Walmart Inc. continues to upgrade its Neighborhood Markets in Jacksonville, the latest being the Mandarin store at 10555 Old St. Augustine Road.
The city issued a permit Dec. 16 for FMGI Inc. of Woodstock, Georgia, to renovate the 38,897-square-foot grocery store at a cost of $792,000.
It was one of the first three Walmart Neighborhood Markets to open in 2013 in the Jacksonville area. The other two initial stores are in Arlington and Middleburg. All were former Food Lion stores.
The markets are Bentonville, Arkansas-based Walmart’s supermarket-size grocery stores and just a quarter of the space of a Supercenter.
There now are five Neighborhood Markets in Jacksonville and two more in Clay and St. Johns counties.
The scope of work includes cleaning and painting the exterior surfaces and interior walls, and remodeling and upgrading the pharmacy, entry vestibule, floors, customer checkout areas, restrooms and online pickup area.
The Mandarin market is one of three Jacksonville stores being renovated.
The other two permitted are:
• Walmart is investing almost $1.29 million into its Baymeadows Commons Neighborhood Market. The city issued a permit Dec. 8. The Baymeadows store at 9550 Baymeadows Road was the first Walmart Neighborhood Market built from the ground up in Jacksonville. It opened in June 2018. The Baymeadows Road space formerly was used as Bailey’s Powerhouse Gym, which relocated. The city issued a permit in July 2016 to demolish it for construction of the Walmart Market.
• Walmart recently completed a $1.3 million renovation of its San Pablo market, which opened in November 2015. It was a former Food Lion store.
A fourth is in for permitting. The city is reviewing plans for renovation of the Arlington Neighborhood Market at 8011 Merrill Road.
Upon opening the Baymeadows store four years ago, manager Paul Rodriguez said the Neighborhood Market is focused on groceries and pharmaceutical needs, with wider aisles and lower shelves.
The store was part of the Walmart 2.0 design that features lower countertops, larger bakeries and deli areas, drive-thru pharmacies and other revisions.
Walmart opened its first Walmart Neighborhood Markets in 1998 in Arkansas.
As of Oct. 31, 2022, in the U.S., Walmart had 5,320 stores comprising 682 Neighborhood Markets along with 3,572 Supercenters, 365 discount stores, 600 Sam’s Clubs, 92 small-format stores, eight convenience stores and one pickup location.