Oswego residents who have been waiting to do their shopping at Wal-Mart Super Center may want to hop on Route 3 and head out to the new Granby location, as the plug has officially been pulled on the project to upgrade and expand Oswego’s Wal-Mart.

It remains unclear as to exactly why the project has been called off for the Oswego store. Wal-Mart public affairs manager, Philip Serghini, had noted in the Jan. 10 edition of The Palladium-Times, that he expected the project to be moving forward shortly.
“We are hoping we will have all the necessary permits by late February or sooner. We are hoping to begin the expansion sometime in March or April.” These  were the promising words of Serghini.

He spoke in stark contrast to those optimistic words earlier this week when asked of the project’s current status, replying, “This project has been withdrawn. As part of our recent announcement to moderate growth in the United States, this project was re-evaluated and, due to significantly increased cost projections for the redevelopment, it was decided we would not move forward with the project.”

Strangely enough, in searching for answers for the Super Center expansion being axed, there were little or none to be found. In that same Jan. 10 piece on the project, New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) Information Officer, Anthony Ilacqua, spoke of the necessity of a major highway permit that would require the addition of a dual left-hand turn lane heading eastbound on Route 104, for traffic heading into the parking lot, as the lone permit needed for the project to move on. Earlier this week, Josh Ribakove, who is also a NYSDOT information officer, was unaware of the project being withdrawn, noting that he felt the permit needed was definitely not an “increased cost” and that he was fairly certain that it had nothing to do with the expansion being called off.

The Wal-Mart Supercenter’s demise was also news to the city councilor whose ward the store sits in and he said he was greatly disappointed to hear of the decision. Shawn Walker, R-4th Ward, said, “It saddens me to hear the news … but with the economy in the state it is currently in I suppose I can see why they aren’t going to move forward with things.” He added, “I would have really liked to have seen the project move forward … not only could it have helped out our residents locally by cutting down on their travel and gas costs when doing their shopping, but it also would have meant a lot more dollars spent here in town, helping to boost our local economy.”

Regardless of what the exact reasoning behind the decision was, the one thing for certain is that the Oswego Wal-Mart will not be expanding. With a follow up response from Serghini simply stated, “The company does not want to go into detail about the specific costs that resulted in this project being dropped. The bigger reason for the withdrawal here was Wal-Mart's decision to reduce its domestic growth.”