Rumor about chain auto parts store worries Hillsboro
Staff writer
If rumors that an O’Reilly’s Auto Parts store is coming to Hillsboro are true, officials are worried about its impact on a local auto parts store.
“I have heard the rumor, but we don’t have anything to back that up,” city administrator Matt Stiles said Tuesday. “There have been no permits pulled, no records changed, or even questions from a new owner.”
Mayor Lou Thurston said the city would attempt to support local businesses over nationwide chains whenever possible.
He remembers the angst the community felt a few years ago when a neighborhood Wal-Mart opened in the city.
The local impact to Dale’s Supermarket and Hillsboro Hometown Pharmacy were enormous.
The upside, Thurston said, was city sales taxes revenue increased with the new store.
While the city cannot legally prevent big-name national chains from coming, the city won’t recruit them, he said.
“Our local stores are extremely important to us,” Thurston said, “[but] we live in a country that is a free country as of right now, and we have to respect the free market.”
There is no question why Hillsboro cannot keep well known business in the city.
Residents sometimes complain about not having amenities bigger cities have, but that cannot be fixed, Thurston said, because larger businesses look for larger populations when looking where to place a store.
“We don’t have the population to bring certain services into the community,” he said.