FERRIDAY &8212;The only thing left for Ferriday to do is wait.

It appears the town will lose its Wal-Mart, but local leaders are determined not to feel the pain. Ferriday did just fine before Wal-Mart, locals say, and will do fine when it leaves.

But Ferriday Alderman Johnnie Brown said Wal-Mart was a factor in the devolution of downtown, and he sees tough times ahead.

&8220;When Wal-Mart came in, all the mom-and-pop stores shut down,&8221; he said. &8220;And now they&8217;re just going to up and move.&8221;

Brown said he didn&8217;t understand the retailer&8217;s rationale behind the new store and sees both Ferriday and Vidalia getting hurt by the move.

&8220;Most businesses pull up shop because they&8217;re not making money. That&8217;s not the issue with Wal-Mart. When you take into consideration the people from Waterproof, Newellton and St. Joseph, they&8217;ll probably end up going to Winnsboro,&8221; Brown said.

&8220;I just don&8217;t understand; what is their motive? Have we not been good hosts?&8221;

As for Vidalia, Brown doesn&8217;t see much good coming from their new retailer.

&8220;Without a doubt, it&8217;s going to have a negative effect for a period of time,&8221; he said. &8220;They can talk all they want to about the impact it&8217;s going to have on Vidalia. It&8217;s going to have an impact, but not the kind they think it&8217;s going to have.&8221;

Ferriday will move on, Brown said, with a potential development on U.S. 65 and the city&8217;s location providing it with plenty of traffic. And where there&8217;s traffic, he said, there&8217;s opportunity.

&8220;No matter what happens, Ferriday receives more traffic, people come into town from four directions,&8221; he said.