Silvis Wal-Mart set to open on Wednesday
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By Doug Schorpp | Friday, March 14, 2008 |
SILVIS, Ill. — After two years of hoping, purchasing, designing, planning and building, the Wal-Mart Supercenter in this Rock Island County community is set to open Wednesday.
The new store at John Deere Road and Crosstown Avenue has 187,264 square feet of space. Its grand opening is slated for 7:30 a.m. Wednesday.
“It’s encouraging to be a part of our economic growth here in Silvis,” said store manager John Smith. “We see great opportunities for employment here and I look forward to leading our team of associates in serving our customers and being a part of the community.”
Longtime Silvis City Clerk Barb Fox agrees with the potential the store brings. It is located across the four-lane road from a Jewel-Osco, new development in progress and potential for more, she said.
“It’s going to be probably the catalyst that brings in a lot of commercial,” she said. “We always talk about a box store, well this is our box store. Look for a lot of development along the corridor, which is what we have been waiting for. Anytime you see projects like this, it is very exciting to the city. We have wanted to expand our commercial base for a long time.”
Smith said the 24-hour store includes a grocery department offering shoppers a wide selection of fresh produce, organic products and prepared foods. Other highlights include a Tire & Lube Express, a pharmacy with two drive-through lanes, an one-hour photo lab, a drive-through garden center, a Wal-Mart Connect Center for cellular phone sales and an electronics and home entertainment department.
Additional leased areas inside the store include a SmartStyle Family Hair Salon, a branch of Woodforest National Bank and a Subway restaurant. Smith said the Texas-based Woodforest National Bank is the first in the Quad-Cities. He said regionally, the bank recently located a branch bank in a Wal-Mart in Galesburg, Ill.
The store expects to hire about 330 employees.
“It has been more exciting than I thought it would be,” said Smith, a Galesburg native. “When you hire and train 275 to 290 new associates, you can lose sight of all the training that is necessary. The amount of training necessary can be overwhelming.
“But it’s all been wonderful. Mayor Lyle Lohse has been wonderful. Everybody in the city has been all friendly.”
In fact, Wal-Mart was able to use the city’s administration center at a station for people interested in working for Wal-Mart to apply and be interviewed.
During the grand opening ceremonies, Wal-Mart will give away $18,000 in charitable contributions which will be provided to George O. Barr and Bowlesburg elementary schools in Silvis, plus the city fire and police departments.
-- Full line of groceries, beer and wine, bakery goods, deli foods, frozen foods, meat and dairy products, fresh
-- New energy-saving reflective silver action alleys with motion-activated lights in the freezer section
-- Leased areas in the store include SmartStyle Family Hair Salon, a Woodforest National Bank branch and a Subway
-- Store plans to employ about 330 associates
-- Store manager John Smith began his Wal-Mart career as an associate in 1997 at a Wal-Mart store in West Burlington, Iowa. He also has worked at stores in Galesburg, Peoria and Aledo, Ill.
Doug Schorpp can be contacted at (563) 383-2292 or dschorpp@qctimes.com.
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