Wal-Mart Supercenter’s Grand Opening Aug. 13 |
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By Tony A. Archuleta
The Supercenter, located at Hot Springs Retail Center overlooking North Date Street, will be open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week. Its only closure will be Christmas day. Unlike some Supercenters such as in Las Cruces, the TorC store won’t be open 24 hours a day. “If there’s a demand for an overnight shopper, we can always increase the hours,” said Roman, a six-year Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., employee who started out as a produce clerk in at an Albuquerque location. “Generally when you get to the outskirts or smaller towns, there just isn’t a demand to have the front doors open (around the clock).” The doors may close to shoppers at 11 p.m., but “we still stock all three shifts,” said Roman. As recently as last April, Wal-Mart Senior Manager of Public Affairs Delia Garcia said the Supercenter likely wouldn’t open until late 2008, perhaps in time for the Christmas shopping season. “When we talk about the construction period and all that goes into it, there are so many different parts,” Garcia, who’s based in Phoenix, explained during an interview at The Herald office. “Sometimes we give a larger window because we’re not sure if it’s going to be a longer time frame or a shorter time frame. “In this case, thankfully” she continued, “we’re able to open a little earlier… everything has been going very smoothly with this project.” The Supercenter will feature a garden center with outside nursery, full-service pharmacy, deli, bakery, meat department and Tire & Lube Express. At 105,000 square feet, the TorC Supercenter is comparable in size to Socorro’s. The Supercenters in Las Cruces are twice that size at more than 200,000 square feet, according to Roman. “It’s the exact same size as the Socorro store, we just have a TLE, that’s the only difference in size,” he said. The TorC store, however, will feature updated fixtures including reflective silver shelving, more color signage and a streamlined layout. Unlike the Socorro store, there will be no self-checkout lanes. Some Supercenters feature franchise restaurants within the store, as well as service outlets, from optometrists to hair salons, but not here. To carry nearly the same amount of merchandise that one of the bigger stores does, the registers were moved further to the front of the building where independent business tenants might otherwise have been situated. “That way you’ll still be able to find three-quarters or more – it may even be 80 percent – of the amount of items that you’ll find at bigger stores in Las Cruces,” said Roman. Roman also noted that items not found at the TorC store can be ordered online and shipped free of charge to the local store. Reflecting Sierra County’s status as a resort destination featuring two lakes and a pair of golf courses, Roman said the local Supercenter will stock its shelves accordingly. “We were able to make some changes to the merchandise layout in the facility where we actually switched some counters in the store from garden center to actually expanding our sporting goods department,” said Roman. While some Supercenters feature a 4-foot section of golfing equipment, the TorC Supercenter’s will measure 12-foot in length. “We have actually added an extra counter-and-a-half to accommodate fishing lures, fishing poles and other marine goods that you can’t find in Albuquerque stores,” he said. The Supercenter also will sell New Mexico hunting and fishing licenses. Firearms won’t be sold at this location, although ammunition will be stocked. So far some 550 individuals have applied for 180 associates positions, according to Roman. “I currently have 75 people on the payroll,” said Roman, adding that number will swell to 110 in the next few days, followed by 30-plus per week “until we reach the 180 mark.” The average hourly salary for an associate in New Mexico is $10.23, according to Garcia. “And, of course, that’s depending on experience, position and that sort of thing,” she said. Roman said about a quarter of the individuals who applied to work at the store are former or current Wal-Mart employees, including eight who reside in Sierra County and previously commuted to the Las Cruces Supercenters. Two more associates formerly worked at stores in Wisconsin and west Texas but own homes in Sierra County. Then there’s newly-minted assistant manager Ken Tyler, who transferred from the Alamogordo Supercenter after completing the company’s management program. “They asked me if I wanted to stay in district (southern New Mexico) and they told me that this store was being built and they asked me if I was interested, and I said where’s it at? TorC. Cool, fishing! ” Tyler said while standing outside the store during an afternoon work break last week. “I fished at Elephant Butte several years ago, and this is the place where I want to retire,” he said. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., also offers its employees, both full-time and part-time, a wide range of benefits, from medical insurance to 401K retirement plan to stock options and a 10 percent discount card on merchandise, according to Garcia. Full time associates, classified as 34 hours or more per week, are eligible for health benefits after 60 days, while part-time employees become eligible at the anniversary mark. Wal-Mart stores are typically staffed with a ratio of two-thirds full-time employees to one-third part-time workers, Garcia said. |
“We’re
fixturing the facility right now,” store manager Patrick Roman said
during a July 8 interview. “We’re putting all our shelves where they
belong in the store and the plastic molding that holds our pricing.”