Darlington Walmart staffing up, prepping for opening day

Darlington Walmart Supercenter advance team Trish Chavis (left), store manager Kevin Lane, and assistant manager Stacy Seymour are  taking job applications at the Hiring Center at 106 Express Lane. Photo by Samantha Lyles

Darlington Walmart Supercenter advance team Trish Chavis (left), store manager Kevin Lane, and assistant manager Stacy Seymour are
taking job applications at the Hiring Center at 106 Express Lane. Photo by Samantha Lyles

By Samantha Lyles, Staff Writer, slyles@newsandpress.net

When the Walmart Supercenter of Darlington opens its doors in May, shoppers will see plenty of familiar faces running registers, assisting customers, stocking shelves, and serving up food. In fact, when the store is fully staffed, it will employ over 200 people, and the folks responsible for finding and hiring all those workers are currently nose-to-grindstone taking applications and chatting with potential new associates at the Walmart Hiring Center, located in the old Radio Shack storefront at 106 Express Lane (between Food Lion and CVS).

“Starting out on day one, January 27, we had over 400 applications. Now we’re up to over 1,000,” says Darlington Walmart manager Kevin Lane, noting that staffing the new store isn’t the problem. The difficulty lies in choosing the right employees from a well-qualified pool of applicants.

“The talent in the town is great. We’ve got so much talent to choose from, that’s the problem, just trying to figure out who we’re going to put where,” says Lane. “Having this Hiring Center has been a great advantage because we can actually sit and talk with people as they come in.”

A native of Latta, Lane attended Francis Marion University and Florence Darlington Technical College. A Walmart employee since 2000, Lane has worked a variety of management positions over the years, including running the dairy, grocery, toy, and asset protection departments. He has worked as a co-manager for four years at stores in Lumberton, Rockingham, and most recently the Beltline Drive Walmart in Florence. Lane says that when he heard about the Darlington expansion, he immediately applied for the manager’s position and got the job last October.

Though he says Darlington’s enthusiasm for the new store has buoyed spirits, the historic rains and flooding that plagued store construction have been tough to handle, causing multiple delays and pushing the opening deadline by over a month.

“We were originally supposed to open in March,” Lane says. “But the rain hit heavy the day before we received 162 skylights. By the time we got all the skylights up, there was two foot of mud sitting inside the building.”

Building up the parking lot to a drainable camber, an operation requiring eight feet of dirt, was also delayed and complicated by heavy rains and flooding. But Lane says things are picking up now that the weather is cooperating.

“The parking lot is built up about where it needs to be, and the inside of the store is coming along well,” says Lane. “We did have to push the opening date back from March, but we are planning to open on May the 11th at 7:30 (a.m.).”

Along with the usual features inside the store, such as a pharmacy, deli, and franchise restaurant, the Darlington Walmart will offer a vision care center staffed with an optometrist, equipped to prescribe and create your glasses and contacts. Lane says this eye care facility will be accessible from outside the store, and the pharmacy will feature a drive-up window for easy prescription service.

“We will also offer Pick Up Today service, where you can order an item online (at Walmart.com) and come pick it up at a location up front near the Customer Service area,” Lane says. “If the product you order online is in the store, you can get it that day. But if we don’t have it, if you want, we can try to substitute something better than what you ordered at the same price.”

Walmart Gas will be sold on site, and Lane says the station will match and better the lowest local gas prices, monitored and reported through the popular Gas Buddy mobile app.

Lane says he hopes the Darlington Walmart will become a real part of the city’s community, and he is investigating ways the commerce giant can become a good citizen by helping local charitable organizations and participating in social events.

“We reach out a lot in the community and try to help out with grants and funding, finding out what (charities) need,” says Lane, who is visiting facilities like The Lord Cares Food Bank and the Darlington County Free Medical Clinic to assess needs and determine how Walmart can help.

Lane says that it’s a real pleasure to find ways to give back to the community that has already made him and his colleagues feel welcome.

“As soon as we opened our doors here and word got around that the new Walmart manager was on site, people have come by and visited, offered help… the support that we’ve received from Darlington has been more welcoming than any other event I’ve been involved in with Walmart,” Lane says. “It’s more of a hometown feel, not just a ‘Walmart’s coming to town’ feel. I’m looking forward to (opening) because of what we can do for the community… our plans could be limitless, with the community supporting us and working together.”

The Darlington Walmart Supercenter, located by the intersection of Hwy 52 and Hwy 52 By-Pass, is scheduled to open at 7:30 a.m., Wednesday, May 11.

Author:

Share This Post On

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This
x
6
Posts Remaining