Walmart

[gu4ever]

The sign is now missing from the building.

[Zayre88]

Remodeled Walmart in Newington NH, a former HQ (Home Quarters Warehouse).

[nims57]

Originally posted by gu4ever
The sign is now missing from the building.

Was that one a Zayre?

[gu4ever]

Originally posted by nims57

Originally posted by gu4ever
The sign is now missing from the building.

Was that one a Zayre?

It sure was. It was a really nice store, the entrance lobby shown in the photo originally was part of the sidewalk outside. This was changed to accomodate more space around guest service and the checkouts when Walmart took over.

[JoeC2364]

Originally posted by d_fife
wal-mart in hamburg ny (near buffalo)

this store just  closed and relocated to a new super center down the road and is the biggest one in the area.

[standa]

Originally posted by Zayre88
Remodeled Walmart in Newington NH, a former HQ (Home Quarters Warehouse).

Was this Walmart made into a supercenter?

[d_fife]

Originally posted by standa

Originally posted by Zayre88
Remodeled Walmart in Newington NH, a former HQ (Home Quarters Warehouse).

Was this Walmart made into a supercenter?

nope.

[d_fife]

Originally posted by XISMZERO

Originally posted by Marc82...maybe they're gonna do away with the Supercenter name and just call them Walmarts regardless of the size.

My educated guess tells me they will strip stores of the "Supercenter" name in place for just "Walmart." Perhaps they will slowly phase it out. It appears to be the company strategy of fresh and new.

My question is will they keep former Supercenters open 24 hours?

they will and why are there some supercenters that are not called Supercenters

[nims57]

According to The Caldor Rainbow, the original New Britain WM was on the site of a former Bradlees/Stop & Shop. It then was a Price Club warehouse that was vacant for 5 years.

This new store is officially called a Supercenter. It was built on the site of a former Two Guys/Jamesway/Rickel plaza: http://walmartstores.com/FactsNews/NewsRoom/8912.aspx

But here is the actual store. It was planned before they had the new logo. Photo credit videogamer75: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nintendo85/3320973084/in/set-72157622545750612/

[Marc82]

Originally posted by nims57
According to The Caldor Rainbow, the original New Britain WM was on the site of a former Bradlees/Stop & Shop. It then was a Price Club warehouse that was been vacant for 5 years.

Nick's website was wrong there. It was a Bradlees/Shoprite back in the day. Back when Shoprite was called "Mott's Shoprite. A lot of the CT area Shoprites were Mott's back in the day." It was a big shopping center called Stanley Plaza. Even though my parents lived in New Britain til 1983 they're unsure of when they ripped down the rest of the Stanley Plaza that was later Walmart (now a big corporate office for Webster Bank). The site was also used as a distribution warehouse for Nestle Candy Company sometime between Bradlees and Walmart. They left for Minor Street in Bristol even tho it was nowhere near I highway.

[gu4ever]

The new Walmart logo at night. This logo capture is from the new store in Hooksett, NH.

[gu4ever]

The produce and bakery departments at the new Walmart.

[Marc82]

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow Walmart was supposed to have those stupid Zhu-Zhu hamsters for $8 beginning at 7AM each day. Talked to a friend of mine at the Southington Store yesterday and he said no one came in to buy them. :roll:

[jmcnamara96]

Different view of the Keene NH Walmart before second renovation

[gu4ever]

Originally posted by jmcnamara96
Different view of the Keene NH Walmart before second renovation

A red Walmart sign?!! I've never seen one of those in my travels.......

[Marc82]

Originally posted by gu4ever
A red Walmart sign?!! I've never seen one of those in my travels.......

I'm so mad at myself. I never took a picture of the Waterbury, CT store before the remodel. That one was different too. Before they remodeled the background behind the sign was red. Never saw that before. I've also never been in that Walmart despite being in that plaza a few times.

Walmarts I've been in - Manchester CT, Cromwell CT, New Britain CT (before and after they relocated. Now Closed), Southington CT, Bristol CT, and Hinsdale? NH. (Not sure. It's somewhere North of Keene? We went there to pick up a few things before going to our hotel in Brattleboro VT back in '01).

