Walmart Neighborhood Market joins one of Chattanooga's oldest shopping centers

A Walmart Neighborhood Market opens in the Highland Plaza shopping center in Hixson.
A Walmart Neighborhood Market opens in the Highland Plaza shopping center in Hixson.

The world's biggest retailer opened its newest grocery format in one of Chattanooga's oldest shopping centers Wednesday.

The opening of the fourth local Neighborhood Market in the Highland Plaza shopping center in Hixson marked the rebirth of the 57-year-old center, which has undergone a $4 million upgrade over the past two years.

"In just a month, we've stocked and built a great grocery to serve this community," Brad Walters, the store manager for the new Hixson Neighborhood Market, said Wednesday during a grand opening ceremony.

The food-only Wal-Mart store is one of a half dozen Neighborhood Markets opening this year and next in the Chattanooga area as Wal-Mart expands its footprint with stores less than a fourth the size of Wal-Mart's superstores in the region. Wal-Mart has already opened Neighborhood Market stores in Fort Oglethorpe, East Ridge, East Brainerd and Dalton, Ga., and in the next couple of months will open other Neighborhood Market stores on Shallowford Road and in Middle Valley.

Each of the new stores includes about 41,000 square feet and is staffed by 95 full- and part-time workers.

Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke said the new store is part of the city's ongoing growth in business and he praised Wal-Mart for helping to ensure fresh food, fruits and vegetables are accessible to more areas of Chattanooga.

"That's critical for our city," Berke said.

To mark the opening of the newest Neighborhood Market, Wal-Mart made separate $2,000 donations to the Chattanooga Food Bank and the McKamey Animal Shelter and gave $1,000 donations to St. Jude School, DuPont Elementary School and the Chattanooga YMCA. Each of the donors operate facilities within a couple of miles of the new grocery outlet.

The new Neighborhood Market was built on the site of a former Food Lion in the Highland Plaza shopping center at Hixson Pike and Ashland Terrace. But Wal-Mart tore down that grocery building and erected a slightly smaller design with a different format, including a gas station on the Highland Plaza parking lot.

"The Neighborhood Market is a great addition that livens up a center we have already spent considerable resources to upgrade essentially into a new retail center," said Cardon Smith, a vice president of the Fletcher Bright Co., which bought Highland Plaza in 1994. "This is a well-located center we hope we have made into a very accessible and attractive facility with great tenants for shoppers."

In addition to the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market, the center includes Big Lots, Tuesday Morning, Dollar Tree and a CHI Memorial health clinic and is currently 74 percent leased. Smith said the Highland Plaza owners "are talking with a number of prospective retailers and we hope to soon be in a position to announce in the next couple of months."

Over the past two years, Fletcher Bright has redone the parking lot and site lighting, put new facades on the retail fronts and updated landscaping. The 174,877-square-foot center was built in 1958 and is located where 45,879 vehicles pass every day, according to the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6340.

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