Big holes to fill when Wal-Mart moves out

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1208&u_sid=10078742

Big holes to fill when Wal-Mart moves out
BY JOHN KEENAN
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Hanging on a lamppost across from the empty store, the sign reads "Wal-Mart Security Cameras in Use."

Well, maybe not.


The empty storefront in the shopping center on 84th Street in La Vista still bears the outline of the Wal-Mart logo, visible, like a stencil, across its blue facade. The store closed in October 2006 when a Wal-Mart Supercenter opened in Papillion's new Market Pointe at 72nd Street and Giles Road.


The empty storefront in the shopping center on 84th Street in La Vista still bears the outline of the Wal-Mart logo, visible, like a stencil, across its blue facade. The store closed in October 2006 when a Wal-Mart Supercenter opened in Papillion's new Market Pointe at 72nd Street and Giles Road.

In that La Vista shopping plaza and others like it, the closing of a Wal-Mart store - often because a new, larger Wal-Mart Supercenter opened nearby - leaves a void.

In the Omaha area alone, two Wal-Marts have closed. And because of the size - the La Vista Wal-Mart space had more than 100,000 square feet - it can be hard to find another occupant.

Wal-Mart Realty's Web site last week listed nine former Wal-Marts available for lease in Nebraska, although company spokesman Ryan Horn said several of them were partially occupied or in the process of being leased.

FULL story at link.