Wal-Mart Opens in Richmond's Hilltop Mall

RICHMOND, Calif., April 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- This morning, Wal-Mart will open the doors to a unique, three-level store inside a formerly vacant space at Richmond California's Hilltop Mall. Then store is the fourth to open as one of 10 selected earlier this year by Wal-Mart's national Jobs and Opportunity Zone program to invest in local communities. More than 3,000 applications were received for 400 planned jobs at the store, located at 1400 Hilltop Mall Drive.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070411/DAW024 )

"This is truly a store of the community, and we have taken great efforts to ensure that the Richmond Wal-Mart serves Richmond residents and neighbors not only by offering great quality merchandise and top brands at low prices, but also by providing an additional base for economic prosperity," said Wal- Mart Regional Vice President Henry Jordan, who leads operations for all Wal- Mart stores in California. "We are very excited to be here and grateful for the community's warm welcome."

A Focus on the Richmond Community

In an effort to further invest in Richmond, the site was chosen earlier this year by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. as one of 10 zones in its nationwide Jobs and Opportunity Zone program. This program focuses on investing in select local economies by providing good jobs at newly opened Wal-Mart stores, promoting small businesses throughout a specific community area, and educating local women and minority businesses on working with Wal-Mart as a supplier. As part of the program, Wal-Mart, in collaboration with local business organizations, will select up to five small businesses in the area per quarter to promote through advertisements in the store and in select local newspapers.

In conjunction with grand opening celebrations, the Richmond Wal-Mart is providing more than $25,000 in grants to local Richmond organizations, including $15,000 to the Richmond Police Activities League and $10,000 to the Kennedy High School Sports and Athletic Programs.

Wal-Mart has been working with other businesses in the Hilltop Mall to prepare for the opening, and has received enthusiastic interest from nearby shop owners excited the store will soon open. Wal-Mart plans to promote niche services offered by other mall businesses. For example, Wal-Mart associates will refer customers looking to fix their watches to the mall's Watch Gallery, since Wal-Mart does not provide this service.

"We are all looking forward with anticipation to the opening of Wal-Mart," said mall manager, Kirk White. "We believe that the addition of this powerful retailer to Hilltop Mall will attract new customers and contribute greatly to our center's overall appeal as a shopping destination for area residents. I have spoken with many store owners in our mall who are pleased that Wal-Mart is finally opening. They believe that the influx of new shoppers will translate into an increase in their own sales and an overall improvement in the Richmond economy," he added.

Store Format Unique to Wal-Mart and Melds into Mall's Infrastructure

In order to blend in with the layout of the mall and neighboring department stores, designers reconfigured the store format to accommodate the mall's multi-floor plan. Wal-Mart took over space formerly occupied by another large retailer and completely remodeled and retrofitted the interior. Unlike the layout of most Wal-Mart stores, the Richmond store is built within three floors of mall space, with the first two offering merchandise for customers.

The third floor houses the store's storage and receiving areas. Multiple entrances into the store offer shoppers access to parking areas from both the first and second floors and also interior access into the mall from the first floor. More than 28 cash registers are dispersed throughout the 205,700 square-foot store to provide greater convenience to customers. Escalators are designed to allow for the safe transport of customers and shopping carts between floors. Wal-Mart has another multi-level store located in California in the city of Los Angeles.

Shoppers will also notice an updated "look and feel" of the store's interior, with new signage to help navigate through the expanded merchandise departments along with new flooring and engaging merchandise displays. Among other renovations, the store features an "open plan" pharmacy along with wider aisles and more open common areas.

As a part of its Store of the Community retail strategy to focus on products more relevant to its shopping community, the new store has an expanded selection of Hispanic and Asian food, as well as a broadened selection of ethnic hair care products and urban sportswear styles.

Designed as a destination for one-stop shopping, the store features various general merchandise departments including family apparel, health and beauty aids, dry goods food, electronics, household needs, party supplies and crafts, toys, lawn and garden supplies, jewelry and shoes.

Wal-Mart's Economic Impact in California

As of February 2007, Wal-Mart employed 70,887 associates in California. The average wage at Wal-Mart for a full-time hourly associate in the state of California is $10.77 per hour, with Bay Area averages even higher. Every Wal- Mart associate can become eligible for health coverage, including access to plans that cost as little as $23 per month. This includes both full-time and part-time associates. It also includes their children, who can get coverage starting at less than 50 cents per day, no matter how many children an associate may have

As of March 31, 2007 the company owned and operated the following facilities in the state of California:

-- Wal-Mart Supercenters: 22 -- Wal-Mart Stores: 145 -- Sam's Clubs: 36 -- Distribution Centers: 9

Wal-Mart generated more than $821.9 million in state sales taxes in FYE 2007 and paid more than $128.3 million in state and local taxes that same year. In FY 2006, Wal-Mart spent $20,444,664,678 with 3,929 suppliers in the state, supporting more than 248,027 supplier jobs.

About Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Every week, more than 127 million customers visit Wal-Mart Stores, Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets, and Sam's Club locations across America or log on to its online store at http://www.walmart.com . The company and its Foundation are committed to a philosophy of giving back locally. Wal-Mart is proud to support the causes that are important to customers and associates right in their own neighborhoods, and last year gave more than $270 million to local communities in the United States. To learn more, visit http://www.walmartfacts.com/ , http://www.walmartstores.com/ , or http://www.walmartfoundation.org/ .