SUPERCENTER IS BEING BUILT AT CARBONDALE

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Construction of a Wal-Mart Supercenter is under way at Route 13 and Giant City Road in Carbondale.

Plans for the facility, a 202,469-square-foot structure, were announced recently by Wal-Mart spokeswoman Jane Arend.

A smaller Wal-Mart store operates about a mile west of the site. Arend said officials will try to find a tenant for the 80,000-square-foot building that will be vacated.

Plans for the supercenter became known in January when Wal-Mart officials asked for a required public hearing on their request to expand the enterprise zone in Jackson County, Murphysboro and Carbondale to include the land they wanted to build on.

Addition of the supercenter will create approximately 240 jobs for the Carbondale area, in addition to the current 210 at the existing store.

Colcon Industries of Sullivan, Ill., is general contractor for the store.

The supercenter, the newest prototype developed by Wal-Mart, will offer a full line of grocery products complete with meat counter, produce and frozen foods, in addition to a wide variety of general merchandise. In addition, the new facility will include a garden center, pharmacy, tire-and-battery, and auto-service center.

The nearest supercenter is the 167,000-square-foot store in Cape Girardeau. Arend said the company's 17 supercenters range in size from 100,000 to 200,000 square feet. Some are open 24 hours a day, but officials have not decided on hours for the Carbondale operation.

Carbondale's new Wal-Mart store is one of 95 Wal-Mart stores in Illinois. Wal-Mart has 1,804 stores nationally. Other divisions of the company, headquartered at Bentonville, Ark., include 243 Sam's Clubs and four Hypermart*USAs.

A Sam's Club has already been announced for Cape Girardeau and will be near the supercenter there. A Sam's Club is also near Carbondale, on Route 13 near Marion.

Wal-Mart reports sales of $43.9 billion and net income of $1.61 billion for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31.