New Wal-Mart opens today in Round Lake Beach
Bigger store on Route 83 offers one-stop shopping
ROUND LAKE BEACH -- Can you find Main Street in a big box?
Wal-Mart is giving it a try with its new Round Lake Beach store, set to open today at 2680 Route 83.
(Thomas Delany Jr./News-Sun)
The 24-hour, 176,000-square-foot store includes a full line of groceries, a pharmacy, a medical clinic, a bank, a hair salon, a deli and bakery, along with Wal-Mart's usual merchandise departments.
Wider aisles and a more convenient layout are also big upgrades over the former Wal-Mart in town at 772 E. Rollins Road, according to store manager Beth Dillon. She is moving to the new store along with more than 200 other employees from the Rollins Road site.
"By grouping the products that our customers most often purchase, including health and beauty and pet supplies, we are making one-stop shopping even easier," Dillon said.
Dillon said current employes are "very excited" about the move to the new store and will be joined by 140 new employees to handle the increase in scale.
On Tuesday, the store -- set to open at 7:30 this morning -- looked ready for business with employees learning about the new self-checkout machines. The space was magnified by the temporary lack of customers and the sense of newness was palpable.
"It's very, very clean, and we're dedicated to keeping it that way," Dillon said.
In addition to increased tax revenue expected to be generated by the bigger, expanded-service store, Wal-Mart is donating $20,000 in grants to the community, including donations to Avon Township Food Pantry, Big Hollow School District 38, the Round Lake Area Civic Foundation, the Round Lake police and fire departments, and the Round Lake Area Library.
The new Wal-Mart building also includes energy-efficient technology, including skylights that harvest daylight to reduce energy consumption, recycled building materials and low-flow plumbing fixtures.