[nims57]

A few PA Wal-Mart status updates:

Warminster: This is a typical early 90's store, built in 1995 on the site of a former Channel home center. Like many WMs of the era, it had a "Radio Grill" snack bar. The front was ripped off completely. This store was already repainted around the sides a while ago. Channel is not to be confused with Rickel, which there was nearby, so the Channel closed early. Warminster could use a Supercenter since the Pathmark of many years nearby closed. There also was a Food Fair/Pantry Pride that was later a Genuardi's nearby, now a Petco.

Hilltown: This store was built around the same time, but has a different exterior design. I think it was built during a "transitional" period for the company. The store is dim since the light fixtures were made more "efficient". A while ago, the Radio Grill closed for a Subway. The store smells because of this. It used to smell like cigarette smoke. A McDonald's was just built in front of the store. They are currently expanding to a Supercenter. This will be convenient since the Clemens (former Super G) closed.

Quakertown: Built in 1996, this was one of their first stores to have a "warehouse" ceiling. The store has the new paint job and logo. They plan to expand, which will be good since the Acme next door closed. The Acme was actually completed later. Yet again, the Radio Grill was replaced by Subway.

Harleysville: This was a typical early 90's WM except for the paint job and sign. It now has the new logo. Unless they drive them out, this one will not be expanding, being next to a Giant (former Clemens).  

[TRJ22487]

Originally posted by gu4ever
A red Walmart sign?!! I've never seen one of those in my travels.......

I'm so mad at myself. I never took a picture of the Waterbury, CT store before the remodel. That one was different too. Before they remodeled the background behind the sign was red. Never saw that before. I've also never been in that Walmart despite being in that plaza a few times.

Walmarts I've been in - Manchester CT, Cromwell CT, New Britain CT (before and after they relocated. Now Closed), Southington CT, Bristol CT, and Hinsdale? NH. (Not sure. It's somewhere North of Keene? We went there to pick up a few things before going to our hotel in Brattleboro VT back in '01).

I think the closest Walmart north of Keene is Claremont, NH Supercenter (One of the older supercenters I know of.) Hinsdale and Rindge are both closer in NH than Claremont, and both are close to Brattleboro VT, but both are South of Keene

Now the Keene Walmart last year, before they painted it brown and changed the logo, they were actually keeping it all entirely the same, and just repainting the letters blue instead of red. They had the blue letters up for no more than a week, when they tore it all down and went a completely different direction with it, painting the front brown and adding the sunburst logo. I found it strange that for that week period they repainted the old logo, simply to tear it down days later and redo the whole thing.

However I know the reason it was red in the first place, was because the owners of the plaza would not allow them to paint the building blue, but had to keep it yellow to match with Shaws next door instead. I've also read here that many former Bradlees were red Wal-Mart stores.

Riverside Plaza in Keene....what I would do for a perfect picture of the entire front of the plaza from 2000 or older, when it was still Bradlees/Brooks/Shaws/Red Lobster/Fleet Bank

[store215]

A few PA Wal-Mart status updates:

Warminster: This is a typical early 90's store, built in 1995 on the site of a former Channel home center. Like many WMs of the era, it had a "Radio Grill" snack bar.. The front was ripped off completely. This store was already repainted around the sides a while ago. Channel is not to be confused with Rickel, which there was nearby, so the Channel closed early. Warminster could use a Supercenter since the Pathmark of many years nearby closed. There also was a Food Fair/Pantry Pride that was later a Genuardi's nearby, now a Petco.

I believe this store didn't open until 1997 if I remember correctly.This entire store was actually completely gutted except for the three walls. It looks nothing like it did before. Whenever I have been in this store since it reopened, it is definitely less busy. They really didn't expand the store any, so all the departments got shrunk to make room for food. (And even the grocery section was not that busy). There is lots of grocery competition in the area, so I'm guessing most never migrated over to Walmart. (There is a Giant and a Wegmans not too far away that competes very well with Walmart.) Shop Rite was also another major player in Warminster, but they are temporarily closed as they switch owners and remodel.

[nims57]

Why the heck would they have gutted it so much? What is with the repainting of so many stores? Why are they expanding some stores and downsizing others? These are just rhetorical questions, no offense to you.

And 1995/1997 is not a big difference, but I still think it was 1995. Their new stores changed a lot around 1996. They had actually been using their "classic" prototype since about 1987. Ten years is a long time for them to stick with anything. An example of a later design is the Quakertown store.

