A new-to-you Walmart: First look at Lakewood Supercenter's renovations

The remodel of the Lakewood Walmart is a lot to take in, visually, with new, modern signage inside, illuminated shelves, gleaming floors, wide aisles and updated displays.

But the bigger news is what's happening outside the store: order pickup, and, coming soon, delivery.

Friday was the debut of the remodeled store at 7001 Bridgeport Way W., and manager Sergey Bozu showed off the improvements to The News Tribune.

"The signs, the painting and graphics are some of the things you'll see right off the bat when you walk in," he said.

Other changes include: a new customer service department, interactive displays in the electronics department and a wellness consultation room in the pharmacy to allow for more privacy. Walmart also expanded the store's hardware, deli and home departments, and added new apparel lines to the clothing department.

The garden center-patio area was redone to give shoppers more space.

A major change and one shoppers might wind up using the most is the online grocery pickup.

"That's something we've never had here before," Bozu said. "We've only had general merchandise pickup."

With the free service, customers "order online for food and we get the order, pick it up, the customer pulls up and we load it in the car," he said.

Beyond pickup, Bozu said, grocery delivery is coming in the next few months, costing about $10 within a 7-to-8-mile radius of the store.

The remodel of the store, which opened about 10 years ago, is part of Walmart's $56 million investment in 16 Washington state stores due for renovations. Other area supercenters on the list include Bonney Lake, Spanaway and Tumwater.

"As we continue to get feedback from our customers, we continue to make improvements," Bozu said. "Sometimes it happens overnight, sometimes it takes a little time."

A renovation a few years ago expanded the store to include grocery, and the latest improvements add new deli/meats/dairy signage and some new products, plus renewed emphasis on organic food, mixed in with the rest of its offerings.

"We're consistently bringing more organics in here," Bozu said. "I know for a fact we carry more organics in our facility than some of the local retail around this area."

While online grocery pickup and delivery is an ongoing expansion for the retail giant, it recently dropped its Mobile Express Scan & Go program at its Walmart stores, but will continue it at Sam's Club stores. Bloomberg reported the program was not a hit for some customers, who disliked bagging, weighing and scanning items that included produce.

Meanwhile, on Thursday it was reported that Walmart's ecommerce sales rose 33 percent in the first three months of 2018.

As for the Lakewood store, Bozu said the company is not afraid to make changes and stay current.

"We want to be a little more competitive, but we're also changing to keep up with the world," Bozu said. "We are constantly innovating and trying new things out."

This story was originally published May 18, 2018 at 2:01 PM with the headline "A new-to-you Walmart: First look at Lakewood Supercenter's renovations."