It all started with the prediction that the Bentonville, Ark.-based retail giant would be the retail construction leader in 2013.
And over the course of 2013, Walmart continued to prove up the validity of that prediction.
Over the first nine months the year, nearly 600,000 square feet of retail space was delivered to the local market, in the form of four new Walmart Supercenters — including a new store in the nearby city of Helotes.
There are already three more Supercenters slated to enter the local retail market in 2014, including a new store in the city of Cibolo, just northeast of San Antonio.
At a time when new retail development has been at an all-time low, Walmart’s new stores here have kept many sectors of the local market — including the construction sector — busy. The discount chain has also kept the Alamo City on the radar screens of other retailers, investors, brokers and developers looking to cash in on Walmart’s draw.
But the biggest news from Walmart has come not from its next round of Supercenters in greater San Antonio, but from its plans to bring its smaller grocery-story concept to the market. The Neighborhood Market will make its debut next spring with a store at Marbach Road and Ellison Drive on the far West Side. And two more markets are already in the works.
The Neighborhood Market, retail sources say, could finally bring something that has been sorely missing in San Antonio — an alternative to the locally based grocery powerhouse H-E-B.
As Bryan Ottmers of Rohde Ottmers Siegel Realty explained to the Business Journal this past January, “We’ve been a one-grocery-store town for (many years).” Since the exodus of Albertsons in 2002, most grocers have avoided San Antonio. Walmart, however, has stuck with the city.
“They’ve taken some of that base (of the grocery business),” adds Ottmers. “Walmart is not backing down.”
Just as H-E-B responded to the growth of the supercenter with its Plus! superstore concept, the arrival of Walmart’s Neighborhood Market may well prompt the hometown chain to adjust its strategy once again.
“H-E-B is going to strive to be as competitive as possible,” says Kim Gatley, senior vice president and director of research for locally based REOC San Antonio. She points to H-E-B’s plans for a new upscale store in the Stone Oak area on the far North Central Side as an example of how Walmart is prompting H-E-B “to become more creative.”
A look back at Walmart in the San Antonio Business Journal
• Walmart remains a driving factor in the city’s retail sector
• Walmart announces next Neighborhood Market
• Walmart finalizes sale for Cibolo store
• Walmart to open two new Supercenters on Oct. 16
• Walmart announces new store on SW Side
• A tale of two cities: With and without Albertsons
• Walmart prepares for grand opening of Foster Road store
• Walmart sets opening date for new Helotes store
• Roster of retailers continues to expand in San Antonio, report shows