Jon Johnson Photo/Gila Herald: Flanked by store associates, Safford Walmart Supercenter Manager Brian Andrews prepares to perform a ribbon-cutting to celebrate the completion of the store’s remodel and upgraded amenities.
Event celebrates store remodel and upgraded amenities
By Jon Johnson
SAFFORD – The Safford Walmart Supercenter celebrated the completion of its remodel and amenities addition by holding a grand reopening and ribbon-cutting celebration Friday.
Store Manager Brian Andrews thanked the numerous employees and contractors involved in the remodeling and praised them for their efforts in helping upgrade the shopping experience for consumers.
“It’s very relieving,” Andrews said about being finished with the remodel. “We worked our tail ends off for about 14 weeks. And to have the store opened up to the community to show what we’ve done and all the great services we have here now; it’s just wonderful. I’m very proud of my team.”
The event featured a Pledge of Allegiance led by the VFW Color Guard and the National Anthem sang by 13-year-old Zaylia Windsor, of Safford. There were also free beverages from Coke and Pepsi, cupcakes from Walmart’s bakery and more.
The newly remodeled store now boasts a state-of-the-art electronics department with interactive displays, combined sporting goods, automotive, and paint department, expanded liquor/wine department, refreshed apparel department, and the newly added Tool World in the hardware department.
“We moved everything in the store but everything makes sense, so it’s good,” Andrews said.
The remodel is part of Walmart’s commitment to saving customers time and money, according to its press release. The company reported that it expects to spend an estimated $71.8 million in-store remodels and new technology throughout Arizona alone this year.
One of the most glaring new amenities is the new Pickup Tower located at the front of the grocery side entrance. The tower is a 16-foot-tall vending machine that fulfills customers’ online orders in mere seconds. Items purchased online that fit into the tower’s lockers are placed inside the structure. The customer is notified that their online purchase has been delivered to the store and when the customer arrives they need only to scan their Q-code and the item is produced.
“You don’t have to wait for anybody or anything,” Andrews said. “It’s all self-serve and it’s super easy to use.”
At the Friday morning event, Andrews said the tower is up and running but nobody had used it as of yet and that the store was going to give a gift card to the first user.
