ELLSWORTH � In a town of a little more than 3,000, business owners and citizens along historic Douglas Street in Ellsworth are wondering if the rumors are true. Is Wal-Mart coming?



�Nothing is finalized, but it�s looking that way,� said City Administrator Timothy Vandall.



Earlier this month the retailer contacted the city to inform leaders that a Wal-Mart Express might heading to their area.



Vandall said the city had suspicions when an architect contacted his office earlier asking about a property for sale in the northeast corner of town. The land itself is at the intersection of Kansas Highway 156 and Kansas Highway 140. They were unable to verify who the buyer was until being approached by the retailer.



�We�re pleased to announce that we are planning a Walmart Express in Ellsworth to better serve our area customers,� said Wal-Mart spokeswoman Delia Garcia in an email. �The Walmart Express complements the services provided by the Supercenter and Neighborhood Market and gives us an opportunity to serve our customers closer to home.�



Wal-Mart�s job site is listing open positions available for a pharmacist and store manager in Ellsworth.



Vandall said the property was held by a private owner, but the purchase is soon to be finalized. He added that city leadership is not offering any type of tax breaks or incentives to bring a store into their town and that he didn�t know what could stop it.



The owner of the land, Mark Shaw, of Wilson, said he has a contract for the sale of the land, but no closing date has been set.



�I have never been contacted by someone identifying themselves as a Wal-Mart representative,� said Shaw, 57, a mail carrier in Ellsworth. �I�m getting to feel more like the buyer is Wal-Mart. I probably won�t know it even if it comes to the point of closing.�



Vandall also said an online petition from Ellsworth citizens garnered 190 signatures asking the council to try to stop the Wal-Mart from building in town.



�We have nothing to do with the sale of the land,� he said. �We haven�t discussed stopping it, and there aren�t a lot of good options to stop it if they (the council) wanted to.�



However, Vandall did say the store will be a topic at the City Council�s next meeting on Monday at 5:30 p.m.



�It will be interesting to see how this progresses because obviously we care about our downtown and local businesses,� he said.



City Council member Shannon Mog said he is opposed to a Wal-Mart Express coming to Ellsworth.



�As a private citizen I�m in support of small business,� he said. �I don�t believe the Wal-Mart business model supports that.�



Mog said he encourages citizens both for and against to show up at the next council meeting to voice their opinions on the issue.



According a handout Wal-Mart sent to the city of Ellsworth, a Wal-Mart Express store is about 12,000 square feet, with items more common to a grocery store, stocking fresh produce, meats and dairy, heath and beauty items, housewares, baby essentails, a full-service pharmacy and a fuel station. Also, a Wal-Mart Express carries various other products.



The release claims it will add 30 new jobs, competitive pay including health care coverage and career training, plus construction jobs and donations of food to local food pantries.



Emotions ran high at a Wednesday evening meeting attended by more than 40 people to discuss the situation. The meeting was organized by local action group Ellsworth Strong. Several questions repatedly brought up at the meeting went unanswered, including who knew and when, and why Wal-Mart wasn�t more forthcoming about the issue.



�There�s still a lot more to learn,� said Josh Svaty, a former Kansas legislator and organizer for Ellsworth Strong.



Many community members feel the issue has divided the town, but are unsure what they can do about it.



�We don�t want there to be a division in the community,� said Alice Robson, who owns Robson�s Card & Gift Shop with her husband, Ken. �We appreciate our customers and the loyalty they have.�



Kris Finke, who owns a liquor store in Ellsworth, said she feels nervous about having a store like Wal-Mart move into town.



�I�m scared of Wal-Mart because of what�s going to happen to our town,� she said. �Our little town cannot compete with a Wal-Mart.�



Svaty also said the meeting was an important starting point because it started a dialogue. Svaty owns a farm near Ellsworth and grew up in the community. He added that this meeting was the first step to organizing more formally to seek answers from the city and begin to alert Wal-Mart to the community�s disinterest in having a store there.



�I want to see Ellsworth grow and be prosperous,� he said. �This is more the redundancy of services that we have in abundance and that Ellsworth Strong has a webpage, www.ellsworthstrong.org, which it plans to utilize to distribute information on the Wal-Mart as it becomes available.�



Salina Journal Reporter Tim Unruh contributed to this report.