Online grocery shopping available at Wal-Mart

HOPE – Wal-Mart is making it easier to shop for groceries at its Hope store.

Monday morning, ribbon cutting ceremonies were held to kick off the online grocery shopping.

Kady Modisette, the assistant manager, said 12 new employees were hired to handle the online customers. This week, she said, the store will only accept 50 online customers per day, adding all online shoppers must spend a minimum of $30. After this week, the store will be handling a max of 750 online shoppers per week.

Modisette said the new employees underwent three weeks of intensive training to prepare them for online shopping. They have been instructed to pick the best of the best in meats, fruits and vegetables. Customers will also have responsibilities, as they’ll have to choose their pickup time, which will be four to five hours after they place their orders online.

Angela Talley is the department manager and will oversee the employees working with online customers. Modisette added there are 12 dedicated parking stalls for online shoppers on the grocery side of the store.

Hope Mayor Steve Montgomery welcomed the new service saying it’ll make shopping easier and more convenient for customers. He pointed out this isn’t some big corporation doing the work, but local employees. He said services such as these will continue to grow with technology.

“This is truly a convenience for shoppers,” he said, “but there will be a few bumps along the way.

Kacey Barrington, the store manager, welcomed everyone to the event.

Those interested in online grocery shopping can go to the app store on their phones and download the orange “Sparky”, the Wal-Mart mascot.