Walmart and Pick ‘n Save could square off at Timmerman Plaza

With a vacancy rate of about 83 percent, the Timmerman Plaza Shopping Center certainly needs new tenants.
The shopping center could get a major boost from Dickson, Tenn.-based Gatlin Development Co. Inc., which plans to replace the former JCPenney store, which closed in December, with a 147,806-square-foot Walmart store.
However, the Walmart store, which will include a grocery department, could put significant pressure on the Pick ‘n Save grocery store at Timmerman Plaza. The Pick ‘n Save store is one of the few remaining tenants in the shopping center located northwest of Silver Spring Drive and Appleton Avenue on Milwaukee’s far northwest side.
Other tenants in the shopping center include: Dollar Tree, Radio Shack and O’Reilly Auto Parts.
David Livingston, a grocery industry analyst and a former employee of Milwaukee-based Pick ‘n Save parent company Roundy’s Supermarkets Inc., predicts the Timmerman Plaza Pick ‘n Save store’s sales will decline by 25 to 30 percent when the Walmart store opens in the shopping center. In the Milwaukee area Walmart usually wants to locate close to high volume Pick ‘n Save stores, but Livingston described the Timmerman Plaza Pick ‘n Save as an “average” performing store.
Despite the expected hit from Walmart, Livingston predicts that Roundy’s will keep the 79,500-square-foot Pick ‘n Save store at Timmerman Plaza open.
“I think it will hang on and perform at a weaker level,” Livingston said. “I think what Roundy’s will want to do is take a stand and show the potential buyers of the company that they are not just going to close a store every time Walmart opens a store.”
Walmart’s prices are significantly lower than at Pick ‘n Save stores, Livingston said. Pick ‘n Save cannot cut its prices down to Walmart levels because it has higher labor costs, the company has debts to pay off and the stores need to make rent payments, he said.
Roundy’s spokeswoman Vivian King declined to comment on plans for the Walmart store at Timmerman Plaza.
“We really don’t comment on the competition,” she said. “We know the grocery industry is very competitive. There are many communities where we compete with Walmart. We focus on serving the needs of our customers.”
The plans for the Timmerman Plaza Walmart store will be reviewed by the Milwaukee City Plan Commission on Monday, Jan., 31.
Gatlin also plans to develop two Walmart stores in Menomonee Falls and Walmart stores in South Milwaukee and Greendale.