GL News

November 5, 2010

Super ready to go

Big Walmart opening in Pittston Twp.

By Jerry Lynott jlynott@timesleader.com
Business Writer
Jerry Lynott on Facebook   |   @TLJerryLynott on Twitter

PITTSTON TWP. – Standing in the aisle by the electronics department, Michael Emerson looked clear to the front entrance of the new Walmart store.

It was the day before the grand opening and no customers were shopping. But when they arrive today they will have the same unobstructed view as Emerson, the store manager.

The retailer’s “clean action alley” program keeps aisles free of pallets and merchandise to allow shoppers to move about easily and quickly. It’s just one of the many changes in store for customers.

The building has skylights that will cut energy costs by up to 75 percent, low-flow toilets and faucets to reduce water consumption and a concrete floor made out of recycled materials and covered in a low-maintenance finish. Departments most frequently used by customers, such as groceries and pharmacy, are close to each other.

“This is our new prototype 155,” said Emerson during a quick tour of the supercenter on state Route 315. The more than 155,000-square-foot center will replace the smaller 122,000-square-foot store nearby on Oak Street. Emerson said the annual sales would increase to $70 million, up from the $45 million at the older store.

The older store, which opened in 1998, was set to close Thursday after 6 p.m. It will become Merchants’ Village indoor shopping center, where vendors will lease space to sell their goods and products.

“A lot of the old buildings sit empty. That store is sold,” said Emerson.

The 48-year-old Chicago-area native has been with the company for more than 20 years, the last two as store manager of the Oak Street store. He said he’s been through a full remodeling of a store as well as a grand opening in Illinois.

“Relocations are definitely different,” he said. While opening one store, you’re planning for the closing of another, he added. Some of the merchandise has been moved to the new store and the employees will shift over as well. The company hired 150 new employees, which will more than double the work force to more than 300.

The new store has all of the departments as the older one, such as hardware, clothing, sporting good and electronics. It also has a pharmacy with a drive-through pickup window, a bank, Subway sandwich shop, a nail salon, vision center and a 40,000-square-foot supermarket.

The Quinn’s supermarket in Pittston is about that size, said Jeff Nicholson, manager of the locally owned three-market chain. Others stores are in Archbald and Peckville. The emergence of the supercenter is going to have a minimal effect on business, he acknowledged.

“I have a good crowd and a walk-in crowd.” Many of the store’s loyal customers are older, and Quinn’s caters to them with free delivery and a 10 percent discount on Tuesdays.

A 28-year veteran in the supermarket business, Nicholson said good customer service always pays off.

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