Wal-Mart Nixes South Side Location
By Margaret Lyons in News on Aug 31, 2004 12:48PM
It looks like the love affair betwixt Chicago and Wal-Mart might be on the fritz. The megastore has dropped its plans for a South Side location, and theyre on the ass end of a law suit filed by the Illinois attorney generals office. The suit, which is also directed at Target, is an attempt to collect back state taxes on products Illinois residents purchased online between 1999 and 2002.
Wal-Marts building contract on 83rd and Stewart expired, and the company did not renew it. The project has been derailed by big-box ordinances that would instate minimum wage and benefit standards on so-called big-box stores like Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target, Home Depot, and Lowes. The ordinances, which singl[e] out just somenot allbusinesses in Chicago," according to Wal-Mart spokesman John Bisio, might also impact the West Side location.
Wal-Mart claims that the standards might make it impossible for them to operate, and that while theyll continue in good faith on the 1657 N. Kilpatrick location, that project is still in jeopardy. Yeah, Wal-Mart is famous for its good faith practices.