For years now rumors have appeared about the fate of the Napanoch Valley Mall, a hulking eyesore on Route 209 of disintegrating concrete, echoing emptiness and thousands of weeds. The mall is a stark reminder of better, healthier days, days that seemed so painfully recent, yet never to return. To see the large empty spaces that once accommodated department stores and supermarkets now house a small flea market is to witness a local economy in active decline, from health and vibrancy to (if the mall is any measure) a state of bare subsistence. While the few remaining full-time merchants — Katherine's Kornor, Brother John's Pizza, and all the rest have struggled mightily to survive, no store could be expected to last very long in such a difficult environment. Thus it is with great relief that they and many others in our town have greeted the news that Wal-Mart could finally be on its way.

The few details that are known are sketchy; rumors of contracts and construction dates have all been heard before in the Town of Wawarsing, about the mall, about casinos, and countless other projects. Therefore, we should take the news with some patience and a grain of salt, as many in the area apparently have. But if the news is real, and a Wal-Mart is in our future we would be wise to look at what that means to us now. Regardless if one is "for" or "against" Wal-Mart, no one will disagree that its arrival will drastically change life in our town, turning a virtually forgotten area into the center of attention and affecting every home and business within a dozen miles of the sleepy mall.

Wal-Mart takes in around $570,000 every minute of every hour of every day, so in about 10 minutes Wal-Mart has earned more than the mall's supposed purchase price of $5.5 million. That is how large Wal-Mart is, and how insignificant the Napanoch Valley Mall is to Wal-Mart's sense of a "local" economy. We should remember this when considering whether Wal-Mart truly has our interests in mind.

While the effects of a local Wal-Mart Supercenter are yet to be seen, one need only look to another hulking relic on Route 209, the now empty and decaying former Schrade knife factory, to see what the effects of globalization and the "Wal-Martization" of the economy has had on us to date. We have suffered from the erosion of domestic manufacturing, cheap foreign labor, and anti-American trade policies, all actively exploited by Wal-Mart and the producer of most of their products: China. The price has been very steep for Ellenville and the Town of Wawarsing — loss of jobs, tax revenue, and a sense of identity. Perhaps, with Wal-Mart in our midst, we will finally see what we paid for.

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