Business & Tech

Pleasanton Approves Walmart Grocery

City Council voted to allow the store to open inside the old Nob Hill space on Santa Rita Road, despite objections from one council member.

The Pleasanton City Council voted Tuesday night to allow a Walmart Neighborhood Market to open inside the long-vacant Nob Hill grocery spot on Santa Rita Road.

After months of community back-and-forth and a blizzard of meetings, the council voted 4-1 to allow the store; Councilman Matt Sullivan was the loan dissenter, having brought an 11th-hour appeal to stop it.

Those against the store have said the retail giant treats its employees horribly, and they also say they worry about local stores going out of business because of Walmart's famously low prices. In Pleasanton, there are several new stores popping up, including a new and a possible . Locally, competition is already fierce.

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Those who support the store point to the . Business owners in the Meadow Plaza Shopping Center say they would like to see another draw — the entire area would benefit, they have said. The Nob Hill location has been empty since 2010.

The council's vote on Tuesday, according to the Contra Costa Times, was basically to deny Sullivan's appeal of a unanimous Planning Commission vote to approve the store. The commission had voted in favor of an earlier decision by the city zoning administrator to allow the use. Because the 33,000 square-foot building is zoned for a grocery store, and has been since the 1980s, there wasn't a legal justification to not allow Walmart, city officials have said.

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“The decision is good news for Pleasanton customers who want more affordable options for fresh groceries as well as local businesses and Meadows neighborhood residents eager to see the long vacant supermarket at Meadow Plaza revitalized," said Deborah Herron, a Walmart spokesperson. 

, but a store in Hayward in in jeopardy; the Planning Commission in that city rejected the store's application, and the council will consider the store on Tuesday.

The Pleasanton store will be open 6 a.m. to midnight.


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