No Home for Home Depot in Medford?

Home Depot is having a difficult time finding a home in a section of South Jersey. Residents of one community say they don't want the store anywhere near their neighborhood. The proposed site for the new Home Depot store is Hartford Road and route 70 in Medford.

A spokesperson at the Home Depot home office in Atlanta said that from their research of tracking credit card payments by zip code, they found out that people that live in this area spend $10 million a year at Home Depots elsewhere. So Home Depot wants to build on a lot near a fairly new CVS, in n area that is being developed. The people in Medford say "not so fast."

The big orange letters that say Home Depot have become as familiar as the golden arches in many communities.

"I would love to have a home depot close by," said one resident.

The Medford Planning Board has said no to Home Depot's request to build on this piece of property on the outskirts of town, and part of the reason is public opinion.

"There's too much congestion as it is. I just think it would add to that. There's not enough roads," said one local resident.

"It would be crazy. I wouldn't be able to deal with it," said another.

Medford Village is well known for its homes, shops and restaurants. Some people worry if a retail giant like Home Depot comes to town it will change the charm.

Not everybody is against it.

"I'm for it because we're new here. We're fixing up our home. We're always going to Home Depot. We're going miles and miles away to go," said one person.

"If it brings down property taxes fine. If it doesn't, no," another one said.

A spokesesman for Home Depot said the average store pays between $150 and $250,000 in local taxes. Creates hundreds of new jobs that generate for than $5 million in yearly payroll. It's not worth it, some say.

"We're going to lose. They'll come in and have such an impact that they'll cause our Spotts Hardware, our local hardware-type of stores and possibly some of our local landscaping businesses to go under. I don't believe that we're going to make up in dollars on the Home Depot side losing all these others. I don't feel it will be a good enough balance," one concerned resident said.

Home Depot says the company is reviewing its options. It may come in with yet another plan on building something there. Or it may just go some place else.

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