A new Walmart Neighborhood Market will open at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 10, at 2300 Metropolitan Ave., Kansas City, Kan.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place at 8 a.m. The new store will provide up to 95 jobs, according to a news release, and will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
It will carry fresh groceries and value-priced merchandise. In addition to groceries, the store features health and beauty aids, pet products and cleaning supplies. It will have a pharmacy.
It also will offer a “site to store” program that will allow customers to choose from online items that can be ordered on Walmart.com and picked up at the store at no additional charge, sometimes as quickly as the same day. The new store, with 42,000 square feet, is about one-fourth the size of a Walmart Supercenter.
During the grand opening ceremony, Walmart will receive an award from the Environmental Protection Agency in recognition of its development of the former Kansas City Structural Steel Superfund Site. The new Neighborhood Market will anchor the 13-acre La Plaza Argentine center and is a result of a partnership between Walmart, local neighborhood groups and government entities.
“The Argentine Neighborhood Development Association and Walmart have built this bright future on cleanup of a once polluted site led by the EPA,” said Regional Administrator Karl Brooks. “This Neighborhood Market will provide a proud, vibrant community with a new source of affordable and healthy food in an urban food desert, offer good jobs, and remove an industrial eyesore. The jobs, the food, and the convenience are all possible thanks to a community taking an active role in helping EPA create a viable re-use scenario.”
The new Kansas City store is part of Walmart’s plan to open an additional 270 to 300 small-format locations this year, a spokesman said. The first Walmart Neighborhood Market opened in 1998, and today there are approximately 380 Walmart Neighborhood Market stores nationwide. Once open, the store will have an immediate effect on the community by providing fresh meats, fish, vegetables and fruit to local residents.
“We’re looking forward to serving the residents of the Argentine community and surrounding areas,” said store manager Deryk Cogdill. “At Walmart, we believe it’s important that all our customers have convenient and affordable access to fresh and healthy groceries options so they can live better. This store will fill a major void in the retail landscape and significantly decrease the distance residents need to travel to access the groceries and merchandise they want and need.”
The grand-opening celebration includes presentations of grants from Walmart and the Walmart Foundation to local community groups including the Argentine Betterment Corporation, El Centro, KCK Police Department and area schools.
In addition to the grants given as part of the grand opening, the new store will further Walmart’s pledge to fight hunger in America. As part of Walmart’s and the Walmart Foundation’s $2 billion commitment to fight hunger through 2015, Walmart stores in Kansas donated approximately 3.8 million pounds of food, in fiscal year 2014, or the equivalent of 3.2 million meals. Additionally, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation gave more than $8.6 million in fiscal year 2014 in Kansas alone.