Maybe the camera crews and the large police presence made it seem worse than it was.

Nearly three years after the arrival of Ashland's Wal-Mart punctuated a firestorm that included Town Council debates, protests and a down-with-Wal-Mart documentary, there are more cars in the discount retailer's parking lot than there are in the Food Lion shopping center just down the road.

Linda Greer is inside examining a softball-size green pepper. Jason Jones is bargain shopping for blank CDs, and Sandra Carter is looking at a desk lamp, trying to decide if it's still going to be in her cart by the time she hits the checkout line.

"We've been looking for this for a long time," Carter said of the Wal-Mart on Hill Carter Parkway that will turn three years old in June.

Carter said she ends up at that Wal-Mart about four times a week, coming in looking for, say, a bag of chips, and leaving with just about all of Aisle 8.

"It's the highlight of my day," she said. "God, I have no life."

Even though Carter visits the big-box retailer about every other day, she said she hasn't lost sight of the small-town appeal that drew her to Ashland six years ago.

"I think everybody is still being faithful to the small businesses," she said. "I think that because Ashland is such a small town, we like to stay pretty close to the people that have been here for a long time. We don't want to outdo the people that have been here for a while, who pretty much made Ashland what it is."

The battle to keep Wal-Mart out of Ashland was so bitter that police were assigned to the store's grand opening. Wal-Mart market manager Jeff Kraus said some of that resentment is still apparent, but the company continues to try to develop a good relationship in the community.

"The fuss hasn't died down," he said, "but the town of Ashland and the surrounding areas have accepted us very well. We just made sure that we were very involved in the town of Ashland. We did everything we can to be a good neighbor."

The store employs about 350 people, Kraus said. Wal-Mart does not release store-to-store financial information, but Kraus said that for a smaller store, the Ashland location exceeded expectations.

"It doesn't do the volume any of the Richmond stores do because it's a smaller store," he said. "Based on the type of store we had put in there, we expected it to be comparable to possibly one like we have in Emporia or the one we have in Petersburg, and it exceeds those two stores."

When Town Council approved Wal-Mart's Ashland store in May 2000, local officials said the community would benefit significantly from Wal-Mart's taxes.

Last year, Ashland received $10,048.11 in personal property taxes from Wal-Mart and $4,800.25 in real estate taxes.

"I think history has shown that anywhere we've gone, we have done nothing more than help keep people shopping in their local community and help that tax base there," Kraus said. "We've also helped attract other businesses into that area.

"It's been a great three years for not only Ashland but Wal-Mart in the community, and I think we've shown that we are great neighbors."