Public opinion varies on expanded retail
Over the past five years, local city and county officials have managed to handle a tremendous retail growth in Cache Valley.
However, the opinions of long-time valley residents about the growth vary. While some say the expanded shopping and employment options are a boon to the valley, others see the area as losing its mystique.
“It’s a whole growth issue, in what’s good growth and what’s bad,” said Logan Economic Director Nevin Limburg. “If you plan the use of your land well, you can still balance.”
Limburg said he believes growth has been managed fairly well in Logan and surrounding communities, but others, like 68-year Logan resident Darrell Larson, said the growth is bringing the destruction of Cache Valley.
“I used to be able to drive the road and not fear for my life,” Larson said. “[These] days there’s so much damn traffic I figure I’d save myself time by just driving straight to the funeral home.”
Larson said even though there are more stores like Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club to shop at, it’s all over-kill, meant to squeeze dollars out of the consumer.
“We had [JC] Penney’s and Woolworth’s and didn’t need anything else,” Larson said.
While big-box stores like Wal-Mart are becoming commonplace, it is a reality of a changing economy, said Tom Grover, a sophomore political science major and life-long Cache Valley
resident.
“A lot of people lament the box store,” he said. “[But] our economy is changing and becoming more efficient.”
Grover said he has no qualms about shopping at stores like Wal-Mart, because it saves money and is a more efficient process than shopping at local businesses.
There are also drawbacks to the big-box stores, Grover said.
“Their employees are generally not knowledgeable about the products,” he said. “Take Home Depot, for example. It’s tough to get good advice.”
Grover, who manages apartments in Logan, said he prefers to shop at local hardware stores when he needs something for his apartment complex.
“Knowing you’re getting what you really need and that someone is there backing it up means something,” he said. “It all depends on what you’re buying.”
With the number of shopping options increased, former Logan resident Janice Clark said more businesses with high-paying jobs, not clothing stores, is what Cache Valley needs.
“We moved away because there were no job opportunities in Logan,” Clark said. “We are eager to get back as soon as there is an employer who can provide a job.”
Clark said she moved to the Seattle area after living in Cache Valley for 28 years, because there were few jobs available for MBA and business graduates. She said Logan should focus on attracting large companies like JP Morgan, and Kimberly Clark instead of retail chains and restaurants.
Aside from her desire for more high-paying jobs in Logan, Clark said the retail growth is probably a good thing for the area.
“I think Logan has become more of a desirable place to live because of the economic growth,” she said. “Logan is a desirable market for businesses and provides a lot of opportunities for the community.”
The proximity of Logan to every recreational opportunity imaginable is one major reason Clark said she thinks Logan is a desirable place for businesses to locate.
The real question of whether retail growth is good or bad for Cache Valley is whether it is managed correctly, Grover said.
“Community planners seem to have done a good job of long-term planning and preservation of agricultural land and open space,” Grover said.
The balance between land management, preventing urban sprawl and keeping the quality of life in Cache Valley high is important and possible, Limburg said.
“You can still have people staying in the valley and happy to be doing things that are of a family nature and everything right here in the valley,” he said. “You can still have your green spaces. You can still not have urban sprawl. You can still meet those issues.”
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