Walmart Rockets from 15th to Third in EPA Green Power Rankings
Walmart has shot to third place on the EPA’s rankings of the country’s top green power purchasers, from 15th place just last quarter. The Green Power Partnership ranking, for the retailer’s Texas and California facilities alone, pushes Whole Foods down to fourth place. According to the EPA’s data, Walmart’s facilities in the two states use 872,382,088 kWh of green power a year, or 28 percent of their total electricity use. These Walmart facilities also rank second among retailers, second among on-site green power generators and third among Fortune 500 companies on the EPA’s lists.
Read more at EnvironmentalLeader.com
read moreWalmart Expanding in Chicago
After an eight-year battle Alderman Howard Brookins, Jr. is finally able to celebrate his efforts to bring a Super Walmart store to his South Side ward. And the retailer took a monumental step in announcing it changed its employment policies and will hire ex-felons. Officials said this move gives everyone an opportunity to apply to work there. The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer opened its first super store on the South Side Wednesday in the West Chatham community. “I cannot tell you how good it feels to finally see this store open and filled with customers,” said Brookins, whose 21st ward includes the store’s location at 8301 S. Holland Road. “And I want to thank the black press for sticking with this story for eight years. This is a story worth telling and a battle I would do all over again.”
Walmart DC Business of the Year
The Sauk Valley Area Chamber of Commerce looked back at its 100-year history and celebrated the good works of many Thursday at its annual awards and dinner banquet. Chamber Executive Director Kim Ewoldsen presented its Business of the Year award to the Walmart Distribution Center for its work to alleviate area hunger. The DC has participated in the Let’s Feed Our Children free summer lunch program and the YMCA’s breakfast program for children, as well as provided food for cookouts at area senior centers. Its workers have volunteered more than 3,200 hours with local nonprofits, and teamed with Frary Lumber to build a ramp for two elderly women who didn’t have the means to build it themselves, Ewoldsen said.
New Walmart opens in Chicago
A new Walmart Superstore opened today in the West Chatham neighborhood.
The store has experienced a steady stream of shoppers all day long.
West Chatham’s new economic engine was highly anticipated after a bitter big box battle that lasted more than seven years.
The 157,000 square foot supercenter is Walmart’s second in the city, and many argue it was needed more than the Austin location.
Wal-Mart Supercenter Opens In West Chatham
The parking lot was full at the new store all morning long. Customers who flooded in said the new jobs, fresh produce and proximity to their homes were the biggest perks.
The doors opened at the new Wal-Mart at 83rd Street and Stewart Avenue around 8:30 a.m., after a ribbon-cutting with accompaniment from the marching band at nearby Simeon Academy
Yvonne Wesley was one of the first shoppers at the new Supercenter.
“It’s great for the neighborhood. We’ve been waiting for it. It’s finally here,” she said. “I’m excited.”
Walmart Opens Second Supercenter in Chicago
Wednesday’s opening of the second Walmart Supercenter in Chicago ends a heated seven-year battle with the city.
All of the proposed Walmart locations have faced huge opposition from local labor unions that fought against non-union jobs brought to the city at just above minimum wage.
But since the groundbreaking of the West Chatham store last summer, Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) has maintained that in this economy some jobs are better than no jobs.
“Walmart came to the table and made a concession that they’re paying at least 50 cents an hour higher than the minimum wage here in Illinois,” Brookings said last summer, “which is really comparable to many of the union shops, the Jewel and the Dominicks.”
Chicago’s newest Walmart Supercenter opens; Look at those Veggies
Chicago’s second Wal-Mart supercenter — and its fifth Wal-Mart of any size — opened this morning in the South Side’s Chatham neighborhood.
The 157,000-square-foot store — the newest addition to the Chatham Market retail development on a former steel mill site near the Dan Ryan Expressway — represents a major victory for the world’s largest retailer and its eight-year battle to expand in Chicago.
Read more at Chicago Business Weekly
Wal-Mart Opening Chatham Supercenter
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is opening its long-anticipated supercenter in Chatham today, the culmination of a seven-year battle to establish a store on the former steel site. The 157,000-square foot store is the Bentonville, Ark.-based discount chain’s second supercenter in the city. A supercenter is a large format store that combines general merchandise with a grocer.
