Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Supercenter To Open In October

Wal-Mart customers in Arkadelphia will soon be going to the new Supercenter.

The Wal-Mart Supercenter is expected to be open by the end of October, according to store manager Tony Hill.

Speaking to the Clark County Industrial Council Thursday, Sept. 16, Hill said the new store will be about 150,000 square feet and offer a full line of grocery items, including produce, a deli and bakery, along with jewelry, a shoe department, clothing and a six-bay auto garage.

Some of the interior space will be leased to local beauticians and a local bank, he said.

Wal-Mart, he said, wants to be involved with the community. The business donates to the Children's Miracle Network, the United Way, has a Teacher of the Year program, a Grandparent's Day grant and offers the Sam Walton Community Scholarship in the amount of $1,000.

The business also has an industrial development grant available to communities and has a billboard for missing children.

Once the Supercenter is up and running, Hill said, it will employ about 350 people through the Christmas holidays. After Christmas, this figure will drop to about 300.

Of this, some 70 percent of the associates will be full-time workers.

The Supercenter will be open 24 hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week, with the exception of Christmas Day.

Hill said the average starting wage for workers will be about $6 an hour, with this based on the experience the employee brings with them.

While there are no plans for the current Wal-Mart building, he said, the Bentonville office, where the company is headquartered, will be taking it over and looking to lease it out.

In other business, Rep. Percy Malone said the Southwest Arkansas Learning Center has about 85 percent of its funding in hand, with most of the money coming through Henderson State University.

At this time, the CCIC is looking for a director for the center.

CCIC President Brown Hardman said a group went to Little Rock and got $200,000 more for the business park.

Malone said overall the CCIC has obtained $310,000 for the park, with $110,000 currently being held up because of a suit filed against the commission because of the way the funds were allocated.

However, he said, the money will come to Clark County once the suit is settled.