Manager of Walmart At Woodlands Parkway & FM 2978 To Speak

[bachanon]

The following is a copy of an email I received today. I'm sorry I couldn't post it earlier.

Grogan's Mill Residents,

Barry Jones will be a guest speaker at the Indian Springs Village

Association meeting this evening (May 9) at 7:00 PM. The meeting is at the

Sterling Ridge YMCA on Ashlane Way. He is the Wal-Mart store manager at the

Woodlands Pkwy and FM 2978 store. He will not speak longer than 10 minutes

and will be available to answer any questions. The presentation is not a

sales pitch, but is more to address concerns and let residents know that

Wal-Mart wants to be a good neighbor.

This is a presentation concerning the new Woodlands Pkwy/ FM 2978 store and

he will probably have no answers about the proposed store on Sawdust. But

some may want to attend to see Wal-Mart's response to residents near a

current store. If you have any interest, please attend. If you do attend,

please let the GMVA know your thoughts on the meeting by e-mailing

bruce@gmva.org.

Thank you,

The Grogan's Mill Village Association Board

If you attend, let us know how it went.

[Mom22Blessings]

copied from another board:

<<<<Upscale Walmart

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was at a meeting last night to hear what the store manager on 2978 has to say about his new store. He said it is one of two " upscale " stores, selling merchandise of much higher quality than the normal Walmart, similar to the upscale store in Plano. The store opens in about a week. They are short handed, so anyone looking for a job might find one there. The McDonalds will look more like a Starbucks than a McDonalds. It is a 24/7 store, closed on Xmas. They are expecting a different clientele. It sounds more like a classy Target than a Walmart by his description. The customer should not "feel" Walmart but a higher class store immediately on entry. >>>>

[Houstonian in Iraq]

Interesting sounds like some Walmarts found up North.

I wonder how long the high classness will last. I give it five years max before it starts looking like Dunville or I-45 N Walmart.

Edited May 11, 2006 by Houstonian in Iraq

[KatieDidIt]

Well I hope it remains as nice as what Wal-Mart wants us to think it will be. ANd it probably will for a few years. But it also has to do a lot with what pops up around it. Lovett Commercial will be building a strip center back there, and they aren't exactly known for architecture and style in their centers.

The lame WOC needs to keep strong tabs and quality requirements for things to turn out nice in the long run, otherwise it will turn into another Westheimer or 1960.

[PureAuteur]

I know what you mean, Katie. But are you referring to Westheimer inside the loop or outside? Two different worlds there. 1960 needs to revive itself with some of the strip center and store sign aesthetics. It looks so cluttered in some parts, and the thing that stuck with me most from my Urban Sociology class is that clutter is bad.

Have you ever driven by the intersection of 2920 and Kuykendahl in spring? If you have, then you know what I'm talking about. That's a perfect example of quickly thrown up retail and cluttered strip centers. It looks like garbage, and i.m.o., ruined a once serene area.

If you are worried about the WOC's not keeping an eye on the development around that wal-mart, maybe now is the time to contact them so they know what's going on. I'm not familiar with that property developer, but I'm sure it won't be that bad. I mean they have to have some knowledge of the place where they're building, hopefully. I'm like an aesthetics perfectionist, and once I move to the Woodlands, which I plan to soon, I will be very active in those types of matters.

[KatieDidIt]

I know what you mean, Katie. But are you referring to Westheimer inside the loop or outside? Two different worlds there.

I am thinking of the area from Chimney Rock and West to the Beltway. There are a few neat things tucked in that mess, but its a prime example of no zoning going totally bad.

Good luck with the Woodlands Operating/Development Company. They keep everything as ambigious and quiet as possible. I have been beating my head against the wall with for some time now. But through Montgomery County I did finally get "No Parking" signs placed down a street near our home to keep the mass parking of Tacoria trucks from occuring from 10am-2pm, stopping gunite and delivery trucks from arriving and starting work at 4am (now its 6am-but its better), additional street lights installed and getting the ones we had turned on, complaining to the MUD district DAILY to get water pressure in the morning ..and lots of other little things like that, which I took for granted in town. And I was very shocked to find that I was the only one really bothered enough by all this chaos to do something about.

You can get things done through different channels with a lot of time and making some good contacts. Its a shame with the outrageous association fees neither the association nor the operating company can do such things for their residents.Glad you are coming, I need backup! There I bitched, but its getting better. But every couple weeks or something will crop up that absolutely amazes me that nobody does something about it.

I still say this place would be completely different if it had a mayor and some true politics were in play around here.

I have some developer friends up here that are purchasing and looking into purchasing land for upscale commerical, one of which may be a Whole Foods, which is mentioned in another thread. After finding that three neighbors within our small subdivision go into WHole Foods in town, he started to woo them for development. Actually one was thinking of purchasing the land behind the Wal-Mart on 2978, but really wants to see what clientele actually visits the concrete box first. I think that attitude will hold back development around there for a while...I mean who wants to purchase a track of land and have it become another Dunvale area?

[PureAuteur]

Well, I'm about to get my MPA degree, and who knows, I may get a job for the W.D.C. and eventually take over running it or develop a plan to set in motion a procedure that would grant the Woodlands police power, meaning it will be able to govern itself and have a mayor or whatever they want have.

At that point, you could just come directly to me, and I would see that things get done. I think that we're alot alike in the sense that we notice things and want things taken care of if there's a problem. Other than being a perfectionist with aesthetics and natural preservation, I'm also a perfectionist when it comes to competence. Nothing annoys me or upsets me more than incompetence.