Lakesiders who have been agitating over the imminent erection of a giant sign outside the local Walmart outlet can breathe easy and find a new crusade. Store management is feeling your pain.
Although the branch manager was on vacation when the Reporter went to enquire about the matter this week, a customer service representative willingly spoke off the record, revealing that plans to install the towering corporate ID are likely to been scratched.
“We are still awaiting a definitive decision from headquarters in Mexico City, but management here prefers to avoid public controversy,” the employee stated.That take on the issue stems in part from a written petition filed with both the store and city hall last February bearing dozens of signatures of residents opposing the sign. The supermarket followed up by conducting an on-site survey among its clientele. Opinions were reportedly divided, with slightly more than half giving the sign a thumbs-down — sufficient to give management second thoughts.
Nonetheless, a heavy duty base is already in place and parts of the sign — including Lucite panels and segments of a king size post — are resting along the northern perimeter of the store’s parking lot.
It’s the local government that stands to lose out most if the sign installation eventually goes south. According to Chapala business license office chief Ernesto Lopez, the city permit for the sign runs at close to 50,000 pesos per annum, a steep fee the company has faithfully shouldered without benefit since the store opened in November 2008.
Ardent opponents keen to drive their message home may fire off an email to Walmart de Mexico headquarters. Log on to www.walmart.com.mx/Pages/ContactUs.aspx, fill in the requisite blanks with your name and email, and click on the bar labeled “Dudas o Comentarios” to open up the message box. Once there, click “comentario,” type in your comments and hit “enviar.” Use the same link, clicking on “quejas” to register complaints about Walmart service, prices or merchandise.