- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Walmart plans to move forward with Clearlake store remodel, expansion
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Walmart is moving ahead with its plans to remodel and expand its existing Clearlake store – plans which have been on hold over the last several years.
The store, located at 15960 Dam Road, originally was built in 1994. It's one of more than 11,200 stores under 71 banners in 27 countries operated by the retail giant, which reported more than $473 billion in sales in 2014.
The plan for the store remodel and expansion, submitted to the city of Clearlake during a meeting with city officials on Tuesday, calls for adding approximately 38,741 square feet of building area for a total store size of 148,258 square feet.
“Having been a part of the Clearlake community for over 20 years, we are always looking for better ways to serve our customers,” said Clearlake Walmart Store Manager Travis Peck in a written statement. “Remodeling and expanding our current store will allow us to offer our customers greater convenience by providing a one-stop-shopping experience, and create new jobs for the community.”
Walmart said the expansion of its Clearlake store will result in a larger grocery department, with additional food and general merchandise sales floor area, food sales support area, stockroom/receiving area, ancillary space and food tenant space.
The company said the remodeled store also will offer a pickup service that allows customers to order groceries and general merchandise online from Walmart’s Web site and pick up the products at the store.
One of the services the store won't be expanding – and, in fact, is removing – is the Tire and Lube Express section.
The store's exterior also will undergo a complete renovation, including parking lot lighting, signage and shading, the company said.
Altogether, Walmart said the remodeled and expanded store will bring about 85 new store jobs, plus construction jobs, with the company anticipating that additional tax revenue will be generated for the city.
The average wage for regular, full-time hourly associates in California is $13.33 per hour as of April, reported the company, which has two million associates worldwide.
Clearlake City Manager Joan Phillipe confirmed that she and Greg Folsom – the incoming city manager who will succeed her when she retires at the end of this month – met with Walmart representatives on Tuesday about the store expansion plans.
“They did bring with them the application and they left that,” said Phillipe, who hasn't yet had a chance to go through the document.
She said Walmart will be submitting an initial deposit of $220,000 to cover the costs of processing the project, including taking the environmental impact report through the administrative draft stage and covering the time of a contract planner, as the city doesn't have someone on staff with the expertise or time who can oversee such a large project.
“In the end it's not an inexpensive process,” she said.
Phillipe said the project “essentially is a remodel of an existing store,” not a brand new project.
“It's not a super Walmart by any stretch of the imagination,” she said of the proposed expansion size.
The proposed expansion, noted Phillipe, has been “an on-again, off-again project for quite some time” – even before she arrived in late 2011.
The project in a previous incarnation had gotten through the administrative environmental impact report stage before it was put on hold, said Phillipe, noting that Walmart has been undergoing a variety of internal changes regarding its direction.
“I think those things have impacted the project here,” she said. “They have started and stopped several times.”
Phillipe said the company's focus appears to be on updating older stores like Clearlake's.
She said the fact that Walmart is meeting with the city and willing to put down the money on the project indicates to her that they intend to move forward this time.
The expectations of 85 new jobs as a result of the project is an important factor for the city. “One of the city's priority goals is economic development,” said Phillipe. “One of the components of that, of course, is adding jobs into the community.”
A number of local residents and businesses have voiced concerns over Walmart's impact on the community, which Phillipe acknowledged and anticipates will be the case as the project moves forward.
“All of that will be looked at in the processing of the application,” she said.
Regarding the discontinuing of the tire and lube shop, Phillipe noted that the city seems to have a large number of such successful shops already offering those same services.
One of those is Tire Pros, owned by Gene Renner.
Renner said his business is a franchise, so it has buying power equal to Walmart's. However, he said many smaller, independently owned shops in the city have survived and thrived despite the presence of Walmart's tire shop, although other types of businesses have shuttered in competing with the store.
He attributes the success of local shops like his to a few things, including people who want to shop with locally owned business.
“I think quite a few people like to shop locally and don't want to see their money go to Bentonville, Arkansas,” he said.
He's been in the tire business for 23 years, so he watched as Walmart opened up a similar business to his own, but he said, “I'm never concerned about competition coming to town.”
Renner said service is key, so no matter how much competition local businesses have, if they are willing to offer great service, they can survive and thrive.
“People like service more than anything,” he said, noting that he has customers who work at Walmart.
“I don't think they had as a good a service and people like to shop locally,” he said, adding, “Our service is certainly a lot better than Walmart.”
For local businesses, one of the key lessons from Walmart's decision to close its tire and lube shop is, “You can compete with the big guys,” said Renner.
The company said information about the store's progress will be posted at the Walmart Clearlake store’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Walmart1979 .
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