Walmart plans to open a Supercenter in Centerton next summer.
Plans announced Wednesday call for the retailer to build the 180,000-square-foot store at the intersection of Centerton Boulevard and South Fish Hatchery Road.
AT A GLANCE
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Walmart’s planned Centerton Supercenter is at the intersection of Centerton Boulevard and South Fish Hatchery Road.
The retailer is building a Neighborhood Market at the intersection of Centerton Boulevard and Greenhouse Road.
Source: Staff Report
The site is 1.7 miles west of a Neighborhood Market being built at Centerton Boulevard and Greenhouse Road. The 41,000-square-foot market will open this summer, said Erica Jones, Walmart spokeswoman.
"This is about anticipating growth and making shopping more convenient for customers," she said of the dual Centerton locations.
A new high school also is planned for the city. Centerton is part of the Bentonville School District and the school, named Bentonville West, is set to open in 2016. Plans were submitted to the city Wednesday. The high school will be on Gamble Road.
Centerton's population increased 374 percent in 12 years, going from 2,145 residents in 2000 to 10,170 in 2012, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Walmart submitted plans to the city for a Supercenter in 2006, Mayor Bill Edwards said. He said he wasn't sure why the project didn't go through, but believes the economic recession played a part.
Edwards said the store will attract more business to the city.
"Everyone wants to be by Walmart," he said. "This will give us a big boost."
The store will be more convenient for Centerton's residents as it will be closer to their homes than the Bentonville location, said Tom Laird, City Council member.
"More than anything, it shows the continued growth that Centerton has," he said.
Jones said the company expects some shoppers to switch from the Bentonville store to the new Centerton Supercenter, and it will make shopping at the store across from company headquarters and "even better shopping experience."
Centerton Boulevard is also Arkansas 102, and the highway is being widened to five lanes. It should be completed within the next couple of weeks, weather permitting, Edwards said.
The road expansion helped make the site a natural fit for the retailer, Jones said.
The Centerton Supercenter will employ 300 people and the Neighborhood Market will have about 95 employees, according to company officials.
Walmart also is building a Supercenter off Elm Springs Road, west of Intestate 540, in Springdale. That store will open in late summer or early fall, Jones said.
The retailer is also opening smaller stores in Northwest Arkansas.
The company opened its first standalone convenience store, Walmart To Go, at 1300 S. Walton Blvd., in Bentonville earlier this month. The 5,000-square-foot store isn't far from the city's Supercenter.
"We have to be wherever and however the customer wants to shop," Deisha Barnett, Walmart spokeswoman, said during a grand opening celebration last week.
NW News on 03/27/2014