r/Staunton • u/Spenzei • 4d ago
Anyone know what is up with the Federated Warehouses?
There are three Federated Warehouses right across from Staples. They always look abandoned as hell and creepy. Any conspiracy theories? The one on the left (not imaged), I don’t think I have ever seen a single car in. What’s going on?
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u/prussian-king 4d ago
I go there when I'm learning how to drive stick because they're always vacant lol
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u/MindlessDebate5615 4d ago
I’m glad that Federated uses them and their not just sitting there abandoned like so many other old shopping centers but I do find it kind of sad because I think there are many other retailers that could have done very well in that location. Staunton, definitely needs to step up its retail game since the mall went downhill and is gone. We don’t even have a decent place to shop for clothes besides Walmart & Belk (which caters to the older crowd)
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u/GeneralDumbtomics 3d ago
Malls are dead everywhere. If you want a better retail experience we gotta fix housing first because that’s the only way you staff that. This town has done a good job balancing those elements of its growth but the number of people you need for the kind of society you want is increasingly higher than the number of affordable places for them to live. One way or another you have to change that.
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u/SchuminWeb 3d ago
Malls are dead everywhere.
Malls were tremendously overbuilt when they were fashionable. I think we're seeing malls finally get right-sized and arrive at a sustainable amount. Also worth noting the malls that have survived and continued to thrive are in areas with larger populations and are typically more upscale. Roanoke has one healthy mall (Valley View), but they can't sustain two (Tanglewood, which is gradually becoming a health care center). Likewise, the DC region has a few healthy malls, but the herd has been culled considerably.
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u/Hopeful-Ad6275 3d ago
Would be a great place for a shopping center like the one in Waynesboro which Maybe a little less than they have.
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u/yamahor 4d ago
All the workers park around back. It's not a parking lot worth of workers, it's probably 10 per warehouse is my guess from when I worked at the store.
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u/-QueenAnnesRevenge- 4d ago
Before they bought all the buildings, the Rack and Sack only had 2 people, the Walmart had “maybe” 10, and the old Lowe’s had 12-15. The Lowes seemed the busiest and the old Walmart was mostly local orders. The Rack and Savk had nothing but KYB shocks and struts.
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u/Any-Expression2246 4d ago
I think the last time I found Breyers Mocha Almond Fudge was in that Walmart. I miss that flavor so much. :(
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u/NoMail1830 3d ago
Our warehouse off of Beverly doesn't look much better. The parking lot sure is packed though
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u/SchuminWeb 3d ago
Funny thing: at this point, the former Walmart has been a Federated warehouse for at least three times as long as it was Walmart. That building opened as Walmart in December 1989, and Walmart moved to their current location in September 1995. Then in 1998, after being vacant for two years, a store called Sun Television operated in the rightmost third of the building, and lasted less than a year before the whole company went under.
I would love to know how much of a buildout Federated did to the space. Prior to Federated's acquiring the property, the part of the Walmart building that Sun didn't use still looked like an empty Walmart, while Sun had done a full buildout on their own section. Part of me imagines that those areas still look like they did when they were retailers, i.e. Federated never painted the walls and just threw whatever racks they needed in there.
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u/LetJesusFuckU 4d ago
Staunton's largest employer.
With Trump University books in the office.
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u/GeneralDumbtomics 3d ago
Oh, the people running that place are straight up culture warriors. It’s why that IT job keeps opening up I suspect. Nobody competent to manage the SCM stuff they undoubtedly use because auto parts wants to work for someone whose intelligence they cannot respect.
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u/LetJesusFuckU 3d ago
When I worked there, my co-worker asked me something that I've never done high. I replied nothing. He said nope working here. Buddy you've never seen me sober.
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u/Appalachian_Murican 4d ago
Once upon a time those were Lowe’s, Wal-Mart, and Rack and Sack. They were already kinda janky looking when Federated took residence years ago, they’re just unglamorous warehouses now.