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A Walmart Neighborhood Market is opening next year on Independence Boulevard, the first store of its kind in Charlotte.
As previously reported on this blog, the store will be in a former Best Buy location at 7421 E. Independence Boulevard, in the Independence Square shopping center. That shopping center also has a Super Global Mart international food store.
The store will be hiring about 85 people to work full and part-time. They'll start working in January as the store prepares for its opening.
There are some 200 Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets nationwide. They're about the same size as traditional supermarkets, and carry similar lines of goods. This is the state's second Neighborhood Market. The first opened in Cary in October. Here's a local news story from Cary with pictures of the store, to give you a better idea what to expect (Their verdict: "Walmart Neighborhood Market looks like a lot like a slightly less fancy Harris Teeter.").
“We are excited to add this Walmart Neighborhood Market to Charlotte and bring good jobs with career opportunities to the area,” said store manager David Thomas, in a statement. He's been with the company for three years, and started his career in Shelby.
The new Neighborhood Market will be a challenge to other supermarkets, of course, and also to other smaller, discount food retailers, such as Family Dollar. It represents the fourth new grocery option in the region announced or opened this year, along with Whole Foods, 201central, and Publix.
Building permits show Walmart is spending more than $3.5 million to upgrade some 50,000 square feet of the building.
Here's Walmart's description of the Neighborhood Markets: "Walmart Neighborhood Markets were designed in 1998 as a smaller-footprint option for communities in need of a pharmacy, affordable groceries and merchandise. There are now about 200 Neighborhood Markets in the U.S. Each one is approximately 38,000 square feet and employs about 95 associates. Walmart Neighborhood Markets offer fresh produce, meat and dairy products, bakery and deli items, household supplies, health and beauty aids and a pharmacy."
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JACK REACHER
ANNA KARENINA
Sunday will be the last day of business for Freshberry and Smallcakes. There's no word yet on what will be replacing the stores. Owner Nick Smith was out of town Thursday, said a woman at the store.
Freshberry was entering an already crowded fro-yo marketplace, with a slew of businesses including Yoforia, Tasty Yo, Pinkberry, TCBY, Cherry Berry, and the Frozen Isle. And directly across the street from Freshberry, on the opposite corner in the Kenilworth Commons shopping center, is Menchie's, a fro-yo franchise that opened last year.