After years of pushing, a big box Walmart Supercentre finally set up shop in Vancouver in 2008.
But it wasn't before the retail giant tried and failed to get a foothold just over the river from Richmond, at Marine Drive and Ontario Street.
An application in 2005 went before the City of Vancouver council of the day, but was rejected because it wasn't the right fit for the area, recalls Coun. Raymond Louie.
"That area is specific to highway-orientated retail, for the likes of furniture stores, automotive sales, large, bulky purchases and is designed to generate less frequent trips," Louie told the News.
"It was rejected on those grounds; it simply didn't meet the criteria." Walmart eventually located elsewhere in Vancouver, around 2008, taking position in a former Costco at Grandview Highway and Boundary Road.
"That site was already approved for that use, so it was no problem," said Louie.
"Subsequent to that, Walmart hasn't re-applied for the Marine Drive site. But the thinking is that it still isn't a really good use of the site.
"It doesn't suit the intentions of this council in terms of Vancouver being a sustainable city and one of the greenest cities in the world.
"It simply doesn't match most basic sustainable practices to have something like that so far away from where most people live."
