Wal-Mart buying up nearby property

BARSTOW — Harold Wallis stood next to a chain-link and watched firefighters extinguish the flames that gutted an old, abandoned house near Wal-Mart. A former owner of the house, Wallis said he and other property owners in the area recently sold their parcels to the shopping powerhouse.

According to county records, Wal-Mart bought six of the seven lots on the 2000 block East Main Street. The properties exchanged hands on May 31, 2007.

Aaron Rios, a spokesman for Wal-Mart, said the company is looking to expand its Barstow store into a Wal-Mart supercenter. While the expansion is four to five years away, Rios said Wal-Mart often acquires properties that surround their sites.

“We would like to be able to put a supercenter in the area,” Rios said. “We don’t have an official project developed.”

John Rader, a spokesman for the city, said that Wal-Mart has not filed any plans with the city hinting at an expansion to their current site but that Wal-Mart did express interest in buying the land north of the Montara property to East Main Street.

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