By Jack Kuenzie - bio | email
WEST COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - Wal-Mart, Inc. is expanding its South Carolina operations and bringing 4,000 new jobs to the state, the retail giant announced on Wednesday.
The Wal-Mart deal will create new stores in Fort Mill and Bennettsville, relocated stores in Lake City and Easley, along with expansions in other areas. Wal-Mart CEO Bill Simon said the average wage of the jobs would be $12.80 per hour.
Simon and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley appeared at a news conference in West Columbia Wednesday afternoon to make the announcement. "Under the governor's leadership, we believe South Carolina is a great place for us to invest and grow," said Simon.
"The reason we have companies that continue to invest in South Carolina is we tell you 'when you get here, we will take care of you,'" Haley added.
Wal-Mart's decision would bring $400M in investments to South Carolina over five years, and brings its total number of jobs in South Carolina to approximately 32,000.
The announcement comes a week after Wal-Mart helped eliminate 1,250 new jobs in Lexington County by opposing a promised tax break for competing retailer Amazon.com.
State economic developers had told Amazon they'd make their best effort to renew the expired break, but legislators rejected the effort after Haley and a coalition of retailers including Wal-Mart opposed it. Amazon pulled the plug on what was to be a 1,200-plus employee distribution center after the vote.
Haley still faces criticism for allowing Amazon to pull out. "We want Amazon in that state, but we want to keep a competitive playing field," responded Haley. "We're continuing to reach out with Amazon, and we'll see what we can do to make it work."
Simon said the move has been in the works for months, and Haley said it had nothing to do with Amazon's decision to leave.
The Wal-Mart announcement comes as Lexington County government and business leaders try to revive the Amazon deal under the banner "Amazon Yes!"
"The chance of this happening is slim to none, but again I get back to our state's motto, while there's a breath, we hope," said Randy Halfacre of the Lexington County Chamber of Commerce.
Amazon vice president Paul Misener said last week he did not expect negotiations with state officials to resume.
Over the next five years, Wal-Mart plans to open at least a dozen new stores throughout South Carolina, as well as relocate and expand other existing stores, company spokesman Daniel Morales said.
"We want the new companies, but it is a treasure to look at the companies that we already have and say, what do we need to do to make them better?" Haley asked.
Morales said Wal-Mart sought no special tax incentives or deals as part of its commitment.
"We're not looking for anything like that," he said. "We're not getting any special carve-outs."
South Carolina's unemployment rate dropped below 10 percent for the first time in more than two years in March, measuring 9.9 percent. At the time, Haley - who took office in January - took some credit for the improved numbers, saying she was on the phone daily with businesses, encouraging them to locate in South Carolina or to expand their operations here.
Frank Knapp, chief executive of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce, said that small business owners wondering how to compete in areas where the retail giant is expanding need to remind their consumers of perks they can offer that bigger stores perhaps cannot.
"Small businesses have to learn how to compete with them on other things," Knapp said. "It's either service, convenience, something that the small business can do that maybe the big box store cannot. ... Now they have to either die or get creative and come up with another reason why people should shop with them."
Copyright 2011 WIS. All rights reserved. AP contributed to this report.
Gov. Haley and other leaders announce the deal
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