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Media Credit: Ryan Rendleman Anthony Bryant, of Murphysboro, browses DVDs at P Mac Music in Carbondale while an employee's dog, Taco, roams the store. Amy Dempsey, the manager, said she believes the new Wal-Mart might increase traffic and business to her store.

A new Wal-Mart Supercenter opening today between Carbondale and Murphysboro has one store manager on West Illinois Route 13 excited about new business opportunities.

Amy Dempsey, manager of P Mac Music in the Murdale Shopping Center in Carbondale, said the new Wal-Mart on Route 13 west of Country Club Road will increase traffic on Carbondale's west side, and alert potential customers of her store's existence.

"I'm not excited for other local businesses," Dempsey said. "But I'm not dreading competition with Wal-Mart."

Kim Busby, manager of the Murphysboro Wal-Mart, said the new supercenter opens at 7 a.m. today with festivities such as face painting and appearances from brand mascots such as Sparky the Firedog and Tony the Tiger commemorating the event.

Managers of stores around P Mac Music, such as Francis Murphy, general manager of Neighborhood Co-op Grocery, said they are not concerned about competing with Wal-Mart's new location either. Murphy said his all-natural foods grocery store is not in the same market as Wal-Mart.

Dempsey said employees at the Wal-Mart Supercenter on Carbondale's east side have referred customers to her store when they do not have a certain artist's CD.

Though she said competition with Wal-Mart is not a concern, Marqui Goff, assistant store manager of the True Value in Carbondale, has not shopped with the corporate giant in six years.

"They've done too much to ruin too many towns," said Goff, who specifically cited lawsuits from former Wal-Mart employees for improper treatment, and stealing customers from local merchants as her reasons to stay away.

Wal-Mart was the largest corporation in 2007 according to CNN's Fortune 500 list.

But Busby said the new supercenter would increase the number of businesses in the area, especially Murphysboro. As an example, Busby said an acre of land in front of the new store is being offered to food merchants, which would benefit the town as well as Wal-Mart.

"We do take business away from local [stores]," she said. "But people who have patronized these stores are always going to patronize them."

Busby said downtown Murphysboro does not have as many local stores. But what are there, she said, are mostly antique dealers, which is not Wal-Mart's market.

The new Wal-Mart has been granted a liquor license, but a manager of Westroads Liquor in Murdale declined comment about how he thought the new store would affect business.

Cashier Alan Nutty said he enjoyed working at the Wal-Mart in Du Quoin "very much," which was one of the reasons he transferred to the new store in Murphysboro. Nutty said he also lives less than a mile away from his new job.

The supercenter replaces a smaller Wal-Mart on Industrial Park Road in Murphysboro, which opened in 1980, Busby said. An investing firm from Belleville has purchased the older location, which may turn into another retail store.

Daily Egyptian writer Barton Lorimor can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 274 or barton.lorimor@siude.com.

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