LELAND -- The Leland Wal-Mart is finally open. Customers packed the store during its first shopping day. But did the super store take business away from other local shops?
Even 12 hours after opening, lines at the check out were long. With all the customers shopping there, was anyone shopping anywhere else? Local businesses say yes.
The Wal-Mart in Leland is up and running; attracting shoppers, buying everything from toys to food. The cha-ching heard at their registers, was also echoed just a few doors down.
"We've been a lot busier," Karim Bashir, the District Sales Manager of Shoe Dept., "Traffic has been steady all day long."
Neighboring shops located in the same shopping center says the super store isn't taking their business. It's actually increasing it. So much so that extra staff was on hand at other stores next door.
"We had a lot more people in there," Jessica Hall, an employee at Dollar Tree said, "I had to come on like a half hour earlier because we had so many people in there."
"I've had to beef up the staff to about four people tonight," Karim Bashir said, "Usually we've been working on about two per night."
But it's not just the chain stores where business is booming. Family owned and operated stores, like all about flooring, say sales are up thanks to their new neighbor.
"I believe Wal-Mart helped me a bunch to be in here with these guys," Doug Duboise owner of All About Flooring says.
Business owners say they hope business continues at the rate it was today.
