Walmart skips appearance at city hearings about potential NY store, council members criticize chain

Erin Durkin New York Daily News 01/09/2011 17:23

New Yorkers may have to wait just a bit longer to shop at Walmart. The giant retailer refused to attend a city council hearing about its proposed East New York location.

Walmart execs are boycotting a City Council hearing on the chain's plans to open its first store in New York City, the Daily News has learned.

Philip Serghini, Walmart senior manager for community affairs, said in a letter to Council members that the company will skip Wednesday's hearing. He also criticized the Council for picking on Walmart - even though other big chains like Target, Kmart and Costco already have stores in the city.

"The joint hearing ...does not appear to consider the impact of the hundreds of N.Y.C. stores operated by these companies; rather it focuses solely on Walmart," Serghini wrote.

"Since we have not announced a store for New York City, I respectfully suggest the committee first conduct a thoughtful examination of the existing impact of large grocers and retailers on small businesses in New York City before embarking on a hypothetical exercise," Serghini wrote.

"For these reasons and more, we respectfully decline participation."

Walmart is eying an East New York site at the Related Companies' planned Gateway II shopping center for its first city store.

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