Reservation's Wal-Mart fulfills 'supersize' order
|
TULALIP RESERVATION — Hundreds of Wal-Mart employees stood in a circle around store managers, all celebrating the store's transition to a "Supercenter," Wal-Mart's term for stores that incorporate groceries.
The 3-year-old, 151,000-square-foot Wal-Mart has completed a 75,000-square-foot addition to add groceries and become a 24-hour store.
On opening day, last Wednesday, with cake, balloons and plenty of fanfare, the crowd traded lines in a round of store cheers.
"What have we done?" a manager shouted.
"Supersize!" employees replied.
Shortly after 6:30 a.m., Marysville resident Penny Miles walked through the doors, becoming the store's first Wal-Mart grocery shopper.
"I've been waiting for this," said Miles, a Wal-Mart regular who had shopped at Albertsons while awaiting the Wal-Mart grocery launch.
Wal-Mart's isn't the only retail addition in Snohomish County. Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood continues to add store and restaurant tenants to its outdoor shopping areas, The Terraces and The Village.
Constance Wilde, a vice president at CB Richard Ellis who handles retail real estate, said outdoor shopping plazas have become popular among retail architecture and design.
"The mall as we used to know it is now dead," Wilde said.
The new Mill Creek Town Center, a retail, office and residential development with paved walkways and parklike landscaping, follows the return-to-the-outdoors trend. The new shopping area has begun opening in phases.
Last week, La Palmera, a Mexican restaurant, opened its doors, sharing a building with month-old DeVine Wines and forthcoming "extreme sports" store Grizzly Sports. A boutique bakery, House of Bread, will open there around Labor Day, store owner Wayne Warren said.
Warren's store will become the first House of Bread outlet in the state. House of Bread, which was launched in San Luis Obispo, Calif., in 1996, began franchising its business in 1999 and now has 10 stores, with 10 more on the way.
The Mill Creek Court building at 15120 Main St. includes a Curves fitness center and Tuscadeli Cafe, an Italian deli that has been open for five months.
Elsewhere in the center, a 56,000-square-foot Central Market is slated to open Sept. 14, the day the center will open Main Street, said Bill Trimm, Mill Creek's director of planning and community development. An LA Fitness club and University Bookstore branch also are scheduled to open.
A Crate & Barrel and a Red Robin Gourmet Burgers restaurant had been rumored to be next.
Trimm said yesterday that Red Robin is no longer considering an opening in Mill Creek.
A Crate & Barrel spokeswoman could not be reached for comment, but Wilde, whose firm is handling leases for parts of the center, said a home-related-store announcement is forthcoming.
Jane Hodges: 425-745-7813 or jhodges@seattletimes.com