Photo from Wal-Mart's media selection of the interior and exteriors of Neighborhood MarketsHow to apply for job
The Wal-Mart hiring office at 5450 Highway 153 is open Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon. Hiring at the temporary office for the Hixson store runs until Oct. 12 followed by hiring until early December for the Middle Valley and Shallowford locations. Hiring for the East Ridge location is from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday at the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market at 3040 Battlefield Parkway in Fort Oglethorpe. Or apply online at www.walmart.com/apply.
Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets
Wal-Mart opened the first local Neighborhood Market in Fort Oglethorpe in January and will open a half dozen other such grocery outlets in the next five months. The targeted opening dates for the new stores are: * Sept. 9 in East Brainerd at 8101 E. Brainerd Road. * Oct. 14 in Dalton at the Bry-Man's Plaza shopping center on Walnut Avenue. * Oct. 28 East Ridge at 4150 Monroe St. off Ringgold Road on the site of the former city pool behind the Bojangles. * Nov. 11 in Hixson in the Highland Plaza shopping center at 3901 Hixson Pike. * Jan. 6 in Middle Valley near Ganns Middle Valley Elementary School. * Jan. 27 at the corner of Shallowford and Moore roads.
Brad Walters is living proof that the hourly jobs he's offering at the Hixson Walmart Neighborhood Market can lead to bigger things.
Walters is manager of the 40,000-square-foot Hixson supermarket that opens Nov. 11 on the site of an old Food Lion in Highland Plaza at the corner of Hixson Pike and Ashland Terrace.
He got his start a decade ago as a part-timer.
"There's just a lot of opportunity and growth with the company," said Walters, who was in college when he started working in lawn and garden at a Walmart Supercenter in Fulton, Ky.
Walters kept working at Walmart as he got a degree in biology from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. And he stayed on after that.
"It's turned into a career," he said.
About 75 percent of Walmart's salaried managers got their start as hourly workers, Walters said.
Now, Walters spends his days at a temporary Walmart hiring office set up last week at 5450 Highway 153 in a strip mall anchored by Hobby Lobby. He aims to hire around 85 to 100 full-time and part-time workers to staff the new Walmart supermarket, one of seven to open in the Chattanooga region.
"We're just going through applications right now, setting up interviews," he said Monday.
Walmart recently boosted its lowest-paying jobs above minimum wage.
"Our base rate is $9 an hour, and it goes up from there," Walters said.
When the Hixson store opens, it will be the fourth of seven Walmart Neighborhood Markets slated for the Chattanooga area.
The grocery stores, which have gas stations and pharmacies with drive-through windows, are meant for convenience, Walters said.
"Anything that you can buy at Walmart.com, you can have sent to our [Neighborhood Markets]," he said.
The first Chattanooga-area Walmart Neighborhood Market opened in January at 3040 Battlefield Parkway in Fort Oglethorpe. Hiring is underway there now to staff the East Ridge Walmart Neighborhood Market that's due to open on Oct. 28.
"We still need to hire about 80 more associates," said East Ridge store manager William Venable.
Venable also said that an hourly Walmart job can lead to greater things.
"I've been with Walmart for 17 years. I started out as an overnight stocker," he said. "Walmart has a ton of openings."
Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/tim.omarzu or twitter.com/TimOmarzu or 423-757-6651.