While the exact date still hasn’t been confirmed yet, and staff are sworn to secrecy, the new Wal-Mart will open its doors here sometime during the last week of the month.
“Yes, that’s still our plan,” Kevin Groh, manager of corporate communications, said last week from Toronto, referring to opening by the end of January.
Likewise, store manager Cindy Killett said Tuesday the store is shaping up.
“We’re about 75 percent ready,” she noted, adding that while many of the shelves are stocked, some spring merchandise still has to come in.
The entranceway and the McDonald’s Restaurant there also need some work, but are expected to be ready in the next two weeks.
Wal-Mart staff have been working hard since the beginning of last December to first put up shelving and display units, then stock them with merchandise.
On Tuesday, some staff were spotted receiving cashier training from Colette Steves, a Wal-Mart trainer from Sudbury.
As previously reported, the new Wal-Mart location will feature a “pantry,” stocking an expanded assortment of food and refrigerated goods, a McDonald’s, and a full complement of services from pharmacy to photo development to a portrait studio.
The store has hired about 150 full- and part-time associates.
(Fort Frances Times)
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
