Walmart is about to enter the Woodland retail market in a big way with a new SuperCenter on the west side of Interstate 5 at Dike Access Road.
The size of three football fields, the 157,000-square-foot Walmart store is set for completion in October, said Jennifer Spall, a spokeswoman for Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the parent company of all Walmart stores. No store opening date has been scheduled, Spall said. Walmart expects to hire 350 full- and part-time employees to staff the Woodland store.
o Woodland: Work on the SuperCenter store is expected to finish in October at 1486 Dike Access Road.
o Vancouver: No construction dates set for stores planned at Eastgate Plaza, south of Northeast Fourth Plain Boulevard between 137th and 147th avenues, and in the Salmon Creek area near Washington State University Vancouver. Walmart operates three Vancouver stores.
o Woodland: Work on the SuperCenter store is expected to finish in October at 1486 Dike Access Road.
o Vancouver: No construction dates set for stores planned at Eastgate Plaza, south of Northeast Fourth Plain Boulevard between 137th and 147th avenues, and in the Salmon Creek area near Washington State University Vancouver. Walmart operates three Vancouver stores.
o Longview: A SuperCenter store is under construction and expected to open this fall at 636 California Way, the former home of the River City Mobile Home and RV Park.
o Portland: Construction is in the planning stages for one of Walmart's smallest area stores, an 85,900-square-foot SuperCenter at the Hayden Meadows shopping complex east of Interstate 5, near Dick's Sporting Goods and Lowes.
o Longview: A SuperCenter store is under construction and expected to open this fall at 636 California Way, the former home of the River City Mobile Home and RV Park.
o Portland: Construction is in the planning stages for one of Walmart’s smallest area stores, an 85,900-square-foot SuperCenter at the Hayden Meadows shopping complex east of Interstate 5, near Dick’s Sporting Goods and Lowes.
The mega-retailer’s expected opening is drawing mixed reviews from the business community, said Sharon Knight, retiring executive director of the Woodland Chamber of Commerce.
“Most of the retail businesses are concerned” about competition, Knight said.
The world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart uses a volume-discount model that undercuts prices at most mom-and-pop stores. The new Woodland store will carry groceries, the main distinction of a SuperCenter. It will feature an automotive center, an optical center and an in-store pharmacy, along with clothes, shoes, electronics, housewares and home furnishings.
To compete, “the only thing we can do is provide the highest level of customer service possible,” said Mike Golik, 36, the second-generation owner of Woodland’s True Value Hardware store at 218 Davidson Ave.
Others welcome Walmart as Woodland’s first national one-stop shopping retailer, said John Burke, a member of the Woodland city council.
Burke said Woodland officials hope the store will replace local jobs that were lost during recession. And the city eagerly anticipates the extra sales-tax revenue from Walmart, said Burke, the owner of JJ’s Computer Repair in Woodland.
“The way I look at it, (the Walmart) is going to bring in jobs and help the city run better,” he said.
True Value owner Golik said he is bracing for the big-box store’s opening to affect sales — at least at first — at his hardware store, which is in the city’s historic downtown core, west of I-5 at Exit 21 and a few miles south of the mega-retailer’s 18.5-acre site off Exit 22.
But in the long run, “I anticipate no impact (from Walmart), or maybe even an increase in business, because my store is very specialized with a knowledgeable staff,” Golik said.
True Value employs seven people selling hardware, electrical, plumbing, paint, and farm and garden merchandise. Golik’s father, Tom Golik, purchased the store in 1976. Mike Golik took over in 1998.
Traffic impact
Others in the community are concerned about road revisions at the I-5 and Dike Access Road interchange, which has primarily served a cluster of industrial companies on the north end of town. To accommodate the traffic it will generate, Wal-Mart was ordered to build traffic roundabouts on the east- and west-side ramps to the freeway interchange.
That has caused Woodland-based PDM Steel Service Centers Inc. to permanently move its truck route south to Woodland’s Exit 21, where it now avoids construction and will in the future avoid the roundabouts, said Bill Raybell, operations manager.
Raybell’s company receives and ships 65-foot-long steel beams. “If you picture the beam trying to swing around the circle and people trying to merge, we’re concerned about it,” he said.
Burke said Woodland expects to eventually build a third roundabout at Dike Access Road and Sherman Way, to help handle excess traffic from a new high school planned near the Walmart.
However, the city recently came up short on money for its roundabout project, Burke said. Woodland officials had earmarked $600,000 for the job, which bid at $750,000, so the city project is on hold.
“As a council, we’re worried about whether we’ll be able to handle the traffic,” Burke said. “I have a feeling it’s going to be OK.”
Cami Joner: 360-735-4532 or cami.joner@columbian.com.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story was changed to reflect corrected information.
