In Peoria, Arizona, it appears they have a new Wal-Mart opening in their town (two of them, actually), but it won’t look anything like the ones here:
The façade of the Oldtown Wal-Mart at Peoria and 79th avenues will make it appear as if it is broken into small shops, said James Mason, assistant to the city manager.
With such features as upper-story windows with awnings and shutters, changes in elevation and materials, the store will give the impression of a variety of stores that developed over time.
“It has that . . . old Main Street kind of look, even though it’s a large, big-box store,” said Mason. “That’s one of the best things you can do with a large, contiguous space. It breaks it up, it makes it more pedestrian-friendly, it makes it more pleasant to look at.”
I hate Wal-Mart, but I quote this article to make a couple points: First, even big box stores (and there’s no bigger box than Wal-Mart) can adapt their cookie-cutter templates to conform to a community’s design standards, in this case making their store façades attractive and consistent with existing architecture.
And second, this didn’t happen by accident. Although the newspaper article made it sound like it was Wal-Mart’s idea, in fact Wal-Mart was simply complying with Peoria, Arizona’s Non-Residential Design Manual. Some of the requirements of that manual can be seen here in this excerpt from their Planning and Zoning Commission’s minutes regarding another Wal-Mart that is being built on the north side of town:
Section 20-70-4 of the Non-Residential Design Review Manual requires rooflines to be varied in height, form, and materials. Building mass is to be broken into small components through the use of recesses and projections, wall plane off-sets and changes in texture and color. The elevation plans for the Wal-Mart structure demonstrate conformance with Design Guidelines. The elevation plans provide ample horizontal and vertical articulation to break up the mass of the buildings. The buildings also incorporate a diverse color and material palette. Decorative cornices along the roof parapet, fenestration and wainscoting have been included in the design. Upon completion of this building and supporting landscaping, the development will provide a significant aesthetic enhancement to the existing commercial node at the intersection of Thunderbird and 75th Avenue.
See, if Peoria, Arizona, can dictate to Wal-Mart what form their big box store should take, surely Peoria, Illinois, can do the same for big and small developments within the Heart of Peoria Plan area… such as on the old Sears block… or along Knoxville between Downtown and McClure. All it takes is a little willpower.
Look at the Springfield, IL Meyers store near the corner of I-72 and IL Rte. 4. Same thing as this Wal-Mart: it looks like a series of individual stores built up against one another. Although it does look kinda funny as appears someone built only one side of a Main Street out in the middle of a cornfield 🙂
I work for a multi-billion dollar business and whenever they bulid somewhere new, they are always subjected to how the building can look…it is the city’s way or no way.
And is it “a little willpower” or b@lls? 🙂
Wal-Mart can do multi-level stores as well.
Chef: That is one of Meijer’s “small town/farm” templates. THat’s why it still looks a bit odd.
Peoria, AZ’s design standards appear to be the same as was originally adopted by Ft. Collins, CO who are considered to be the pioneers of big-box design requirements.
An example that comes to mind is the Home Depot in Ft. Collins.
Didn’t you and Ms. Akeson just get made into examples of what happens when people in Peoria try to exert some willpower? I think there is plenty of desire in this town for change, it just gets killed by _______, you fill in the blank. I don’t know who they are, but locally they are much more powerful than any walmart.
All Peoria can do is add more stop lights.
Yea, I believe the Meyers was built like that on their own. Springfield didn’t tell them to.
Walmart and all the big boxes will conform and transform to get into the a lucrative market. While I mostly agree with the HOP, my only question is if we, as a city, have the B@LLS to carry this through considering how many people will be p!ssed off.
I also wonder… and I don’t know the answer, just a question… do we have the power to change the design of a big box? Peoria isn’t geographically very large, and we have emerging towns surrounding us. Is it such a stretch that they would look at what we want and just move across the boundary line?
I have seen numerous Meyers around the country that look like that one in Springfield.
PeoriaIllinoisan: Every City has the power to change a big box. I’ll insist that putting lipstick on a pig just makes the pig more attractive.
There is a bigger problem with big boxes, but at least good building and site design can make them a bit more humane spaces.
It is putting lipstick on a pig. It’s still a pig, but it doesn’t matter because this town can’t recognize a pig without the lipstick. BeanCounter pretty well said it. Point out around here that the Emperor has no clothes and you get tossed over the side.
I agree with C.J.
P-town could do the same…my example is Bend, Oregon. Anyone ever see a McDonald’s that looked like an old western saloon on the cattle grazing grounds..it exists in Bend, OR to fit in with the dry hot landscape on the dry side of the Cascades…
As the old Micky D ads used to say….”Hey…it could happen!”
JB