When a new neighbor moves in next door, you might invite them over to get to know them better. Well, Walmart plans to move into two new areas of the city.
The retailer hosted an open house to meet it's potential new neighbors.
A team from Walmart came to meet the people who live near the proposed stores.
The mood of the room was very subdued.
Everyone seemed calm, cool and collected but still many people were not happy with the idea of Walmart coming to their neighborhood.
When Brian Pulling found out one of the world's largest retailers picked a site next to his neighborhood for a new store, he was less than excited.
"I was extremely disappointed in the decision to have that happen and the way it came about. the way it was announced very, very short to the time they were planning the new zoning areas in the planning for the city," Pulling said.
Some people have concerns about what going to happen to their property values if Walmart sets up shop in their backyard.
"I feel my property values may be cut in about half. We already heard from somebody tonight...one person was going to buy their house, as soon as they heard about the proposal, backed out of the deal," Pulling said.
With so many people worried about having Walmart as a new neighbor, the retailer hosted an open house to calm their fears.
Steve Hanselman, Walmart Market Manager said "I think it went great. There were a lot of great questions about the two new supercenters and I think we were able to field and answer a lot of those questions."
And Pulling also had many questions for city leaders who took part in the open house.
"I felt they gave me the facts as they have before them. I did my best to ask the questions I needed to ask but I feel like I got fair answers from them. Not the answers I wanted but still fair answers," Pulling said.
He may have his questions answered ...
"The traffic issues that are going to be in that area, the safety issues in that area due to the traffic and some of the transient issues that sometimes Walmarts are accompanied with. also, we have schools that are very close to that area," Pulling said.
But Pulling still feels the new stores will bring a lot more problems than they're worth.
Some people asked us "if they have to abide by covenant restrictions in their neighborhood such as how much brick or stone their house should have, then why doesn't Walmart have to do the same?"
