Walmart is using growth on the edges of local cities to expand.
The retailer is set to open a Neighborhood Market Aug. 28 in southwest Bentonville. Down Interstate 540, the company is in the early stages of building a supercenter in west Springdale.
“We think these stores can be a part of the solution for Northwest Arkansas residents who need a job or want more affordable options close to where they live and work,” said Erica Jones, Walmart spokeswoman.
Bentonville’s second Neighborhood Market will sit on the northwest corner of Southwest I Street and Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard. The existing store is on the other corner of the town off Southeast 14th Street in front of a Sam’s Club store. The new 41,179-square-foot store will have 65 employees.
Petra Huntsinger served as store manager at the 14th Street Neighborhood Market for a year-and-a-half before being named manager of the new store. She said many people have told her how excited they are for the store to open close to home.
“They are ready for us to come in and serve them so they don’t have to drive to the other side of town,” she said. “It’s great to know you are part of something the community is excited about.”
Bob McCaslin, Bentonville mayor, said the southwest part of town was quickly growing before the recession hit and is picking up again.
Fulbright Junior High School will open for classes Aug. 19 on Bright Road not far from the market site, and the city will start building a new community center in the area later this year.
“There are not a lot of services for those people in the southwest part of town right now,” McCaslin said.
He said Walmart’s decision to build in that area is a compliment to the city.
“They believe in our future or they wouldn’t build a store here,” he said.
Huntsinger said work is progressing on the store despite rain delaying landscape work. She said the main focus now is training workers.
“Customer service is a big deal for us. We will take care of our customers,” she said.
Walmart is not done building in its hometown. The company plans to build a third Neighborhood Market in downtown Bentonville where the Midtown Shopping Center is now. Jones said the downtown store is on track for a mid-2015 grand opening.
Plans call for Midtown Shopping Center to be replaced by a three-story building that will hold the Neighborhood Market, office space, other retail stores and a parking garage.
The third market will be near a former Harps Grocery Store location. Harps opened a new store at 1209 W. Walton Blvd. in March.
McCaslin said the north Walton Boulevard corridor is another area the city is focusing on and Harps is a good anchor for the project.
“This isn’t a 30- or 90-day program. We are casting a vision so 20 years from now we can say we are so glad this part of town didn’t die,” he said.
The city is in the process of selecting a consultant to perform an economic feasibility study for the road and McCaslin said the first step will be building sidewalks on both sides of the street after the first of the year. Next the city will plant trees along the corridor.
“It is another area where a lot of residents were able to shorten their commute time by shopping at a local store,” he said of the Harps location.
Doug Sprouse, Springdale mayor, hopes the town’s second supercenter will help be a catalyst for retail growth on its west side.
“We anticipate it will spur even further development,” he said. “Certainly the supercenter alone is a huge sales tax benefit for the city.”
At A Glance
Opening Soon
Walmart will open a Neighborhood Market on the northwest corner of Southwest I Street and Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard on Aug. 28.
The 180,000-square-foot store off Elm Springs Road, west of Interstate 540, will employ 300 to 350 full- and part-time employees. Jones said Walmart is in the bid process and the store has a tentative opening date scheduled for fall 2014.
Macadoodles was the first business to locate on Elm Springs Road on the west side of the interstate. The liquor store opened in April 2010 and is across Elm Springs Road from the supercenter site.
The store will take up 28 acres of a 70-acre farm owned by Margie Hall. Plans filed with Springdale’s planning department call the area Hall Crossing and show the 70 acres divided into 12 parcels.
City and Walmart officials said during the store announcement in December they envision the store being surrounded by other retailers and restaurants.
“I’ve heard interest in that area is going very well,” Sprouse said.
Growth along Elm Springs Road is getting a boost by a $71 million voter-approved bond issue that allows for $45 million in street improvements.
About half of the road construction funds will be spent on building a Don Tyson Parkway interchange off I-540.
The city is widening Elm Springs Road. Work is also under way widening and extended 56th Street from Don Tyson Parkway to Elm Springs Road.
“That is going to be a huge connector for us by creating another north-south route,” Sprouse said.
He said road work is progressing. The city held a public hearing last week concerning a pair of roundabouts on the 56th Street extension at Har-Ber Avenue and Elm Springs Road.