Walmart Says Neighborhood Market Will Be Good for San Ramon

Walmart plans to open its Neighborhood Market off Alcosta Boulevard in San Ramon this fall, according to Walmart media director Delia Garcia.

Last month, Walmart awarded the construction contract to Reeve-Knight Construction to transform the empty 55,000-square-foot vacant space in the Country Club Village Shopping Center into a neighborhood market.

Walmart did not need city approval to move into the storefront, since the site was already zoned off for a grocery store. Previously, Ralph's and an independent Asian grocery store have occupied the location, which has been without a tenant since 2006.

There has been outspoken resistance to Walmart having one of its grocery stores in San Ramon.

Small protests have taken place in the Country Club Village Shopping Center.  Former Mayor H. Abram Wilson and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union , which hires non-unionized workers.

But Walmart believes the new store will be good for the local economy and its customers.

"This will bring 75 new to the community," said Garcia, the Walmart media director. "Plus, it will revitalize an existent vacant building and help attract other economic development."

Garcia said that though the jobs aren't unionized, they are quality. She said the company offers competitive pay and benefits and said there are opportunities to advance.

"We are really excited to start serving customers affordable groceries in San Ramon with all the benefits of job growth, economic development and business attraction," Garcia added.

The Neighborhood Market in San Ramon is one of 14 grocery stores the Arkansas-based company is planning to open in California this year, as it expands its grocery store chain to the West Coast. Currently, there are 168 locations nationwide, with new Northern California stores planned in Pleasanton, Hayward and the Sacramento area.

Neighborhood Markets are full-service grocery stores, selling everything shoppers would find in a regular grocery store, according to the Walmart website. 

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