Wal-Mart Departure = Deathblow For East Wareham?

In this town, on this day, the Wal Mart has giveth, and taketh away....

A seismic shift in Warehm's economic existence is going down today, as the Wal-Mart on the Cranberry Highway closes her doors for good. They are moving their operations into West Wareham.

Their lease in East Wareham wouldn't let them sell groceries, and the new store will be right where 28/25/6/495/195 converge. People like to beat up Wally, myself included, but you can understand their motivation here.

This is a massive change to the face of the town. East Wareham loses her Boss business, and the effects will reach far beyond the 4 walls of the store.

West Wareham, which as a backwater until recently, got Wareham Crossng in 2007. That, and this Wal-Mart, killed off 350 acres of forest. It turned a rural area into a traffic destination. There are those who say that one of the Walton heirs personally came to Wareham and stomped all of the Eastern Box Turtles on the property to death.

The Weweantic River, which feeds off the streams near Wally, is said to be less than pleased with the Walton's arrival. She may be a new channel to dump more nitrogen into Buzzards Bay, and doom what is left of our shellfishing.

The Crossing radically changed West Wareham, and the Wally will change it more.

Wally will also change East Wareham, his former home. Wally is leaving a plaza that has already lost Staples, TJ Maxx, and Friendly's... each of whom (I'm not 100% sure about the Friendly's, and Jessica is over there doing the pics as I write this) moved to the more-happening West Wareham area.

Not many businesses of any power are now on the Cranberry Highway in East Wareham. The biggest business there which isn't serving food or pouring gasoline is either Benny's or Sullivan Tire. Ooops, I almost forgot Home Depot... although I wonder how long they plan to stay there?

Can you really anchor a business district around what is left in East Wareham these days? I do wonder if the region will be able to support the Fast Food Fab Five (McDonald's, Burger King, KFC/Taco Bell, Wendy's and Subway) without both the WalMart customers and her employees. I'll be less than pleased if I have to go to Exit 6 in Plymouth to get Papa Gino's pizza, I'll tell you that much.

Fortunately, because there's a Dunkin' Donuts every 200 yards, the coffee people will be OK.

When the foodies leave, that's when you can start digging the grave. That chops the low-level jobs from the region by the dozens, Those businesses tend to anchor themselves around the big business in the area, and they won't survive picking off the few people who need to go to Benny's.

Stop n Shop now anchors the plaza that Wally used to own, with help from Radio Shack, Delken's Laundry, the Dollar Store, ProCuts and a nail joint. Throw in a few banks and some squalid motels, and that's the backbone of the business district.

This section of town is doomed... and it has been in the spiral since 1987. That was when Route 25 was expanded to the Bourne Bridge, which took all of the tourist money away. That killed the dog, although the tail was wagging until Wally hauled up stakes for the other side of the tracks. Expect no help from the government. Our fair Gateway has been the neglected stepchild of Cape Cod for decades.

The bad part is that, on the surface, this looks like a positive. Wareham just shifted their Wally a few miles down the road, so only the poorest motel-living people will lose access to Wally's Asian-crafted goodies. Rather than killing jobs, the move up to Super status created 85 paying gigs for people in a pretty poor town. Traffic congestion is East Wareham should be lightened considerably.

The worst part is when you think about it deeper than that. There is no silver lining... that's just how the edge of the blade looks when your section of town is on the chopping block.

I have a few ideas as to what to do with the old Wally building, but that will be for a future article. I still need to find an Asian kid to pose for my Jade/Helm occupying UN/Chinese soldier photos.

In the meantime, I look at East Wareham and just shudder. There's a bad moon on the rise.