Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market opens

Cape Girardeau's newest grocery store looked similar to the weekend before a major holiday as shoppers flocked to Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market on Wednesday.

The new store on Independence Street celebrated with an early morning ribbon cutting and then opened for business, marking a fourth Wal-Mart store to operate in the Cape Girardeau/Jackson area.

Store manager James Dodd said Wednesday afternoon that shopper traffic had been steady. Around 3:30 p.m., parking spots were few.

The 41,000-square-foot store is a scaled-back version of a regular Wal-Mart that features groceries, including a deli and produce; departments with health, beauty, cleaning and pet supplies; and a pharmacy with a drive-through lane. The store also has a greeting-card section and liquor aisle. It is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The store's opening so far has created more than the previously predicted 95 full- and part-time jobs, Dodd said Wednesday, and the store is still looking to add employees. Many associates were on the sales floor Wednesday, practicing what Dodd called the "10-foot attitude," greeting and offering help to any customer who comes within a 10-foot range. Dodd said the store expects to keep many associates on the floor for the foreseeable future as customers learn its layout and products. Product displays and other customer-greeting events were also part of opening day activities.

Wal-Mart began building the new store after the Plaza Galleria, a multiuse retail center that sat vacant for several years, was torn down in 2013. Another retail building containing a bar, a Mexican grocery store, a salon and other businesses also was demolished on the west side of the lot where Wal-Mart now stands.

The new store is in an area of the city host to numerous grocery stores, general merchandise retailers and pharmacies, including ALDI, Ruler Foods, Schnucks, Dollar General, Kmart, CVS Pharmacy, Walgreens and John's Pharmacy.

eragan@semissourian.com

388-3632

Pertinent address:

2021 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, MO