In Bentonville, Wal-Mart’s first convenience store going up

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is building its first convenience store just blocks away from the global retail giant’s home office in Bentonville. A spokesman for the company said the new store format is being tested in Bentonville, and there are no immediate plans to duplicate it.

The building will go up on an empty, 2-acre lot on the northwest corner of Southwest14th Street and South Walton Boulevard and is expected to open sometime in spring.

“We know - and see - that this type of convenience store is becoming popular with our customers,” said Deisha Barnett, senior director of corporate communications for Wal-Mart. The store will stock snacks and beverages as well as staples like milk, bread and eggs, she said.

There’s no word yet on whether it will carry alcoholic beverages or what brand of gas it will sell. Gas from El Dorado-based Murphy Oil is sold in kiosk fueling stations at certain Wal-Mart stores across the region.

Plans for the 5,200-squarefoot store were approved by the Bentonville Planning Commission on Tuesday night. The building will be brick with a glass storefront and eight gas pumps. No further governmental action is required, said Bentonville city planner Beau Thompson. The name on the application for the store is Charles Park and the Wal-Mart Real Estate Business Trust.

A preliminary drawing of the store shows the Wal-Mart’s logo, a yellow “spark,” depicted in big lights incorporated into a flat ceiling over the fueling stations. The spark also is used on a stand-alone sign and on the sides of the building along with the name. The rendering of the store shows the name to be Spark Fresh, though store officials have not yet decided what to call it. Lime green is used on the metal trim and and to accent the fueling canopy.

The closest competitors are a Shell station on the northeast corner of the same intersection and a Casey’s General Store on Southwest 14th Street.

Steven Montgomery, president of Chicago area-based b2b Solutions LLC, said he would be interested in knowing whether the retailer has plans to get directly involved in the convenience store business. His company specializes in working with retailers and suppliers in the convenience retail/petroleum industry.

“History has not proven kind for most companies that operate large format locations that have gotten into the convenience store business,” Montgomery said.

Business, Pages 27 on 11/07/2013