For the retailer, there's the sense that procedural victories notwithstanding —- Wal-Mart finally won three of its four requests to vary from city building codes —- in the end, putting the supercenter on that site was not going to be worth it. "We had to take into consideration the increased cost," spokesman Glen Wilkins said, "which in our business, typically trickles down to customers as well."

The city's six-month moratorium on large-scale buildings, enacted last summer, when Duluth decided it needed time to create a comprehensive plan, made it hard for the company to move forward, Wilkins said, as did the city's "changing the rules in the middle" of the process.

"I think it is unfortunate to a certain extent," Wilkins said, "with gas prices what they are, that customers won't have an opportunity to shop closer to where they live."

For city staffers, there's a sense that the whole protracted struggle yielded valuable lessons —- despite the fact that Duluth is still facing two lawsuits from landowner Jack Bandy, which are pending in Gwinnett Superior Court. (Neither Bandy nor his attorney returned calls for comment.)

It was an up-close education in the intricacies of the zoning process, planning director Cliff Cross said. His tenure started in the middle of the Wal-Mart debate, with having to defend his predecessor's executive approval of Wal-Mart's plans. The Zoning Board of Appeals ruled the previous planner had overstepped her bounds, and forced the store to reapply for permission to vary from city building codes.

"I think one of the biggest benefits was the development of our large-scale building ordinance," Cross said. "And I think it showed that the process works. That was the whole point of going in front of the ZBA. That's what it's for. The director doesn't have complete control."

City administrator Phil McLemore said he's proud of the way the City Council and staffers handled what has been a stressful chapter.

"I think they were fair to everybody," McLemore said. "I don't think they went way off and took sides. [Wal-Mart] made a business decision not to go ahead with the construction. It obviously had to do with the economy. I can see where the citizens would be glad, and [Bandy], who had hoped Wal-Mart would go forward, would not be. For the city, our efforts to be as fair as possible to both sides was done in a correct manner."