By Shavonne Potts
spotts@salisburypost.com
Wal-Mart will open two new stores in Concord and Locust bringing in a total of 750 new jobs. Both stores will open at Wednesday at 8 a.m.
There will be a 7:30 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony before the official opening.
The Concord store is a 191,524-square-foot facility located at 5825 Thunder Road, near Concord Mills.
The Locust store is a 151,000-square-foot facility located at 1876 Main St.
The stores offer convenience services, including a MoneyCenter, vision center, pharmacy, digital photo processing center, Wal-Mart Connect Center, while leased areas and services include a Subway restaurant and a branch of Wood Forest Bank, a statement said.
In recent months, Wal-Mart has taken major steps to refresh its stores, merchandising and customer experience.
The improvements have all come together in the company’s newest stores, such as the Locust and Concord stores, with fast service, a friendly shopping experience and clean stores.
The new stores feature wide aisles, enhanced service and a layout designed to make the shopping experience more convenient for customers.
Wal-Mart aligned the departments that customers shop most frequently. Each pharmacy, for example, is adjacent to food making it easier for customers to pick up their prescriptions while shopping for their groceries.
A bright interior color palette creates an inviting shopping experience and helps define the stores’ merchandise areas, the statement said.
Wal-Mart also combined the customer service desk, site to store pick-up location and photo lab in one area near the entrance. Customers now have easy access to these services, as well as associates on hand to help meet their needs, the release said.
As part of Wal-Mart’s commitment to the communities in which it operates, a total of $29,000 in grants from the Wal-Mart Foundation will be presented during the stores’ grand-opening celebrations. Many of these contributions will be given to local agencies including the West Stanly Christian Ministry Food, Locust Elementary School, Cabarrus Meals On Wheels, City of Concord Fire Department and City of Concord Police Department.