Fourth Neighborhood Market opens Wednesday

Wal-Mart will mark another milestone in the Columbus market next Wednesday as it opens its fourth local Neighborhood Market at 4909 Buena Vista Road.

The 41,000-square-foot grocery store — which includes a pharmacy and gas station — will be open 6 a.m. until midnight seven days a week. A brief grand opening event is scheduled 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, with the retailer’s foundation expected to donate $8,000 in grant money to various community groups, including Morningside Baptist Church’s backpack program and the Boys & Girls Club of Columbus.

A separate event, called a “Big Family Welcome,” takes place 11 a.m.-3 p.m. April 16, with family-oriented activities and food samples while they last. Customers also can meet Paul Hernandez, who is manager of the store, which employs about 95 people full and part time.

Wal-Mart has flexed its financial power in the market over the last couple of years, spending tens of millions of dollars on the four Neighborhood Markets and a supercenter. Its other grocery stores are located on Blackmon Road and Manchester Expressway in Columbus and on U.S. Highway 80 in Phenix City.

The Wal-Mart Supercenter is heading toward a summer completion on Victory Drive in south Columbus, while the company’s Sam’s Club store recently has undergone an update topping $1 million. An older Wal-Mart discount store on Buena Vista Road will be closed as the supercenter opens. When the dust settles, there will be five supercenters locally.

That retail buildup by Wal-Mart would presumably give pause to other retailers entertaining thoughts of entering the market, including much-sought-after Costco, the Seattle-based wholesale club rival of Sam’s Club that has been considering a location in Columbus for several years, according to area commercial real-estate developers.

This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 12:07 PM with the headline "Fourth Neighborhood Market opens Wednesday."