EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first in a series of articles examining the impact of Wal-Mart stores opening in small communities. Wal-Mart has announced plans to open a Supercenter in Ironwood Township in 2007

By ANDY HILL

Globe Associate Editor

ANTIGO, Wis. -- The Wal-Mart Supercenter on Antigo's north side is neither the answer nor the problem for shoppers in this northeastern Wisconsin community.

"We're under-retailed is what our problem is here," said newspaper editor Fred Berner, who joined the Antigo Daily Journal in 1972.

Antigo is comparable to Ironwood, a community of 8,500 located in rural Langlade County (pop. 22,000). Its downtown was devastated long before Wal-Mart opened its doors five years ago, and independent businesses are almost a thing of the past.

K-Mart closed

One direct effect from the Wal-Mart opening: the Antigo Kmart store closed one year after the Supercenter opened. Ironwood currently is home to a Big K Kmart store. Prior to Wal-Mart's arrival, Berner said, Kmart had been "very successful."

"Most of the damage to 'mom and pop'ers' was done by Fleet Farm and Kmart over a 20-year period," said Berner.

Antigo had no fewer than five hardware stores before Fleet Farm opened its 200,000-square-foot store.

"That technically knocked all the hardware stores out of business," said Berner.

The description of Antigo's seven-block downtown sounds a lot like Ironwood.

"There are no chain businesses," said Berner. "We lost our Penney's store in a battle over a lease."

"For anybody to go shopping for clothes, it's hard," said Denise Wendt, former director of the Antigo Area Chamber of Commerce. "There's a nice ladies' store downtown, but mostly it's just Fleet Farm and Wal-Mart."

Not a rich market

Wendt said Antigo isn't a cash-rich market.

"We're not like a Wausau, where they've got the money around, but we could certainly support stores like Kmart, that have nice things but aren't terribly expensive," she said.

Some businesses have thrived, including Lakeside Pharmacy and Grocery.

"Originally we were downtown as a pharmacy," said store manager Rick Hurlburt. "Seven years ago they bought out a grocery store that had gone out and went into pharmacy and some grocery. We've just kept growing on the grocery. We've got a little niche, and it just keeps growing."

Like Ironwood, Antigo is largely populated by the elderly.

"I think the biggest thing with us is we live in a community that's predominantly retired, older people," said Hurlburt. "We have a 12,000- or 13,000-square-foot store. We're just so convenient, compared to the others."

Wendt said some of the business closures had little to do with big-box retailers.

"When we got our Wal-Mart we had a beautiful clothing store downtown. The owner closed a week later and blamed Wal-Mart," said Wendt. "Come on. There were things going on in her life, and she wanted a change."

Wal-Mart is part of a clear shift in retailing.

A 200,000-square-foot Menard's (building supply) is located near Wal-Mart and there is a new strip mall across from the Menard's complex. A car dealer also has set up business there.

"Our downtown is about done," said Hurlburt. "I'm sure we're about the biggest store downtown. We've got another big Copps store. Everything is out on the north side.

"Wal-Mart didn't start it, but really hit the grocery stores. There were six or seven grocery stores in town, and now there are four."

Did traffic increase?

Some studies show Wal-Mart will increase overall retail traffic in a community. For Berner, the jury is out.

"If anything, the north end of town here which has the Fleet Farm and the Menard's mega store, seems like it is thriving," he said. "As far as the south end (downtown), I don't think it brings anything in for us."

Antigo charges a 1/2 percent city sales tax, and Berner has been charting sales tax revenue as a way of measuring retail sales. There has been no spike in revenues to correspond with the Wal-Mart opening.

"The payment we get from the state suggests that the spending has gone up slightly," he said.

The Antigo Wal-Mart differs slightly from what has been proposed for Ironwood. According to manager Jim Perdue, the 153,000-square-foot Supercenter includes full line grocery, bakery, deli, meat, produce; tire and lube express; pharmacy; general merchandise; and gas pumps (Murphy Oil). (The Ironwood site plan calls for no motor fuel sales.)

Berner and Wendt say Wal-Mart did not receive any incentives to locate in Antigo.

"Wal-Mart reconstructed highway near the building and paid for arterial lights," Berner said.

The shift to the highway makes sense, he said, as much of the retail traffic into Antigo comes from the north: Lakewood, Mountain and Wabeno.

"That has been where business is centered now, at the intersection of Highway 45 and 64," he said.

At the same time, Antigo residents have many options other than shopping at home.

"We have Wausau 35 or 40 minutes away, and that's got everything," said Berner. "In 65 or 70 minutes I can be at the Fox River Mall in Appleton, and that's one of the biggest facilities in the state."

Wendt believes there is a future for small retailers in her community.

"People are looking for convenience. They're looking for customer service. If those smaller places existed, they would support them," she said.