Vermont is first in many things, but it last in others.
We held out as long as we could but the mid-1990s the state of Vermont was out of ammunition and the first Walmart opened in Bennington. Now there are six—in Williston, St. Albans, Rutland and Berlin (and Bennington), as well as a brand new store in the northern border town of Derby Line. More are likely on the way. Still, Vermont has the fewest Walmarts of any state in the nation.
How did Vermont become the last state to get a Walmart? In 1993 Walmart wanted to build a large big-box store outside of St. Albans. Then Governor Howard Dean suggested that they confine themselves to the struggling downtowns they helped decimate in other—mostly southern—states. So Walmart built its first store in an out-of-business Woolworth in Bennington. Walmart also built downtown in Rutland and Berlin. Then the company reverted to its more favored—build-a-superstore-on-the-outskirts-of-town when it built in Williston and once again in St. Albans and Derby Line. Even the original Bennington store was replaced with a supercenter in 2016, but one just adjacent to the original.
Source: Alex Beam, “Walmart and the Battle of Vermont,” September 12, 2007. Reprinted online at: http://www.boston.com/yourlife/articles/2007/09/12/wal_mart_and_the_battle_of_vermont/
Walmart plays hardball with Governors trying to thwart its plans. In the case of Vermont the company built a store just across the border in New Hampshire and New York, luring Vermont dollars out of state. Although New Hampshire is smaller in area than Vermont, it has a population that is about double. Still, it seems unbalanced at best to observe that as of 2016 New Hampshire had 31 Walmarts (a whopping 19 of which are supercenters) while Vermont has only six.
Meccas like Lebanon New Hampshire, on the western part of the state, across the river from a part of Vermont that has little retailing, grew wildly to serve those customers. A trip there shows that green license plated often outnumber the “Live Free or Die” plates of the locals. New Hampshire seems ever too willing to welcome the huge retailer who will serve not only there residents but Vermonters as well.