Lapeer Walmart Unveils New Design

Renovated store offers a glimpse into the next generation of shopping

LAPEER, Mich., June 14, 2010 – The Lapeer Walmart, located at 555 E. Genesee, will celebrate a grand re-opening this week, giving local shoppers a glimpse of the company’s next generation of store design and customer experience. The results of a three-month remodeling project will be unveiled at the Lapeer Walmart at 8 a.m., Friday, June 18. Among the many improvements are a new layout, wider aisles, low-profile shelving, bright interior paint scheme, enhanced lighting and easy-to-read signage to make the shopping experience more convenient for customers.

“We listened to our customers and have redesigned the store to make shopping at Walmart even easier,” said store manager Brian Reid.

The remodeled Lapeer store features a more open shopping environment with wider aisles that contain no product displays. Walmart also aligned the departments that customers shop most frequently, making it quicker to purchase everyday items, including moving the pet department next to the grocery department.

A bright interior paint scheme and enhanced lighting create a more inviting shopping experience and help define the store’s merchandise areas. Low-profile shelving creates an improved sightline and directional signage helps customers find the products they need.

Among the changes, Walmart completely renovated both the pharmacy and vision center, creating a much friendlier, accessible experience with an open design. The Lapeer Walmart expanded the grocery department, offering a broader selection of seasonal foods, including all the necessities just in time for Fourth of July barbecues. The infant department was also expanded, offering a wider selection of furniture and everyday baby and toddler accessories. Customers will appreciate the hardware department’s new electronic paint matching system. The store also added new touch screen registers for quicker checkout and combined the Site-to-Store pick-up location and photo lab into a single area at the rear of the store.

The remodel brings Walmart customers an expanded electronics department featuring a wide selection of the latest consumer electronics and home entertainment. The new design includes a more hands-on experience for customers with expansive video gaming selection and portable electronics. The interactive experience enables shoppers to test new technology. The store expanded the grocery department, adding shelf space for a wider gluten-free selection of products at the customers’ request.

A new department called Celebration Station has been added and will feature party supplies, greeting cards, balloons and helium tanks, cake supplies and gift wrap.

The grand re-opening celebration is scheduled for Friday, June 18, and will begin with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 8 a.m. Local dignitaries, including members of the Lapeer Chamber of Commerce, will join Reid to help cut the ribbon to the newly remodeled store. Local signing competition winner Robert Fay will sing the national anthem, members of the American Legion will present the colors and customers will enjoy character appearances and vendor samples throughout the day.

During the ceremony, store associates will present $4,500 in grants from the Walmart Foundation to local organizations, including a $1,000 grant to the Lapeer City Fire Department. According to Lapeer Fire Chief Terry Kluge the grant comes at a much-needed time.

“Like most fire departments across the country, we’ve seen a reduction in the amount of money available for fire prevention activities.” said Kluge. “We’ll use this generous donation to purchase fire safety related materials we use in our educational programs, as well as a supply of smoke detectors for those in our area who can’t afford them. Without this donation, we simply would not have been able to purchase many of the items we need. We are very thankful, not only for the money, but because we have a true community partner in Walmart,” added Kluge.

Additional grant recipients include:

• 4-H Club
• Big Brother Big Sister
• Lapeer Chamber of Commerce
• Lapeer City Fire Department
• Lapeer City Police Department
• Lapeer Sheriff Department
• Literacy Center
• Project Graduation
• St. Paul Lutheran Church
• Teamwork
• Lapeer Intermediate School District
• The Refuge Homeless Shelter of Lapeer County

The store is also committed to being a good environmental steward. Part of the cement used in the store’s concrete flooring is made with recycled materials, and the baseboards are manufactured from 100 percent recycled plastic. The photo department also uses green technology, operating completely without liquid chemicals for photo processing. The store also has improved its recycling efforts with a new recycling program which features a sandwich bale process that takes all loose plastic, hangers, aluminum cans and office paper, sandwiches them between cardboard, bundles them into bales and sends them to recycling centers. In addition, the store will be composting all organic products.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT), or “Walmart,” serves customers and members more than 200 million times per week at more than 8,400 retail units under 55 different banners in 15 countries. With fiscal year 2010 sales of $405 billion, Walmart employs more than 2.0 million associates worldwide. A leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy and employment opportunity, Walmart ranked first among retailers in Fortune Magazine’s 2009 Most Admired Companies survey. Additional information about Walmart can be found by visiting www.walmartstores.com and on Twitter at http://Twitter.com/walmart. Online merchandise sales are available at www.walmart.com and www.samsclub.com.

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EDITOR’S NOTES

• Brian Reid, store manager, can provide details about the grand re-opening, offer quotes for interviews and arrange for photo opportunities or preview tours. He can be contacted at
• 810-664-3062.
• Walmart PR and Brand Reputation, 800-331-0085
• Walmart information online: www.walmartstores.com; merchandise sales: www.walmart.com
• Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is the legal trade name of the corporation. The name "Walmart," expressed as one word and without punctuation, is a trademark of the company and is used analogously to describe the company and its stores. Use the trade name when it is necessary to identify the legal entity, such as when reporting financial results, litigation or corporate governance.