Wal-Mart in Batavia celebrated their remodel/re-opening with a morning celebration at their Veteran’s Memorial Drive store on Friday.
Diane Waters, who was store manager when Wal-Mart opened it’s doors in Batavia in 1995, celebrated the opening with a ribbon cutting. Waters, who is now Senior Manager for Academy/Home Office, also introduced the new store manager Roger Couch, who comes from the Lancaster store.
The 220,000 square foot store with 340 employees has been remodeled from top to bottom, new flooring, new lighting and fixtures, new HVAC along with a reorganized store. The 13 week project is almost complete. Waters says the exterior of the store will be re-painted when warmer weather arrives. It will be a blue and gray color scheme. The remodel started January 6th.
“This is more of a current floor plan you see in other Wal-Mart stores to make it more efficient for customers to shop,” says Waters.
Waters also recognized several associates who have been working at the store since it opened in 1995.
During the celebration, 7 recipients of Cyber Grants were announced. The grants are offered through the Wal-Mart Foundation.
County Law enforcement from Batavia Police and the Sheriff’s Department received $2800. Genesee County CASA received $500, John Kennedy School received $500, Batavia Schools received $1,000, Elba Schools received $420, Project Stork received $250 and Sebastian’s Legos received $1,000.
If you are a 501C3/non- profit organization, you can apply for up to $5,000 per year. The store manager chooses the organizations that receive the grants.
“Each store has a different amount of money,”says Waters.
The distribution depends on what the size of the customer base. Bigger stores with a higher amount of customers will have more grant money for the community.
Waters says there is still money available and non-profit organizations can contact the new store manager, Roger Couch, or go online at Walmart.com and click on Cyber Grants.
The local store also has grants available for local organizations.