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CHICAGO-Stymied in attempts to build a store beyond its initial outlet on the West Side, retail giant Wal-Mart Stores will use the 130,818-sf store at North and Kilpatrick avenues as the center of its first "Jobs and Opportunity Zone." The company is pledging to build 50 stores during the next two years in struggling areas and help local small businesses.

"Some of these stores will be in neighborhoods that have high crime or high unemployment," said Wal-Mart president and chief executive officer Lee Scott Tuesday at the Newspaper Association of America convention. "Others will be built on top of sites that are environmentally contaminated. Several will be built in vacant buildings or shopping centers that need revitalization."

Although the Bentonville, AR-based retailer succeeded in getting approval to build a $6-million store on the 10-acre site bordering the Austin and West Humboldt Park neighborhoods, replacing an abandoned manufacturing plant, it was unsuccessful in a bid for a second store on the South Side. Opponents from labor, community and religious groups have lobbied against Wal-Mart, claiming the chain pays wages below those paid by its competitors, and has a pattern of driving out smaller competitors.

Under its Jobs and Opportunity Zone program, announced at the construction site at North and Kilpatrick avenues, the retailer will feature five local businesses per month in newspaper and radio advertising, as well as host seminars for smaller entrepreneurs. The company, which spends $2.4 billion a year with Chicago-based vendors, also will host programs instructing minority- and women-owned companies on how to get business from Wal-Mart.

"This will be our first store within the city limits of Chicago. And we want it to be an anchor for jobs and economic opportunity in that neighborhood," Scott said. "The fact is Wal-Mart has never been afraid to invest in communities that are overlooked by other retailers. Where those businesses see difficulty, we see opportunity."

When the city council blocked the company from building on the South Side, it went a few miles west, across the city limits to Evergreen Park, Scott noted. While 25,000 people applying for 325 jobs at the store was newsworthy enough, Scott added 98% of those applicants came from Chicago. Likewise, Chicago officials walking through Wal-Mart's parking lot saw a high percentage of vehicles with their city stickers.

"Our success at Evergreen Park was a real inspiration to us at Wal-Mart," Scott said. "We were right to build that store."

Instant Insights /

West Side Store Debuting Wal-Mart Jobs Program

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