Residents Sound Off Against New Walmart in Encinitas

Walmart is set to open its first store in Encinitas, and according to some residents, the mega retailer is not welcome.

On Wednesday night, several speakers addressed the City Council to voice disapproval of a Walmart store that will open off Leucadia Boulevard and El Camino Real in the space formerly occupied by the now-defunct Home Expo, which is owned by Home Depot, which is still paying the lease on that vacant storefront.

Home Depot will sub-lease that approximately 104,000-square-foot storefront to Walmart, which has agreed to not use all of the space so that it does not require as many parking spots, thereby meeting the city’s parking standards. Per that agreement, Walmart will close-off an 8,664-square-foot area of the store and keep it vacant at all times, leaving about 96,000 square feet for retail and storage space. That’s significantly smaller than Walmart’s average 140,000-square foot storefronts, and could be part of new trend for the retailer, according to a report by BusinessWeek.  

Though the city’s parking requirements have been satisfied, several neighbors still questioned Walmart’s impact on traffic. One of the seven speakers also voiced concerns about campers and RVs parking at Walmart overnight, which the retailer allows at some of its stores, according to its own website.  It is not yet known if Walmart will offer overnight parking at the Encinitas location, and city staff pointed out that it only has parking jurisdiction over public streets and not private property.

Residents also said they could think of much better uses for that space, namely a movie theater. UltraStar Theaters President and CEO Alan Grossberg that if Walmart did not go through with the sub-lease, his company would be interested, adding that “Encinitas would be the perfect city for our growth.”

Some residents also said they feared that Walmart, which is the world’s biggest retailer according to its website, would snuff out the local mom-and-pop shops that can’t compete. Though sympathetic, the City Council made it clear that aside from putting zoning in place, the city in no way dictates what types of businesses come to town — and that because Walmart had met all of its legal requirements, there was nothing that could be done to keep the retailer out of Encinitas. 

“We can’t establish different rules for different potential tenants that come in to the community just because we don’t like the company or the company’s image,” Councilwoman Kristin Gaspar explained. “We have to remain consistent and fair.”

Though the city has an obligation, shoppers do not, she added.

“If it is truly the case that residents do not support a particular business, then they shouldn’t be shopping there—and I bet that retailer won’t exist in the community for very long,” she said. “I strongly believe that companies don’t put companies out of business—he people do.”

Deputy Mayor Jerome Stocks echoed those thoughts, though he added that he believed there would be benefits to having Walmart in town, such as more jobs and more tax revenue for the city so it can pay for many of the amenities that residents enjoy.

Councilwoman Teresa Barth said she shared the frustration of the speakers who stood before her. 

“I don’t believe in privatizing the profit and socializing the cost to each and every one of us,” she told the audience.

She encouraged residents to use this as a learning experience and have a voice in other city conversations that deal with related topics, including those outlined in the land use element and circulation element of the city’s draft general plan, which is

City staff does not know how long the sub-lease between Home Depot and Walmart will last, as that is a matter between the two parties. Carlsbad-based Carltas Corporation owns the Plaza Encinitas Ranch shopping center that will house Walmart, and neighboring tenants include , and .