Nugget to City of Vallejo: Ban Wal-Mart or Else!

WOODLAND, Calif. -- Nugget Markets Inc. told the city of Vallejo that it will drop its plans to open a supermarket there unless the city bans Wal-Mart Supercenters.

The city, however, appears to be weighing an ordinance requiring an economic impact analysis of super-sized stores instead, according to local press reports.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is looking to build a supercenter on the site of a former Kmart in Vallejo and plans to open a supercenter in American Canyon, the next town over. Nugget has a Food 4 Less in Vallejo a half-block from a standard Wal-Mart. That Wal-Mart is closing and will be replaced by the 173,000-square-foot supercenter already OK'd for American Canyon, the report said.

Wal-Mart wants to open a supercenter in Vallejo, too, but has not yet applied to the city for a store.

The Nugget unit, meanwhile, would be the city's first upscale supermarket, an asset Vallejo City Hall wants to attract. But the city also wants to consider what the ban would do to its general fund. If the city doesn't welcome large retailers, said city spokesman Mark Mazzaferro, it sacrifices sales tax.

Nugget originally hoped to open a store in Vallejo this fall, and has a site at Ascot and Turner parkways. But the retailer won't close escrow on the property without a ban, reports said.

Calls to Nugget from Progressive Grocer were not returned by press time.
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