Wal-Mart considers store in Silver Valley

Wal-Mart may be coming to Smelterville, a blink-of-the-eye community along Interstate 90 in Idaho’s Silver Valley.

Eric Berger, a spokesman for the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer, confirmed Wednesday that Wal-Mart officials are considering purchasing land near the freeway’s Smelterville exit. The property lies just outside the limits of the city of 650. The land is already zoned for commercial development.

“We’re looking to move forward with a store in Smelterville,” Berger said. “We see this as an opportunity not only to serve our existing customers, but to attract new ones as well.”

Customer tracking records indicate that Silver Valley residents are driving 45 miles to shop at the Wal-Mart in Post Falls, according to Berger. The freeway exposure is also attractive, he said. About 15,000 vehicles pass through the Silver Valley on Interstate 90 each day. Eastbound travelers have no major shopping opportunities until they reach Missoula, three hours away.

Capturing the attention of the world’s largest retailer is a mixed bag for local residents. For some, Wal-Mart’s interest is verification of a long-awaited economic upturn. For others, it’s a threat to locally-owned retailers.

The Silver Valley has struggled to rebuild its job base since the 1980s, when hundreds of miners lost their jobs in the historic mining district. Even in recent years, economic development has been a hard road. Shoshone County’s population declined by 5 percent between 2000 and 2003.

Recent upgrades at Silver Mountain, however, have led to a real estate boom. Tourists and investors have begun buying up older homes for ski rentals and vacation cabins, with the expectation that property values will rise along with growth in outdoor recreation.

Tom Benson, Smelterville’s mayor, says he sees the upside of a Wal-Mart store. The Silver Valley hasn’t had a large department store since the J.C. Penney’s closed in Kellogg in 1999. A Wal-Mart, he said, “is a pretty natural use of that site.”

“If I want to buy a pair of Levis, I have to go to Coeur d’Alene,” Benson said. “If I want to buy a suit jacket, I have to go to Coeur d’Alene.”

Many local residents would rather spend their money in the community, he said. The presence of a big-box retailer could also increase the dollars spent in the community by skiers and other tourists, Benson believes.

“We’ve been trying to get growth for a long time. This is the first real deal to come here,” he said. “It’s going to hurt some business. But when you look at the whole thing – the people, the jobs and the tax base we so desperately need – I think it will be a positive.”

The best possible outcome, in Benson’s opinion, would be for local retailers to adjust their inventories so they’re not competing directly with Wal-Mart on low-cost items. Then everyone could thrive, he said.

Local merchants have scheduled a 6 p.m. meeting on Friday to discuss what a Wal-Mart might mean for the community. The meeting, which is open to the public, takes place at Kellogg office of the Idaho Department of Commerce and Labor, 35 Wildcat Way.

Ron Hurd, the owner of Ron’s Sportsmen in Kellogg, expects up to 100 people to attend. He’s firmly opposed to a Wal-Mart.

Hurd drew heavily from his savings to open Ron’s Sportsmen in an old service station last year. The sporting goods store sells camping gear, fishing tackle and hunting supplies. Wal-Mart hasn’t decided what size store it would build in Smelterville, but its stores run between 80,000 and 220,000 square feet.

“I don’t mind competition, but this isn’t competition, its devastation,” Hurd said. “They would have a lot of the stuff that I sell … and they buy and sell below my cost most of the time.”

Hurd wants to discuss with other merchants the prospects for blocking a Wal-Mart . Most locally owned retailers, he said, share his opposition.

“I have everything … tied up in this store,” he said. “I could end up jobless and bankrupt.”