Wal-Mart adds neighborhood market on Buena Vista Road, sets opening dates on three other Columbus-Phenix City stores
Restaurant owner Lee Morris remembers his first impression upon hearing earlier this year that Wal-Mart was locating one of its neighborhood markets next to his restaurant on U.S. Highway 80 in Phenix City.
"I thought that I was dreaming," he said Friday while sitting in his LeMo's Grill, an eatery Morris opened four years ago in a small convenience store center next to the Wal-Mart at the intersection of Woodland Drive. "When I found out that I was going to be near something that pulls other things in, it was like, how fortunate can I be?"
It won't be long before the Fort Mitchell, Ala., resident's dream comes true. Wal-Mart on Friday confirmed grand opening dates for the Phenix City neighborhood market and others in Columbus.
The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer also confirmed yet another Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market is being built at 4909 Buena Vista Road in east Columbus. That's on top of two more of the smaller-format grocery stores already under construction on Blackmon Road and Manchester Expressway, as well as a supercenter off Victory Drive, all in Columbus.
Here are the opening dates and estimated timelines of each store that Wal-Mart is bringing to Columbus:
• Neighborhood market, Blackmon Road off J.R. Allen Parkway in Columbus – opens Jan. 15
• Neighborhood market, Manchester Expressway adjacent to Columbus Technical College – opens Jan. 15
• Neighborhood market, U.S. Highway 80 near Woodland Drive in Phenix City – opens Jan. 20
• Neighborhood market, Buena Vista Road near Floyd Road in Columbus – tentatively set to open in mid-April
• Supercenter, Benning Drive off Victory in Columbus – late 2016 or early 2017
The 159,357-square-foot supercenter on Benning Drive had previously been projected to open by next summer. Wal-Mart on Friday did not say why the project has been pushed back six months or longer, although construction did start later than originally anticipated by developers.
The neighborhood markets average between 38,000 and 42,000 square feet and typically employ just under 100 people.
They're full-line grocery stores, often with fuel pumps fronting them, and aimed at making it easier for customers to get in and out compared to the behemoth supercenters.
In Columbus, the markets also will be battling it out with various competitors, including Piggly-Wiggly, Publix and Winn-Dixie.
There already is a heavy presence by Wal-Mart in the area. The mega-retailer operates a supercenter and Sam's Club on Whittlesey Boulevard, supercenters on Airport Thruway and Gateway Road in Columbus, a supercenter in Phenix City and a non-supercenter on Buena Vista Road in Columbus.
The Buena Vista Road discount store is inside a strip shopping center constructed in 1989. It's also only two-tenths of a mile from the new neighborhood market that is being built.
Asked Friday if there are any plans to close the older store, Wal-Mart simply replied, "Looking into this still."
Columbus developer Ben Billings, who brought the Wal-Mart Supercenter to Gateway Road in northeast Columbus, as well as the upcoming Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market on Blackmon Road, said he believes it should remain open.
Billings is working to complete the final pieces of the retail puzzle on his property next to the Blackmon Road neighborhood market. He plans to construct a 9,400-square-foot center on 4.5 acres between Wal-Mart and Georgia Military College.
"We have a contract with Home Hardware and they will be coming, and we're talking to a gentleman about a Japanese restaurant," the developer said.
He also has one lot remaining upon which a retail user is interested, but there's also a doctor's office wanting to be on the site, with a target of opening by next summer.
Billings also said another parcel of property upon which he planned to build a strip center himself is being purchased by someone interested in putting a restaurant there.
That deal has not yet closed.
Back on U.S. Highway 80 in Phenix City, LeMo's Grill owner Morris has visions of plentiful customers dancing in his head with the coming Wal-Mart market.
His own restaurant serves up Chicago dogs, Philly cheesesteaks and homecooked meals such as turkey wings and meatloaf.
But Morris also knows that being located next to Wal-Mart can be a double-edged sword and that the result is not for the faint of heart, even for those hoping to feed off the successful retailer's shopping traffic.
"Wal-Mart is known as somewhat like kudzu. Wherever they plant, they grow, and if you ain't strong enough, they'll overcome you," Morris pondered as traffic whizzed by his restaurant, which is inside a building anchored by a Big Cat gas station. The trick, he said, is getting those motorists to stop and take a look at what you offer.
"It's a lot of traffic on any highway," he said. "But the thing about it is you can sit on your porch and watch people all day. But if they don't have a reason to stop, it's tough. Now you'll have two gas stations here. It's almost like competition. I guess, as they say, competition is good for business."
Columbus building permits show Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Polestar Development is the entity constructing the 42,436-square-foot Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market on Buena Vista Road. The general contractor is RPM & Associates, also of Chattanooga. The construction price tag is listed at $3,753,464.
This story was originally published November 8, 2015 at 10:02 PM with the headline "Wal-Mart adds neighborhood market on Buena Vista Road, sets opening dates on three other Columbus-Phenix City stores ."