[videogamer75]

If they switched designs in 1996, I guess the Wal-Mart in Hammonton, NJ was one of the last few stores with it. It opened up in January 1996 (which I learned thanks to a Google news archive search).

[Marc82]

The Walmart in Manchester, New Hampshire will be replaced by a new Super Center built on the site of an abandoned grocery warehouse. It got the approval.

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Walmart+wins+as+opponents+pack+City+Hall&articleId=e52c23d6-31fc-4ea1-80ce-3937c288b716

[gu4ever]

The Walmart in Manchester, New Hampshire will be replaced by a new Super Center built on the site of an abandoned grocery warehouse. It got the approval.

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Walmart+wins+as+opponents+pack+City+Hall&articleId=e52c23d6-31fc-4ea1-80ce-3937c288b716

And this store location just finished getting it's warm brown paint colors and new interior graphic pack + the entire store got moved around and around and around... But it's done and it looks pretty good for Walmart. Funny probably next year this time it will be closed for the new mentioned location!!

[TRJ22487]

Walmart Supercenter in Claremont, NH taken today
I believe it was built in 1994??
My parents remodeled the food section in the early 2000's

[ynkeesfn82]

I went to the Bristol, Connecticut Walmart on Saturday. I usually avoid that store because it's on Route 6 (Farmington Ave) and there's way too much gridlock on that street. Anyway this not-quite 10 year old store needs a remodel. Not only does the building and sign sport the old logo, the store is very cramped. I forget the actual square footage of the store (maybe 104,000?) but they scaled it down because people were complaining about it. (Even though Route 6 is the major commercial retail strip in Bristol the property Walmart is on backs up to a residential neighborhood).

This store was originally supposed to be in Plainville on the corner of Route 177 and Northwest Drive, but the town fought and sued them for years to keep them out, so they built in Bristol instead. I should mention that Plainville has been suffering from a major budget crisis for the last several years. Me thinks they should've let the Walmart get built.

Had not this store in Bristol not been under construction when Caldor closed down in '99 they said they would've taken over the former Caldor (which became K-Mart and now Price Chopper). At 85,000 the former Caldor would've made a smaller Walmart and one wonders if Walmart moved in there would they have expanded into the vacant space next to the store.

It's interesting to think what-if. What if Walmart had moved into the old Caldor? Would Price Chopper (which is now in the old Caldor) have found a location to open a store in Bristol? What would be built on the property where the Walmart now stands? Would they still be trying to find a developer to build on the property? Or would that be where Price Chopper would've built their store? Obviously if Walmart had taken over the Caldor K-mart would'nt have been in Bristol, but they didn't even last 4 years.

[Zayre88]

Walmart in Dover NH.  The former main entrance of the smaller, non-supercenter store is sealed off:

[BillyGr]

Walmart in Dover NH.  The former main entrance of the smaller, non-supercenter store is sealed off:

They've done this with other "add-on" locations also - since those entrances tended to be quite near one side or the other of the store, when additions are made (often to both sides of the building, depending on where space is available, of course) they usually wind up kind of in the "middle" and thus not where they want one of the two doors to be.

Most of the stores of that time (in our area, they started building them in the mid 90's, so most are from that time frame) were pretty much identical, with the exception that if you entered at the right side everything was to the left, and if you entered on the left, everything was to the right - so basically mirror images of each other.

[ynkeesfn82]

2 of my friends who work at the Southington, CT Walmart tell me that they will be removing the Domestics Department from the Bristol, CT store and replace it with a Produce Dept. Apparently they want to be a participant in the W.I.C. program and they can't until they add a Produce Dept because you can use W.I.C. to get some produce. W.I.C. is a government program - Women Infants Children.


Meanwhile I went to the Super Center in Wallingford for the first time the other day. I was amazed. It was the first time I had been to a Super Center. They weren't all open but including 4 self-checkouts they had 27 checkout lanes. (They're right next door to the Wallingford Shoprite where I currently work).

[MikeRa]

Here are a couple of pics of the Walmart Supercenter in Saint Marys, GA

[MikeRa]

And here'sa pic of a Walmart Supercenter in Lumberton, NC:

I took this pic from the parking lot of the Best Western that was across the street.