New Walmart Coming to Lee Highway This Fall

Managers from Walmart Super Centers in Fair Lakes and Burke confirmed the new Walmart will be opening in the Fall of 2011, although they wished to remain anonymous. They were unable to come up with an exact date for the opening.

Keith Morris, Walmart’s Media Relations representative for Virginia did not return calls to Patch on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday of this week.

Other realty and corporate associates for Walmart were unable to confirm the exact date when it will be customer ready.

The new Fairfax location will be the Discount Store version of Walmart, as opposed to the Supercenter that currently exists at Fair Lakes Shopping Center. At 91,000 square feet, it will become just the 13th Discount Store Walmart in Virginia, which currently has 85 Supercenter locations. 

According to walmartstores.com Discount Stores feature an average of 20,000 fewer items than do the traditional Walmart Supercenters.  This is part of Walmart’s initiative to open smaller versions of its stores in urban markets, according to USA TODAY, in order to provide more convenience in response to growing competition from dollar stores and similar stores.

In 2010 Walmart reported a 1.8 percent revenue drop in stores that were open for at least a year.

Management from Bloom refused to comment on the impending consumer conglomerate neighbor.  K-mart managers across the street also refused to comment on the possibilities of losing customers to the consumer giant.

Residents nearby appear excited about the new Walmart coming their way.

“Having that Walmart is going to make life a lot easier,” Damani Prescott, a college student and resident of Morrison’s Way said of the new Walmart.  Prescott lives directly across Lee Highway from Bloom.

“I’m sure they (Bloom and K-mart) will lose a few shoppers to Walmart, he continued. "But in the end it’s all about saving money, so they should take note of Walmart and start to roll back those prices.”