The end is near, fair readers of The Lumberjack: A Super Walmart is coming to Flagstaff. The late Sam Walton’s megacorporation is moving in to steal our land, our money and our dignity. That, or simply provide us all with a one-stop shop to buy all the things we need at an inexpensive price. Frankly, I think it’s the latter.

So why all the fuss? Why are so many people upset over one simple store opening in Flagstaff? The answer is quite simple, really: fear. The fear of change. The fear that Flagstaff will never ever be the same, and somehow Sam Walton and his corporation will ruin everything good about this town.

I’d like to offer another way of looking at this situation: The businesses of Flagstaff fear having to actually earn their stay here.

While it’s true many people are afraid of the effects such a large corporation can have on small towns, I think the bigger concern is that locally owned businesses won’t be able to compete with the Super Walmart. And frankly, local business owners, you have every right to cower in the shadow of Walton’s empire.

Having a Super Walmart in Flagstaff will provide residents with one central location where they can purchase merchandise and groceries much cheaper than they could elsewhere. Many local businesses won’t be able to compete with Walmart’s low prices, a fact that may very well drive them out of business entirely. And you know what? I don’t see how that’s a bad thing.

If local business owners want to remain important and thriving after the opening of our town’s new Super Walmart, then they’d better start offering their customers higher quality and/or cheaper services, more personalized customer service, or (God forbid) a better overall shopping experience than one would find at a Super Walmart.

You might be saying to yourself, “But Jason, wouldn’t that be a good thing for Flagstaff?” Why yes, yes it would. The problem, though, is this would require work on the part of Flagstaff’s local businesses — which is no fun.

We need to stop looking at Walmart as the enemy here and see it for what it is: a business that can provide us all with cheap services and finally give local Flagstaff businesses the kind of competition they’ve needed for some time. There are two possible outcomes that can come from a Super Walmart being here in Flag.

We either see an increase in quality among the other Flagstaff businesses, or we see a closure in businesses that can’t provide us with what we want. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t see the downside here.