Walmart Opening Two Stores Next Week

SPRINGDALE -- Walmart is on a roll opening stores in Northwest Arkansas. The retailer has opened three in recent months, has a pair set to open Wednesday and has six more in the pipeline.

A supercenter on the northwest corner of the Interstate 49 and Elm Springs Road intersection in Springdale marks the area's first new since 2005 when the store on Pleasant Grove Road in Rogers opened.

Farmington will be the latest smaller community gaining Walmart's presence when a Neighborhood Market opens at 367 W. Main St.

The Bentonville retailer recently opened Neighborhood Markets in Centerton and Pea Ridge, and an even smaller Walmart To Go near its home office. Walmart is also in various building and planning stages on a supercenter in Centerton, a Sam's Club in Springdale, Neighborhood Markets in Rogers, Springdale and Bentonville and a yet-to-be-named grocery pickup store in Bentonville.

"The company is catching up to the growth the area has experienced and is planning for the future," said Erica Jones, Walmart spokeswoman.

The new Springdale offered store manager Sherry Curtis-Swenson a chance to return home. She started working for Walmart 21 years ago as a cashier at the at 2004 S. Pleasant St. in Springdale, and she spent most of the past decade as store manager at Pineville, Mo.

"I remember when that store opened. It was the latest and greatest thing," she said of the older Springdale store.

She anticipates drawing a few customers away from the Pleasant Street store, but said most customers will come from homes west of I-49.

Tiffany Dickinson of Springdale was shopping with her five young children Thursday at the Pleasant Street store. She said the new store won't change her shopping location because she lives so close to the Pleasant Street one.

Rose Riddle of Springdale was shopping with her husband, Ron, and said they live between the two stores. She'll most likely go to the new store because it will sell fuel, she said. Riddle said she hopes the new store feels less busy than the Pleasant Street one.

"This store, on the weekends, you don't even want to have to stop by here," she said. "It is so crowded and cluttered."

Perry Webb, president of the Springdale Chamber of Commerce, said the new store will help the town regain sales tax revenue lost to newer stores in neighboring towns.

"I think it is going to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars lost that we will get back just from the one opening," he said.

The city's sales tax base will continue to grow as other businesses locate around the new store, he said. McDonalds and Arvest Bank are already planned for the site, and Webb said more businesses will follow.

"You have to have the people come first, and this will definitely bring the people," he said.

Curtis-Swenson said the new 188,000-square-foot store serves as a test site for a couple of Walmart initiatives. The store features eight fuel pumps and a 1,500-square-foot walk-in store that will carry items commonly found in convenience stores including soda, beer, chips and milk. It'll also sell prepackaged sandwiches, coffee and smoothies. The small store's hours are 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.

"That is one of the best things about being in this area. You get to be the first to pilot and try things out," she said.

Walmart is also testing a slightly larger convenience store model called Walmart To Go in Bentonville. The 5,200-square-foot store has eight fuel pumps, carries a slightly larger assortment of convenience store items and sells fresh deli sandwiches and hot meals from Bentonville's Butcher & Deli.

Walmart To Go opened in March at South Walton Boulevard and Southwest 14th Street.

Jones said the convenience store model is purely a test, and Walmart doesn't have any immediate plans to roll out more of the smallest stores.

Dwight Hill, a partner with retail consulting firm McMillan Doolittle, said he sees the convenience store size as a good growth option for the retailer. Walmart's comp sales -- or sales in stores open at least a year-- dropped 0.1 percent in the first quarter that ended in April. It was the fifth straight quarter the company reported negative or flat same-store sales in its U.S. segment.

"The margins can be pretty robust, especially in the area of fresh food," he said. "Walmart is a known commodity and could be a good alternative to existing chains."

One area Walmart saw growth in during the first quarter was Neighborhood Markets, with comp sales up 5 percent.

Michael Grove, an analyst with Nimzo Capital, wrote in a research note he believes Neighborhood Markets are the retailer's best choice moving forward.

"I would rather see Walmart scale down the size of the stores and accelerate the move to Neighborhood Markets," he wrote.

The Farmington Neighborhood Market is 41,000 square feet. Jesse Pinkston is store manager.

Melissa McCarville, Farmington city business manager, said she is looking forward to the store's drive-through pharmacy and deli offerings.

"It adds convenience to the people in our city, and the people who work around here," said.