Drumheller is looking to drum up its image as a retail shopping hub.

The announcement that discount giant Wal-Mart, which will open an 84,461-sq.-ft. store in early 2006, is coming to the "dinosaur capital of the world" is being greeted with open arms by local officials.

Unlike the dinosaurs, the town's political and business leaders don't believe that local retailers will become extinct in a Wal-Mart environment.

Without Wal-Mart, they add, they might have been in trouble.

"It's all about survival," says Drumheller's economic development officer Ray Telford. "We have to make sure that our town is thriving. We have to keep up with what everybody else has."

Telford added the arrival of Wal-Mart in the neighbouring community of Stettler "was a drain on our community."

When the Drumheller Wal-Mart is up and running, it will allow the community to increase its retail drawing power and permit it to become a regional retail hub, he said.

"From what we understand when the Stettler Wal-Mart opened last year, their downtown actually benefited from it. We're optimistic the same will happen for Drumheller," says Drumheller Regional Chamber of Development and Tourism president Leonard Mandrusiak.

"There's an amazingly resilient myth about Wal-Mart that we create ghost towns and the result has been the exact opposite," says Wal-Mart Canada spokesman Kevin Groh. "The experience (for everyone) has been very good when we've entered small towns in Alberta and we have absolutely no reason to think it wouldn't be the same in Drumheller."

"I definitely think Wal-Mart is going to be good for Drumheller," agrees Mayor Paul Ainscough. "It's also about the stores they're going to bring with them to Drumheller. Other stores will (follow them and) come too."

While the new Wal-Mart will be slightly smaller than its counterparts in large urban centres, the merchandise selection it will carry will be consistent with what customers would find at other Wal-Marts.

Merchandise will include apparel, housewares, toys, hardware, cosmetics and a pantry section, Wal-Mart Canada's grocery offering, which consists of dry and refrigerated goods. The store's specialty services will consist of a pharmacy, garden centre, portrait studio and a McDonald's restaurant.

To be located on 12 acres, just off Highway 10 and 19th Street, the new Wal-Mart will represent an investment of between $15-$20 million in the community, company officials say. Construction is scheduled to start this fall and the project will create about 300 jobs - 150 in-store jobs and 150 construction and trade-related positions.

Because of Drumheller's unique archeological heritage, Wal-Mart has also hired a full-time, onsite paleontologist to observe all earthworks.

While there is some concern that Wal-Mart will hurt existing retailers, Telford says those types of comments are minimal.

"Any new store coming into town, because of newness of the business, will take away some business - but that's only a temporary situation," says Telford, who adds that he has heard very little in the way of negative comments about Wal-Mart's arrival.

He says that while there is some wariness from local retailers, it quickly dies down when he points out that many people are leaving Drumheller to shop at Stettler's Wal-Mart.

Mandrusiak says he has also heard concerns about Wal-Mart taking away business from existing retailers, but he says the chamber is still happy to see Wal-Mart move in.

"We see any growth as a positive indicator for Drumheller and the region. We look at it as an opportunity to increase our trading area. Wal-Mart is a big-box store and will attract business to the area and keep local consumers (shopping here) too - some have a tendency to shop out of town," says Mandrusiak.

Downtown merchant Dave Powell, owner of the Sports Room Source for Sports, and chairman of Downtown Drumheller, says he hasn't really heard anything too negative from the association's members about Wal-Mart.

"I think it's kind of a mixed bag," he says. "Any time you get a business of that size, anybody is going to be concerned.

"But I think as a whole, it's beneficial to the town and that includes the downtown - it takes our trading area from 50,000 people to between 80,000 and 100,000 people. The other benefit is more people are going to stay in town rather than going to the city (Calgary or Red Deer) to do their shopping."

Personally, Powell says he is excited about Wal-Mart's arrival, even though there will be some overlap with his general sporting goods store. "Wal-Mart is a different retailer, we're a different price point, a different product mix than what they are."

But it's not just Wal-Mart that is coming into town. The community is going through a building boom that dates back about five years.

IGA closed its smaller store in town and is about to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the new, larger operation at the end of May. Canadian Tire arrived about five years ago.

Meanwhile, Extra Foods - part of Loblaw Companies Ltd. - is planning to build a 40,000- sq.-ft. grocery store and gas bar, and a 77-room Ramada Inn is scheduled to open its doors later this year, says commercial real estate agent Bob Sheddy.

Sheddy also points to the town's industrial park, which is set to start a second phase that is 85 per cent sold - even though it isn't serviced yet - as evidence of Drumheller's new economic strength.

"For the last two years (Drumheller) has been booming," says Sheddy. "Housing prices are going up, the industrial park is booming and there is oilfield activity."

Drumheller officials are pinning their economic hopes on three key sectors. It is a service centre for the oil and gas industry, and it looks to agriculture - grain and cattle - and tourism for fuel to keep growing. The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology is a magnet attraction, drawing 400,000 visitors to the town on an annual basis.

Telford, however, downplays the possibility that Drumheller is becoming too commercialized and that this could distract from its tourism strengths. He notes that shopping options are needed to keep tourists in town for extended stays and to ensure that they can get the proper supplies for their camping or holiday excursions.

That view is shared by the mayor, who says there is room for everyone. The town, he notes, needs all of its components, not just one or two, if it is going to have a strong future.

(Laura Severs can be reached at laura@businessedge.ca)