James Sovel has worked at the UPS store in Callaway for the last 20 years.

He's seen many businesses come and go, including the old Callaway Wal-Mart.

Sovel says, he was nervous when the retail giant moved several miles north on Tyndall Parkway, but the nervousness quickly passed.

"People come to us because of our service not because of Wal-Mart and the only thing it really does for you is a traffic flow so people will see you and find you," says Sovel.

But others are impacted.

The shopping center that housed the old Callaway Wal-Mart never really regained customer traffic.

The story is the same for the Panama City Beach shopping center on Thomas Drive.

Back in the day it housed the busiest Wal-Mart store in the country.

Now it's virtually a ghost town.

The businesses that have survived do not really depend on heavy foot traffic.

"It's pretty quiet during the day ever since the Wal-Mart left," says Ziem Nguyn the Manager of Photo America.

Despite the inevitable drop-off, business owners and managers in the 23rd Street Panama City location say they are not worried.

"A lot of the stores here in the plaza are specialty stores, so Wal-Mart as much of a draw I really don't think it's going to affect that much for us," says Jeri Smith the manager of Fashion Bug.

"We've established ourselves in the community who we are where we are so I really don't think the loss of Wal-Mart is going to affect us as a business," says Jason Temples the Owner of Fastlane Computers.

Others are expecting a drop in business of as much as 10%.

"It's not a helpful thing especially with the economy like it is we're concentrating on catering and developing those types of additional revenue streams," says Geoffrey English the owner of Marble Slab, Taco Casa and Gyro Cafe.

English says only time will tell if Wal-Mart's replacement will generate as much foot traffic. That is if there is a replacement.

The ribbon cutting for the new Wal-Mart will be at 7:30 Wednesday morning, the store opens to customers at 8am.

We will have live coverage beginning on NewsChannel 7 Today at 5:00am.