done for the population of Okanogan County is given them an opportunity to get everything they need” locally, he said.

“They can stay here rather than go to Wenatchee. … Wal-Mart is instrumental in that.”

Wal-Mart also is working to bring more jobs to the county - helping the county seek government grants to expand its airport. A commercial airport is necessary to lure more businesses to the area, Brye said.