Winn-Dixie’s dominance over the campus-area grocery market will soon see new competiion.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., is opening a Neighborhood Market grocery store at the intersection of Highland Road and Lee Drive on Oct. 3. The store will generate competition in the area and provide jobs.
This will be the third Neighborhood Market location to open in the Baton Rouge area, following locations at Coursey Boulevard and Old Hammond Highway. The store will provide Highland Plaza Shopping Center with the anchor store it has lacked since 2000, when a Delchamps grocery store closed after the Mississippi-based parent company went bankrupt. Neighborhood Market will share the shopping center with existing businesses, including Subway, UPS Store and Fantastic Sams hair salon.
Previously, the closest off-campus grocery alternative was Winn-Dixie on Burbank Drive. An Albertson’s and a Wal-Mart Supercenter, both on College Drive, and a Whole Foods Market on Corporate Boulevard are also nearby.
Market Manager Jeff Smith said Wal-Mart considered many sites for the new store.
“This area had great potential,” he said. “Good Neighborhood Markets need a good population density. Proximity to LSU is an added bonus.”
The targeted opening date of Oct. 3 is three days before the University’s highly-anticipated Southeastern Conference matchup with the 2006 NCAA Champion Florida Gators. Store manager Mike Lowery said store administration is already preparing for the influx of customers for the game by tweaking in-store traffic flow, securing team merchandise and designing party platters.
Charles Burford, franchise owner of the UPS Store adjacent to the Wal-Mart site, is excited about the business Neighborhood Market will bring to the shopping center.
“I think it’s great,” he said. “We needed something like this around this area instead of everybody running up to College Drive to go to Wal-Mart.”
Wal-Mart’s presence will also offer competition to nearby businesses, especially Winn-Dixie. Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., did not comment by press time.
“When we open a store, we look at the competition in the area,” Smith said. “We feel like there’s plenty of customers to go around.”
Kevin Denoux, pharmacist at Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy in Highland Plaza, is not worried about competition and is glad the building is finally occupied.
“Anything is better than nothing,” he said. “I’m not expecting it to change any business.” Some students are concerned about certain problems that will be associated with the new Wal-Mart, however.
Justin Runyon, mass communication junior, shops at both Winn-Dixie and the College Drive Wal-Mart. He said he held negative opinions of Wal-Mart in the past, but his biggest concern with the new Wal-Mart is the traffic it will cause.
“As far as impact on my life, it is going to be traffic hell in that area,” he said. “Highland isn’t large enough to cope [with it].”
Others are disappointed that Wal-Mart will not accept Tiger Cash.
“Tiger Cash at Winn-Dixie is a big deal,” said Rendford Cindass, Jr., biology junior.
University director of Contracted Auxiliary Services Mark Kraner said Lowery wants to accept Tiger Cash at the new store, but for now corporate policy prohibits it. Kraner said Winn-Dixie originally took a similar stance, and it took six months to come to an agreement.
Lowery said Neighborhood Market will open up several jobs to the community. He has hired nearly 90 percent of the 125 associates he plans to employ. He said the store will emphasize customer service.
“You’re going to see something you’ve not seen before,” he said. “We’ll be the friendliest store in town. I guarantee it.”
Lowery said Neighborhood Markets are “complementary to their Supercenter counterparts.” The new store will offer a full selection of groceries, including frozen foods, dairy products and produce, he said. It will also have a deli, bakery and pharmacy and a drop-off for photo development.
Lowery said the Neighborhood Market, occupying a 53,425 square-foot building, is larger than average and will have a larger produce section and more checkout lanes. He said the store is working on a deal with Whole Foods to provide a selection of organic products.
The Wal-Mart will also have a full selection of alcohol, including beer, liquor and wine. Lauren Boeke, assistant store manager, said the Wal-Mart will stock various brands of alcohol, including products from local brewer, Abita Brewing Company.
“We’re trying to get items people are used to buying in the community,” she said.
The Neighborhood Market will operate from 6 a.m. to midnight every day. Store administration is temporarily located at 1700 Lee Drive and is accepting applications.
—-Contact Parker Wishik at [email protected]