ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

There has been much work going on at the Liberal Walmart location and late last month, the community got to celebrate the finish of those efforts.

As store manager Kyla Gandy tells it, the work was a long time in coming.

“A little more than a year ago, we finally got the go-ahead that this building was going to be remodeled. So during this past year, we had multiple inspections, and the true remodel actually started in March,” Gandy said. “March was when they started redoing the parking lot, and we got all new asphalt and all new cement in the back of the building. People will probably remember back to that struggle with the parking and everything else going on back there. Then, the remodel of the interior of the building started in May, and that was about a four month process. I can’t give enough thanks to our local providers, we’ve worked a lot with local businesses and local truckers and construction companies, and I love how Walmart does that for the community.”

After so much planning, Gandy said it was exciting for the project to get started. 

“We were very excited because this store has not been had a true complete remodel in more than 20 years, so we were very excited,” Gandy said. “I think the customers were ready for it and the associates were ready for it. They were excited to see the new the new fixtures, the new layout and everything else. Now that everything is getting finished up, we're very thankful. We love it, it's great. A big change is the new aisles, which are wider when you go in, and everything is just so more open and inviting. Overall, everything’s been taken in positively by the community, and it's a very good thing. So we're very excited, and so are our associates.”

And that was not the biggest change the remodel brought on, Gandy said.

“The biggest addition we made was an 8,000 square foot building we added at the back for online shoppers. Before, they were going in and out the front door with all the rest of the customers, so it's going to be really nice to have that addition available for them,” Gandy said. “And that entire part of the parking lot is for them, which will be great for holiday shoppers when it gets really busy. Something else we did was we got rid of the white tile throughout the store, which I think makes the store look a lot brighter and newer. I also love how we were able to open up produce and bakery areas, I think that makes a huge change when you first come in. I think our customers and our associates are more excited about the newness, so it’ll be great to show it off to our customers. We've got more than 9,000 rollback items in the building right now to help save money, so it’ll be great to help our customers better by showing them the new items we've got and the new layout and getting everybody used to where everything is at again,”

Gandy said all the work will be very beneficial to the customers.

“More customers are going to be able to shop more often in different ways they want or need, especially with the online shopping, which is the wave of the future,” Gandy said. “Our capacity now is more than 1,100 orders a day, so we're able to serve 1,100 more customers, which is quite a big a big change for us. Like I said, during the holidays, when it's super busy in here, and if you don't want to fight the crowds, do an online order and pick it up so you can avoid the crowds.”

Gandy added she expects that holiday shopping to start relative soon.

“This store does a really good online business, and we have a really good customer base that loves it,” Gandy said. “We have a great Walmart Plus program where if you sign up for that, you can get free delivery to your house. I think that's one of the biggest programs we have that helps our customers where they need to be helped.”

Gandy added praise for the store’s team for their hard work throughout the process.

“This could not have been possible without my coaches, and my management team is absolutely amazing,” Gandy said. “I gave everyone a general structure and talked about what was going to be going on, and they took it and ran with it and they did a phenomenal job. We had store managers from all over who were telling me ‘’This is probably the biggest grand opening we've seen.’ I'm super proud of everyone, they did a phenomenal job.”

Overall, Gandy said, she is excited for the new store.

“I want to thank everyone for their patience during this project. I know there were some pain points with the doors being closed in the parking lot and a few other things, but I really do want to thank them for their patience and their continued support,” Gandy said. “And anything we can do to make our customers’ experiences easier, we're all about that, so if anyone ever needs anything, I encourage them to come find me and we’ll do what we can to help.”