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Local Study Finds Proposed Tacoma Walmart Will Have Positive Impact on Jobs, Economy. Read more.
Walmart Goods and Services
Walmart plans to build a new store in downtown Tacoma to serve local residents and surrounding communities. The full-service store will include everyday household items with the added convenience of a full-service grocery department that includes fresh and locally-grown fruits and vegetables, a bakery, deli and pharmacy, as well as new products and merchandise, such as apparel, home goods, health and beauty aids and electronics, and an outdoor garden center.
Location and Design
The planned store will be located at the Tacoma Elks property at Union Avenue and South 23rd Street in the Tacoma Central neighborhood. The store will be approximately 150,000 square-feet, with a covered outdoor garden center. The store is still in planning stages and, as a result, Walmart has not determined dates for construction-start and grand-opening.
Jobs and Career Opportunities
If built, the Tacoma Central Walmart will create approximately 300 jobs with good pay and benefits and the opportunity to advance. Additional temporary workers will be created during the store’s construction. Nearly 75 percent of Walmart store management teams joined the company as hourly associates. In 2010, more than 146,000 hourly associates in Walmart U.S. stores received promotions, and 55 percent of those associates were women.
Walmart associates receive competitive wages and benefits. As of July 2011, the total number of Walmart associates in Washington is 17,584, and the average wage for regular, full-time hourly associates in Washington is $12.75 per hour.* Additionally, eligible associates receive an annual incentive based on the company performance. More information on Walmart in Washington is available here.
Associate Health and Benefits
Walmart offers associates a comprehensive benefits package that provides more cash up-front to pay for eligible medical expenses, the potential to receive more income today through our bonus incentive programs, and incentives to save and help them plan for retirement – including matching up to 6% into our 401(k) program. Click here for more information on Walmart’s benefits.
Economic Impacts
This proposed store would fill a space that has been vacant for many years, and provide the city of Tacoma and its citizens with a much-need solution when it comes to job creation, economic development, tax revenues, and improved access to healthy, affordable food. These represent positive community impacts at a time when tens of thousands of area residents are currently out of work. As of September 2011, unemployment in Tacoma was at 9.6%, which is higher than the statewide rate of 9.3%, according to several reports. In addition, the Elks site represents one of many opportunities in and around the city that allow Walmart to expand access to the Walmart brand and be as close as possible to its customers.
In addition, as of June 2011, Walmart employs more than 17,975 associates in Washington state. In FYE 2011, Walmart spent $2,598,045,143.00 for merchandise and services with 743 suppliers in the state. As a result of Walmart’s relationship with these suppliers, Walmart supports 99,672 supplier jobs in Washington.*
To learn more about Walmart’s economic impacts on the community, click here.
* Wage and supplier figures provided by Dun & Bradstreet
Community Benefits
The Walmart Foundation is committed to helping people live better by leading on social issues that matter to our customers and associates. We address community needs and support opportunities in education, workforce development, environmental sustainability, and health and wellness. Some of the area organizations that Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have supported recently include the Emergency Food Network of Tacoma – Pierce County, Caring for Kids, and Operation Homefront Washington.
In 2010, Walmart stores, Sam’s Club locations and the Walmart Foundation gave more than $11.9 million in cash and in-kind donations to local organizations in the communities they serve in Washington. Through additional funds donated by customers, and Walmart and Sam’s Club associates throughout the state, the retailer’s contributions in Washington totaled more than $12.9 million.
In 2010, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation made a historic $2 billion commitment to help end hunger in America. The Fighting Hunger Together initiative will provide 1.1 billion pounds of food from Walmart facilities and $250 million to hunger relief organizations through 2015. Click here to learn more about Walmart’s community giving activities.
Sustainability
Walmart is a leader in the industry when it comes to sustainable construction practices. We include some of the most innovative environmental practices sustainable practices as standard features. Some features that will be employed in the proposed Tacoma Central store include:
- A daylight harvesting system, which incorporates more energy efficient lighting, skylights and daylight dimming sensors to monitor the amount of natural light available, all of which can reduce up to 75% of the store’s daylight lighting needs.
- Water-conserving restroom fixtures including low-flow faucets and toilets will be installed. These measures could save approximately 70% of water used annually at this store.
- A white membrane roof with high- solar reflectivity is designed to reduce the building’s energy consumption.
- Outside the store Walmart will collect, treat, and infiltrate storm-water, as well as utilize drought-tolerant native landscaping to reduce water consumption.
- The store’s HVAC system will utilize super-high efficiency packaged HVAC units (while the industry standard EER (Energy Efficiency Ratio) is 9.0, the proposed new units are rated at approximately 12.1 to 14.3).
More Information
- Local Media Contact: Richard Kendall, Frause, 206‐352‐6402 (Statements and quotes on behalf of Walmart should not be obtained from or attributed to agency employees.)
- Walmart media hotline: 1‐800‐331‐0085
- Walmart information online: www.walmartwashington.com or www.walmartstores.com, merchandise sales: www.walmart.com
- Walmart corporate giving: www.walmartstores.com/communitygiving
- 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.
