WAL-MART OPENS NEW STORE IN JACKSON

Rick Boyd, right, store manager of the Jackson Wal-Mart Supercenter, welcomed Andrew Schmidt and his son Andrew of Jackson as the first customers at a grand opening of the new store Wednesday.

JACKSON -- Doors to the second Wal-Mart Supercenter in Cape Girardeau County opened Wednesday.

The newest Supercenter, a 112,000-square-foot store on East Jackson Boulevard, includes 36 general merchandise departments. It has a full-line grocery store, vision center and pharmacy.

When the doors opened at 8:45 a.m., it was for good.

"We'll remain open 24 hours a day," said Rick Boyd, manager of the store. Boyd, who has been with the company 12 years, comes from Plano, Ill., where he served as store manager.

Boyd, local Wal-Mart department heads, district Wal-Mart representatives, Jackson city officials and a number of area residents were in the store-opening spotlight Wednesday.

The store opens about 16 months from the time plans were announced in late 1998. The store more than triples the space of the other Wal-Mart operation in Jackson. That store closed Tuesday.

"Wal-Mart has been growing with area residents for more than 23 years," said Boyd.

The Supercenter will employ about 150 people.

The grand-opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony featured a number of donations to area groups as part of Wal-Mart's commitment to the community.

The Jackson Fire Department received a check for $5,700, designated for purchase of a thermal imaging camera that sees through walls and in the dark. The donation put the campaign for purchasing the camera over the 50 percent mark.

Jackson firefighters had an opportunity to see and use the camera during a training workshop last year.

Other donations included a $500 check to the local United Way, a $1,000 scholarship for area high school students and other donations to Jackson schools, and donations to the Jackson Police Department and Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department.

Wal-Mart has a Supercenter near Interstate 55 and Route K in Cape Girardeau. Spokesmen for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said the close proximity of the two stores is not as important as traffic patterns and growth projections.

The Jackson store is one of 110 Wal-Mart operations in Missouri. The company has more than 2,000 stores nationally. Other divisions of the company include more than 150 Sam's Clubs and four Hypermart USAs. Headquartered at Bentonville, Ark., the company operates 17 major distribution centers across the country.

The first Wal-Mart Discount City was opened in Rogers, Ark., in 1962 by Sam and Bud Walton, co-founders of the company. Two years later a second Wal-Mart opened in Harrison, Ark. The Waltons had previously opened Walton's Ben Franklin Stores at Newport, Ark., and Versailles, Mo. The Waltons had a total of 15 Ben Franklin franchise stores before opening the first Wal-Mart.