You know, DC really is different from the rest of America when you realize it is just now getting its first Wal-Mart. And not even close-in DC, were talking Landover in Prince Georges County.
Wal-Mart said last month that the Landover Hills store will be one of 10 urban areas it planned to help revitalize with jobs and small-business assistance. The Bentonville, Ark., company said it will select five nearby retailers each quarter to receive in-store and local advertising and small-business education.
Those retailers haven’t been selected. But for now, retailers across the street from the store are just excited something is finally happening at the site, the former Capital Plaza Mall, which had been relatively dead for years.
The shopping center, on Route 450 off the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, had fallen into despair following the departures of Montgomery Ward and Hechinger in the late 1990s. Other retailers followed, and customers had no reason to go to the mall.
“The mall needed something to happen. It’s been dead,” said Mimi Gioni, owner of Italian Inn Restaurant across the street from Wal-Mart.
Makes you wonder if Wal-Mart could help save Eastland Mall, doesn’t it? Oh, no. That’s right. Big boxes Target and Lowe’s killed Eastland dead in 1999. At least that is the official fable coming from Uptown.
Nevermind that local residents swear that Eastland’s ultimate fate was sealed by the mid-90s. Let’s just stick to our little coverstory.
Wal-Mart. Bad.
