Grand Reopening Held For Remodeled Napa Walmart Supercenter

NAPA, CA — As part of the recently completed remodel of the Napa Walmart Supercenter at 681 Lincoln Ave., customers now have access to Online Grocery Pickup and a Walmart Pickup Tower in their community. The tower, which functions like a high-tech vending machine and can fulfill a customer's online order in less than a minute, was on display following a grand reopening ribbon-cutting ceremony held Friday.

The remodel of this Napa store which first opened in 2001 is part of Walmart’s commitment to save California customers time and money in new ways, company officials said in a news release. Walmart recently announced it expects to spend an estimated $145 million over the next year in California through the opening and remodeling of 21 stores, as well as the launch and continued expansion of several customer-focused innovations, company officials said.

Pickup Tower

To use the tower, customers choose from items available on Walmart.com and select the "Pickup" option at checkout. When the item arrives at the Napa store, an associate loads it into the Pickup Tower and the customer retrieves it by scanning a bar code sent to their smartphone.

"Our renovations will make shopping at Napa's Supercenter easier to navigate and more enjoyable overall," said store manager Leah Tinkham. "One of the additions we're most excited about is the Pickup Tower. I encourage customers to give it a try. This new, high-tech tool is sure to make shopping a fun, new experience that customers can count on to get their items fast."

Online Grocery Pickup

The store also added an Online Grocery Pickup service, which means customers can order Walmart groceries online and pick them up without ever unbuckling their seat belts. Customers select their grocery items online, then choose the best time to pick up. A Walmart personal shopper loads the groceries into the customer’s car upon arrival — all at no additional cost.

"In Napa, it is rare to have services like Online Grocery Pickup," Tinkham said. "Now customers can rely on Walmart to fulfill orders made online from their phone and set a pickup time that is convenient for them."

Tinkham told Patch she is most excited about Online Grocery Pickup.

"That is most convenient for our shoppers, being that Napa is also a tourist town," Tinkham said.

According to Tinkham, customers make an appointment slot for online grocery pickup and when they drive up there is a phone number on the parking stall.

"They call that number and our team members bring out their groceries and load it into their car," Tinkham said. "And the customers can examine the quality of everything before they are charged."

She noted that on the grocery pickup section of the Walmart.com app, there is an option to approve substitutes. For instance, if the store is out of something the customer ordered, Walmart will substitute a bigger or better item at "no charge to the customer to make sure they're satisfied," Tinkham said.

Store renovations

During the 12-week remodeling project that started in February, the store stayed open from 6 a.m. to midnight daily, Tinkham said.

On Friday, the following improvements made to the Napa Walmart Supercenter were celebrated:

• Newly polished concrete floors
• State-of-the-art electronics department with interactive displays that allow customers to try laptops, tablets, mobile phones and more before purchase
• Enhanced home and apparel departments with new layouts; new hardwood flooring and remodeled fitting rooms in apparel
• Improved layout and lighting in produce and bakery
• Upgraded pharmacy with hardwood flooring, private consultation room and additional service lanes
• Increase from eight self-checkouts to 14

Committed to the Community

Walmart officials say the company is committed to serving Napa and is supporting local organizations through $3,000 in grants to: Girls on the Road Napa and Solano, Camp Super Fly, and Positive Companions Ryze.

Job Opportunities

The store currently 247 associates for full- and part-time positions within the store.

"During our remodel we did a lot of interviews and we converted 27 employees to our internal team," Tinkham told Patch.

Applicants can apply at a store's hiring kiosk or online at Walmartcareers.com.

More than 75 percent of store management teams started as hourly associates and 40 percent of those promotions went to associates within the first year of their employment, company officials said.