A peek at Clarkston's new Walmart

Friends and family members of Walmart employees along with officials from the city of Clarkston got a peek Monday at the super center as the store's grand opening at 8 a.m. Wednesday edges closer.

The Clarkston store looked almost ready for business at an open house and appreciation night for about 500 employees who will staff the store.

Many of the shelves were filled with items such as clothing, produce, frozen food, storage bins and gift bags. A few, including those for baked goods and meats, hadn't been stocked.

The store is 67,254 square feet larger than the one it replaces in Lewiston, which closes at 6 p.m. today. The majority of the extra space is devoted to the full line of groceries not carried in Lewiston. But some of it is being used for wider aisles that are lined with shelves of lower heights than those in Lewiston.

Before the tours of the store, the store's manager gave out a total of $29,000 to the city of Clarkston, the Clarkston School District, the Clarkston Fire Department, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the Asotin County Food Bank and Asotin County Meals on Wheels. Those attending the event were treated to punch, cold cuts and cake decorated with images of the new store and Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart.

And store employees did the Walmart cheer, which goes in part: "Whose Walmart is it? My Walmart. Who's No. 1? The customer. Always. What do we want to be? Accident free."

The effect of the Walmart store goes way beyond the employees.

Everyone who shops in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley, even if they never set foot in Walmart, will be spending less on groceries and the other items Walmart sells because its competitors will lower prices, said Steve Peterson, a University of Idaho research economist who has studied Walmart.

At the same time, the super center solidifies the position of the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley as the shopping hub for north central Idaho and southeastern Washington, Peterson said.

Aside from groceries, most of the competitive issues with other stores have already been sorted through since Walmart was been here since 1993, Peterson said.

Grocery stores will be able to compete with Walmart if they take an approach that's different than Walmart's strategy of having the lowest prices, Peterson said.

The only way Walmart can afford to be so inexpensive is by having a high volume of traffic in the store, Peterson said.

That will create an atmosphere that some shoppers would rather avoid and likely prompt them to go to stores like Albertsons even though it's just across the street, Peterson said.

Other retailers will win or lose in small ways, with what Walmart is doing in opening a super center in Clarkston and closing its Lewiston store, Peterson said.

Shopko and Kmart will likely gain Lewiston customers, who don't want to head all the way to Clarkston for similar goods, Peterson said.

But some stores in the Orchards could see dips as shoppers from outlying communities such as Grangeville hit the small businesses in Clarkston, not in Lewiston, on their way to Walmart, Peterson said. "Walmart was an anchor business in some respects for the entire Orchards."

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Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.