By Stefan Spezio With rumors running rampant about what will or won't be coming to the structure known as the Napanoch Valley Mall and with both Mr. Tso and some of his tenants saying that they have either been, "told not to talk," or, "been advised by [their] lawyers not to talk," the Ellenville Journal thought it appropriate to take a bit of a road trip to sample the confines of a nearby Wal-Mart located in Monticello, New York; one of the three municipalities that is within the thirty-minute window that many local supporters of the Napanoch Wal-Mart complain about having to drive whenever they want to go shopping.

Prior to our tour of Wal-Mart however, the Journal took a drive, and then a walk down Broadway in Monticello. Helpful street signs label the section of Broadway that was explored as the "Shopping District". In the shopping district you will find a small clothing store, a candy shop, the Monticello location of Cohen's Bakery, a pharmacy and one or two other small shops.

However, you will also find a number of empty stores. Vacant storefronts that are either boarded up or have realtor signs line the streets and contribute to making the "shopping district" rather uninviting. One storeowner, who says she had spoken with local officials, said that she wished more people would take a chance on Broadway. "I am doing my thing here. If I go out, I go out. If that happens I guess I will move back to the city."

In the opposite direction of the shopping district is a strip mall that bears an eerie resemblance to Wawarsing's own beleaguered shopping center. The Apollo Plaza sits completely vacant on a stretch of Broadway with a massive parking lot waiting to be filled.

And while Monticello's economic woes pre-existed the coming of Wal-Mart and are due to a myriad of complex causes, the arrival of Wal-Mart has not helped to revitalize a downtown shopping area that is roughly the same distance from Wal-Mart as the Ellenville business district is from the proposed Napanoch site.

* * * When we finally arrive at Wal-Mart we immediately notice that, at the middle of a weekday, the parking lot is full. Two shoppers heading to their car tell us that they shop in Wal-Mart on a regular basis because of the convenience. Across the street from the Wal-Mart is a series of stores that include ShopRite, Staples and a Home Depot as well as a series of small stores in a nearby plaza.

Inside the Wal-Mart, what people both for and against the "big box" store get excited about, its convenience, is evident. Next to the clothing department is the food department which is next to the electronics, music and video game department, which is just down the way from toy department, which brings you around to housewares.

The size of the place is repugnant to those that worry about how it will look from the outside and tantalizing to those that think about what items they will stock on the inside.

And then there are the other services that the Monticello Wal-Mart includes such as the nail salon, the hair salon, the pharmacy, the McDonald's, the first National Bank of Jeffersonville, the optometrist and the garage that offers oil changes, lube jobs and tires.

Considering all of these services and the fact that the main store is open 24-hours a day, critics of a Napanoch Wal-Mart say that a Supercenter will provide so many services that the convenience it offers will end up hurting local merchants.

But one Monticello resident who spoke on condition of anonymity said that it is not in Wal-Mart's interest to put every other business out of business. His argument is that Wal-Mart is the, "king of demographic research," and that the company knows that if it closes a number of other stores in the area that its profitability will go down. The gentleman also argued that if Wal-Mart took a certain percentage of an existing store's business and forced it to close, then that business was just going to be a natural casualty in the growth of a local economy.

In this gentleman's view, and in several conversations our staff has had with Wawarsing residents as well as the traffic on the Journal's own discussion forum, those hypothetical losses are acceptable.

In truth, a cursory glance at the aforementioned services that the Monticello Wal-Mart offers would be in some form of competition with several businesses already in existence within the Town of Wawarsing. A partial list of such merchants is provided below:

Groceries: Peters Market Shop Rite Clothing: Image Clothing Gifts: J.T. Jewelry and Gift Shop Katherine's Korner Pharmacies: Matthews Pharmacy Rite Aid Food: Lock 31 Ricke Len's Diner 209 Diner McDonald's

Hardware: Ace Hardware Thornton Hardware The Toolbox Automotive: STS Tire Service Tony's Towing Cosmetics: The Cottage Salon True Colors Salon Miscellaneous: The Dollar Store The Eye Studio Ellenville Beverage

COMMENTS about this article (42)