Wal-Mart, Locked Out of San Diego, Planning Supercenters in North County

Wal-Mart, banned from building Supercenters in San Diego in December, submitted applications this month to build two such super-sized stores in North County.

The Supercenters, to be located in Oceanside and Vista, would be expansions of existing sites, according to published reports.

Wal-Mart appears to be snubbing the city of San Diego, which crafted an ordinance last fall that prohibits stores in excess of 90,000 square feet with more than 10 percent of floor space devoted to selling groceries and other merchandise not subject to sales tax.

The ordinance was widely believed to be directed at the Bentonville, Ark., retailer, which had admitted to scouting the city for superstore sites before the ordinance was adopted.

A Wal-Mart Supercenter is the retailer's largest store format.

A minimum of 84,000 square feet, the stores combine Wal-Mart's usual array of discounted merchandise with groceries.

San Diego city officials said they opposed the construction and operation of giant retail stores because of traffic impacts and unfair competition to small businesses.

Wal-Mart spokesman Kevin McCall has been quoted as saying that it would take six months to a year to expand the Oceanside and Vista stores, but he could not say when construction would begin once approvals are in place.

He said the retailer is still subject to the application processes within each city.

The Oceanside Wal-Mart store earmarked for expansion is located at state Route 76 and College Boulevard.

The Vista store to be expanded is located in North County Square off state Route 78.