Walmart

[TheSteveHunt]

my $0.08 $99 calls looking pretty damn good this morning.

[Mastermind]

The online pickup 'building' that was on the NW Expy parking lot is being demolished. I think they started two weeks ago? At first I thought they were adding stuff to it, but it's definitely being torn down.

Remember first reading about it here two years ago, and am confused as to why they ever built it.
Also confusing is Walmart's pickup system in general. Ever since they started grocery pickup, it has made things weird. A few months ago I went to get an online order shipped to store, and thought the pickup parking on the left side of the building was for ALL pickup orders. Thankfully an employee still brought out my online order, but they really need to make that clearer.

And since they are still not done with updating the store, the online order pickup system inside the store is a mess. They moved it to the front of the store, but the kiosk wasn't even plugged in, and the waiting area was dirty.

[Pete]

^

That was a test for that new out-parcel pickup module.

I'd heard the conveyor system was problematic and there were security issues so they decided not to go forward with the plan.

I give Walmart credit... They try all types of things and sometimes they just don't pan out.

[Mastermind]

@Pete Thanks for the info. And yes I completely agree, the Walmart of today is definitely improved from when I was growing up. Trying new things (thanks to stiff competition) makes consumers happier

[jompster]

Walmart has been that way for a long time. I worked there from 2000 - 2009 and the new programs were always rolled out to a handful of test stores before implemented company-wide. Some ideas worked well, and others not so much. Like computer-generated shift scheduling.

[Pete]

Didn't they try Scan n' Go for a while?

System is awesome at Sam's Club but much more problematic at WM with tons more traffic and items.

[SoonerDave]

Just saw that Walmart has filed a building permit with OKC to rebuild/remodel their I-240 SuperCenter to the tune of $1.25m.

[Midtowner]

$1.25m isn't very much for such a large space.

[SouthSide]

Interesting. I kept hearing that Wal-Mart wanted to close it after building the new one at 104 but the City had talked them into keeping it open for a year. It must be doing well still.

[Zuplar]

Never made sense to me that the one on 240 would close because of the 104th one. They serve 2 different areas, with mind you a little bit of lapse, but I shop at the one on 104th and I never shopped at the one on 240. Usually the one in Mustang, sometimes Moore. So makes sense to me that both would stay open.

[SouthSide]

Theft had become a huge problem at 1240 one.

[RedDollar]

Last year, the WalMart at I-240 and Santa fe, was the most visited site in OKC by the OKC PD.

I don't go near that place.

[OKCDrummer77]

I used to have a coworker that lived near SW 89th & May. Years ago, she told me that she would rather drive to the store at I-40 & MacArthur than the I-240 store. It was that bad.

[catch22]

i used to go to that store all the time and never had any trouble.

[SoonerDave]

The "story" I heard was that WM did, in fact, intend to close I-240 when I-44 & SW 104 opened; however, that prospect piqued concerns of those in the area and supposedly an informal delegation of folks asked WM to keep it open. They reluctantly agreed, but not indefinitely. Looks like they're in that spot for the long haul now.

Also heard rumors that Lowe's wanted to build a new store by/across from that new WM, but nothing ever came off it. At least so far.

[RedDollar]

I used to have a coworker that lived near SW 89th & May. Years ago, she told me that she would rather drive to the store at I-40 & MacArthur than the I-240 store. It was that bad.

We went when the store first opened but it was not long until we began driving to Moore and then to Newcastle, until this one on 104th opened.

The I=240 store averaged three police calls per day in 2018.

[JDSooners]

$1.25m isn't very much for such a large space.

Think the updates they'll probably add will suit this store well

[Bunty]

My guess Wal-Mart is updating all their older super centers.The older one in Stillwater just got threw removing all the floor tiles, leaving brightly polished concrete. It doesn't look any better than before in my opinion.

[emtefury]

Would not be surprised it they are putting in something related to anti theft.

[jn1780]

Would not be surprised it they are putting in something related to anti theft.

They did install anti theft gate at Memorial and Penn. This could be related to that or related to eye glasses. Not a whole lot of money for a whole remodel.

[SEMIweather]

At the Belle Isle Wal-Mart, they recently installed anti-theft gates and tore out a bunch of checkout lanes and replaced them with a lot of additional self-checkout stations. I suspect this remodel will probably be something similar.

It's good that they are making a commitment to keeping this store open though, I think it is probably the grocery store of choice for a lot of southside OKC. (Would love to see WinCo open a store somewhere along SW 44th or SW 59th at some point.)

[bombermwc]

I hate going in this one, but i dont recall the last time i was in there, if they had a PickUP area.

[SoonerDave]

At the Belle Isle Wal-Mart, they recently installed anti-theft gates and tore out a bunch of checkout lanes and replaced them with a lot of additional self-checkout stations. I suspect this remodel will probably be something similar.

It's good that they are making a commitment to keeping this store open though, I think it is probably the grocery store of choice for a lot of southside OKC. (Would love to see WinCo open a store somewhere along SW 44th or SW 59th at some point.)

Not for this southsider. Lived in SW OKC all my life and never used this WM for groceries. Rarely went (and rarely go) north of 89th for groceries. Our primary haunts these days are Crest primarily, and sometimes WM on 104th or 134th because Crest has cut back it's selection so much to accommodate liquor sales.

[baralheia]

I live close to this Walmart, and a refresh will be most welcome. I don't like shopping there - the new Walmart on 104th and I-44 is WAY nicer and the produce quality is far better - but out of necessity I do stop there somewhat often and have noticed they've already begun making some changes. Within the last month they replaced almost all of the open coolers with new units that have doors on them, as well as the freezer cases too. They already have large self-checkout areas at both ends, so unless they intend to rip out more checkstands I don't think they'll expand self-check much. They also already offer Scan-and-Go and Pickup too.

As far as permits go, looks like they pulled two building permits: BLDC-2019-02364 on May 01 2019 (still marked "In Review"), and BLDC-2019-06394 on October 21 2019 (Marked as "Accepted"). Both still have fees pending and haven't been issued so neither permits have any construction plans attached and publicly available yet. Will be interesting to see what their plans are for this store.

[Plutonic Panda]

This would be a cool site to have something like Penn Central/OAK development with an urban Walmart as an anchor.