New Home Depot rekindles debate
The Millcreek Home Depot, 3398 S. Highland, opens for business today, capping a hard-fought battle that took to the County Council and the courts.
"Just to be clear, we were not anti-Home Depot," said Dina Blaes, a vocal critic of the project. "We were anti-100,000-square-foot big box in our neighborhood."
Blaes helped marshal a small group of opponents against Salt Lake County through to its Board of Adjustment and then, with Home Depot as an interested third party, in 3rd District Court. If the project could not be stopped, the group believed, it could be improved, and the group eventually won concessions and changes such as additional parking and landscaping.
Today, the Millcreek Home Depot opens for business, and company spokeswoman Kathryn Gallagher said all expectations point to "business as usual."
"Sometimes, in the initial planning process, we do come against some opposition, for various reasons," Gallagher said. "In the instance of the east Salt Lake property, we did encounter a small group opposed to the location of the store. We think we came to a good resolution, a good agreement."
"The outcome was not what we had hoped, but it's here now, and I just hope it doesn't go dark in five years and leave us with a huge, empty skeleton of a building," she said.
Blaes also said she hopes the Millcreek experience will raise the level of public debate about the impact of big-box stores — not just in her neighborhood but across the state. There are "systemic" tax issues, she said, along with land use and development issues — all of which impact the way Utah's communities are evolving.
"This issue is so much bigger than this one Home Depot," she said. "It's everywhere. It's in Sandy, Centerville, everywhere. And it's a really tough thing, because every community wants new development. The tax base is critical, and everybody realizes that."
Rod Dunn, owner of Millcreek Pharmacy & Hardware, said he is concerned that mega-retailers are beginning to saturate the Wasatch Front.
"We've already had the hit from the Home Depot closest to here (in Ft. Union)," Dunn said. "They'll probably compete with themselves more than anything."
Still, Dunn said, "I think to local businesses, stores like this have a detrimental effect. Pretty soon that's all you'll have: Home Depot and Wal-Mart. And then look out."
If Millcreek Pharmacy & Hardware were simply "Millcreek Hardware," it likely would not have survived the entry of Home Depot into the market, Dunn said, indicating that hardware sales were "significantly hurt" when the Ft. Union Home Depot opened.
Gallagher disagreed, maintaining there's a market out there.
"Salt Lake is a viable market, one that continues to grow," she said. "The support from our customers is tremendous in terms of driving business and continually coming back. So we think this store will serve a great area that we're not currently serving."
Home Depot now has 16 stores in Utah and employs more than 3,000 people statewide.
E-mail: jnii@desnews.com
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