First Wal-Mart in Fort Lauderdale opens Wednesday

Wal-Mart has 28 locations in Broward.
Wal-Mart has 28 locations in Broward.

Wal-Mart is scheduled Wednesday to open its first store in Fort Lauderdale.

Wal-Mart is hardly a newcomer to Broward County, where the retailer has operated since 1989 and now  has 17 big-box department stores, seven Neighborhood Market stores and four Sam’s Club locations.

The first Wal-Mart in Fort Lauderdale will open Wednesday at 2500 West Broward Boulevard, just west of Interstate 95.

More than 2,500 people have applied for the 300 full-time and part-time jobs there.

The Sun-Sentinel reported that the new Wal-Mart will sell not only groceries and assorted merchandise but will also become the nation’s first Wal-Mart with a home technology department that stocks such goods as security devices.

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Supporters of the new Wal-Mart include Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner Robert L. McKinzie, who represents voters in the northwest section of the city that encompasses  the new store’s location.

“Wal-Mart brings back to the community purchasing power that we take east or west,” McKinzie told the Sun-Sentinel. “We can now take that purchasing power here to our own backyard.”

The new Wal-Mart will span 185,000 square feet and will be part of the Riverbend Marketplace, a 37-acre project run by Gaitlin Development.

Wal-Mart’s new Fort Lauderdale location will be open 24 hours a day and will have a drive-through pharmacy plus an automotive services shop and a liquor store. [Sun-Sentinel] Mike Seemuth