Walmart of my Dreams

The Walmart of My Dreams
By Wally Nichols
(203) 858 3634

It’s worth wondering if the kind of Walmart that is going to be built might have a positive impact on sales or on the community.
There’s a Walmart coming to Wawarsing, NY. My town. That’s a fact and as a community, we’re ok with it. We’re at the planning board stage, debating the look right now with the developers. They want boxy, bland and economical. Flat roofs. The community members want style, though we might be dreaming. What’s in it for Walmart to even listen to us?
I imagine our Walmart faced with the bluestone that’s indigenous to the area and laid up expertly by Chicky Bell and his kid. (I realize getting Walmart to ante up for a building made entirely from stone might be a stretch, so just facing is fine. Chicky will do a great job either way).
There’d be a fine wood exterior trim detail that follows the dramatic vaulted roofline to its impressive peaks. They’d use local rough cut hemlock from Dave Waruch’s saw mill up the street and we’d all point to it, us shoppers, as we pull in visiting relatives to hold hands in a circle in the parking lot and marvel at the handiwork of Mike Dube, a local union carpenter and all around good guy. Then we’d all go in and buy!
The peaks of the roof , which would profile the majestic Catskills on one side and world famous Gunks on the other, would be picture perfect when the heavy snows come. It’ll have the charm of a European chalet! (Ok maybe not a chalet, but it wont look like the Walmart in South Bend Indiana either!). Eric and George of Valley Roofing will not have forgotten to put on snow cleats. They wont get called back for a leaking flat roof in 5 years. They’d also get to buy a new truck from Lonstein Dodge with the money from the contract.
It wouldn’t just be us towns folks buying goods. A spectacular, locally built structure would attract tourists from far away, I suspect, and boost the store’s bottom line. Why buy T-shirts at just any Walmart when you could buy them in a glorious, hand-crafted Walmart? See what I mean? It’d be worth the extra gas money to get here.
And all the town workers who built the unique building would have money to spend there. It makes sense in my dreams anyway.
I can imagine a stand of tall Norway spruces planted in front like a row of lockstep soldiers, visually protecting our valley, ever -present as deterrents to vandals too. Have you ever tried to graffiti tag a pine tree with spray paint? It’s really not easy.
It might be that the stylistic Walmart of my dreams could make lots of money for the locals and the company too. Maybe even rescue the area from the jobless doldrums as other stores follow and embrace the bold aesthetic. Walmart takes a well deserved pat on the back for breaking the mold and giving the folks what they want other than just low prices.
It might also be that the Walmart of my dreams will stay tucked away in my dreams. Someone pinch me.