Walmart Market Adds 70 Jobs

CITY OFFICIALS SAY NEW STORE WILL BOOST GROWTH

The first few customers check out Wednesday at the new Walmart Market in west Fayetteville. The store is Walmart’s first to rebrand the Neighborhood Markets.
The first few customers check out Wednesday at the new Walmart Market in west Fayetteville. The store is Walmart’s first to rebrand the Neighborhood Markets.

— City officials say a new Walmart Market off Wedington Drive will boost residential and commercial growth on the northwest side of town.

“The western and northwestern side of the city is already the fastest-growing area,” said Steve Clark, president of the Chamber of Commerce. “This is where we’ll continue to see growth and new housing, as well as future development to the west.”

Chris Milam, store manager, said 70 employees were hired to operate the Bentonville-based retailer’s latest store in Fayetteville.

About another 20 associates transferred from other locations, he said. More than half of them have worked for the company for more than 10 years.

“Many who transferred came from leadership positions at other stores, which creates promotional opportunities for the stores they came from,” he said.

Clark said the 34,999-square-foot store, which opened Wednesday, will generate new sales with Fayetteville because of its location.

He said the businesses’ proximity to the Fayetteville Boys & Girls Club, Owl Creek School, Katherine’s Place nursing home and Interstate 540, will attract customers beyond Fayetteville.

“Based on traffic counts, we already draw to Fayetteville from Farmington, Prairie Grove, Lincoln and other parts of western Washington County,” he said. “A lot of folks from those areas will come to Wedington to run their errands, but they won’t go any further into town.”

The Wedington market is the first Walmart food store on the northwest side of town.

A similar food market exists on the east side of town on Citizens Drive.

Shannon Magsam, a spokeswoman for the company, said smaller Walmart stores have previously been branded “neighborhood markets.” She said the Wedington location, along with the store on Citizens Drive, are now branded “markets.”

The name change falls in line with the company’s goal of being more “community oriented” and less exclusive, she said.

The market on Wedington is the fifth Walmart store in Fayetteville. Walmart also operates a convenience store on the University of Arkansas Campus, along with superstores on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and North Mall Avenue.

Clark said the Walmart Market will likely impact sales tax, though he didn’t know by how much.

“It will go up, even if it’s just a minimum amount,” he said.

A Walmart spokesman said the company doesn’t release information regarding revenue generated by stores.

He added that the market won’t attract the same customers who shop at Walmart superstores.

“People who come to this store want to get what they need and get out,” he said. “They don’t come here for the optical lab or to get their oil changed.”

Sonya Hosteler, Walmart regional vice president, said shoppers who’ve been to the market on the east side of town will likely have a similar shopping experience at the Wedington location.

According to a Walmart news release, the market was designed as a “convenient family shopping center.”

The store carries a full line of groceries, including produce, frozen foods, meat and dairy products, and organic items.

Patsy Bogan said she plans to make the market a weekly shopping destination.

“It’s closer to home and easy to get in and out of,” she said.

The Fayetteville resident said she usually shops at the Walmart Supercenter on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

The new store is across Wedington from a Harps Food Store, which is where Gerald Golden usually does most of his grocery shopping.

Golden said he will probably start shopping at the Walmart Market.

A store manager at Harps wasn’t available for comment Wednesday.

“There’s definitely a need for businesses like this in our area,” Golden said.

Jeremy Pate, city development services director, said the Walmart Market is one phase of an 80-acre development south of Wedington Drive and west of Betty Jo Drive. The Shoppes at Forest Hills, a 16,000-square-foot strip mall, is being constructed next to Walmart and is expected to be complete by next year. Plans for the largescale development could also include roughly 75 singlefamily homes along with townhouses, condominiums and lofts.

“I think the new Walmart store probably followed the growth out there, just like Harps,” Pate said. “They usually follow rooftops and then other properties start to develop. I see that area of town continuing to develop over time.”

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