New Walmart opens May 9

Fairfield?s new Walmart, 2701 W. Burlington Ave., will open May 9.

A grand opening is planned on opening day, but an exact time is not yet set.

The current store will remain open for business until the new store opens, said manager Kevin Mehaffy.

?Our new store will be open 24 hours,? he said. ?The two biggest new areas will be the full grocery section and our seasonal, garden center area.

?The grocery store will include fresh produce, a bakery and of course staple and frozen foods.

?I?m really excited about the addition of the food side,? said Mehaffy. ?It will bring new competition to town and competition is good. We?ll have a lot of new help there.?

Mehaffy said some of the food items will come from Muscatine through a secondary vendor.

Other changes and updates include:

? The store?s customer service counter will be located at the front of the store instead of the back.

? Fairfield?s current Walmart is 56,000 square feet and the new store is 94,000 square feet.

? The present workforce of 95 associates will expand to 175 associates.

? The pharmacy will include a drive-up window.

? More registers, including four self-check out registers.

?The new store will have lots of new features I haven?t seen before,? said Mehaffy.

The building has some energy efficiencies included, such as skylights to lessen the amount of electrical lighting and automatic lighting in the frozen food cases and restrooms. The lights there only turn on when a motion sensor activates the lights when motion is detected.

The new store is not yet stocked.

?We?ve been over there working a little, putting up shelving, but the contractor is still in possession of the building,? said Mehaffy. ?We take possession of the building Monday. Then we?ll begin stocking it. We?ll keep consumables in the old store until closing it.

?I have several associates who opened the current store. I know they will make the transition just fine, but it?s a bit of nostalgia for some to move from here to the new place. We?re ready for the change.?

The current Walmart, built in 1986, is listed for sale through the corporate realty office for $800,000.