Walmart preps for opening

MANATEE COUNTY — Fifteen years ago, the notion of staying with one company long enough to retire was one that no longer crossed Glen Goodfellow’s mind.

That all changed in 1998, when Goodfellow was hired to be a cart-pusher for Walmart.

From there, Goodfellow was named the store’s produce manager and eventually the salary manager over produce. Throughout his budding career, Goodfellow had become so impressed with the company’s culture and desire to help its employees grow and flourish within the company that his thinking about the future slowly began to shift.

“I honestly could see myself retiring from Walmart,” Goodfellow said. “It’s a great place to work.”
Now, Goodfellow is in charge of opening the East County’s newest Walmart.

The new, 24-hour location, at 5810 Ranch Lake Blvd., will open its doors April 11. As part of its grand-opening celebration, the store will offer five days of family-friendly activities, including face painting, children’s identification tags and more.

“That first week is very rapid fire — you have to stay on top of your game,” Goodfellow said. “It’s a lot of fun to see what happens.

“One of the things that I’ve felt has been the most gratifying in other stores I’ve helped open is watching the store go from empty to opening day,” Goodfellow said. “It gives you a sense of ownership. I think that’s what I’m looking forward to the most in this process.”

Contact Jen Blanco at [email protected].

BY THE NUMBERS
300 — The number of employees
152,000 — The number of square feet
800 — The number of shopping carts
22 — The number of front registers
48 — The number of truckloads of groceries and merchandise it will take to fill the store.
5.5 — The number of weeks it takes to stock and prepare a Walmart store once it has received the keys.
24 — The number of hours a day the store will be open.