MONROE - Monroe could boast that it had the first Walmart store in the state. Now it can brag that it has the newest.
Amid much fanfare, which included a color guard and speeches, the Walmart Supercenter opened Wednesday.
"All I can come up with as I look around is 'wow,'" store manager Ron Fager told employees, customers and local officials. "We had 30 departments in the old store. Now we have 50. We had 200 square feet of food in the old building. Now we have 34,000."
The doors opened at 7 a.m. and customers couldn't wait to see the new building and shop.
Camillie Pivonka-Johnson, Monroe, said the store will be convenient. She used to go to Freeport, Ill., or Janesville to shop. Now, she said, she can stay close to home.
"I'm glad I'll be able to shop in Monroe," she said.
Like other customers, she had to learn where everything was.
"A couple of more times and I'll know where everything is," she laughed.
Nancy Brooks, who has worked at Walmart in Monroe since the first store opened 24 years ago and is co-manager of the store, said some people came to the new store Tuesday but had to be turned away because it wasn't open yet.
Customers weren't the only ones excited about the new building.
Brooks could barely contain her pride in what the store has to offer, from new technology to make things easier for employees to the convenience for customers.
"The store is divided up so you can go in one entrance and buy your groceries and or go in another entrance for your merchandise," she said.
Store maps were available to help people to find their way around the store.
The 156,000-square-foot building took 55 weeks to build. The store employs 340 people.
The new store includes sporting goods, lawn and garden products, apparel and general merchandise, as well as a full array of groceries. It also will feature a pharmacy, Tire & Lube Express and garden center, as well as a bakery, deli, Subway and Cost Cutter Family Hair Care.
"This shows what can happen when everyone works together," Monroe Mayor Ron Marsh said. "This is a good addition to the community."
The store is open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Fager also presented checks totaling $14,000 to the Mobile Food Pantry at St. Vincent dePaul, the Green County Inter-Church Food Pantry, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the Fowler Free Dental Clinic and the Green County Literacy Council.
Amid much fanfare, which included a color guard and speeches, the Walmart Supercenter opened Wednesday.
"All I can come up with as I look around is 'wow,'" store manager Ron Fager told employees, customers and local officials. "We had 30 departments in the old store. Now we have 50. We had 200 square feet of food in the old building. Now we have 34,000."
The doors opened at 7 a.m. and customers couldn't wait to see the new building and shop.
Camillie Pivonka-Johnson, Monroe, said the store will be convenient. She used to go to Freeport, Ill., or Janesville to shop. Now, she said, she can stay close to home.
"I'm glad I'll be able to shop in Monroe," she said.
Like other customers, she had to learn where everything was.
"A couple of more times and I'll know where everything is," she laughed.
Nancy Brooks, who has worked at Walmart in Monroe since the first store opened 24 years ago and is co-manager of the store, said some people came to the new store Tuesday but had to be turned away because it wasn't open yet.
Customers weren't the only ones excited about the new building.
Brooks could barely contain her pride in what the store has to offer, from new technology to make things easier for employees to the convenience for customers.
"The store is divided up so you can go in one entrance and buy your groceries and or go in another entrance for your merchandise," she said.
Store maps were available to help people to find their way around the store.
The 156,000-square-foot building took 55 weeks to build. The store employs 340 people.
The new store includes sporting goods, lawn and garden products, apparel and general merchandise, as well as a full array of groceries. It also will feature a pharmacy, Tire & Lube Express and garden center, as well as a bakery, deli, Subway and Cost Cutter Family Hair Care.
"This shows what can happen when everyone works together," Monroe Mayor Ron Marsh said. "This is a good addition to the community."
The store is open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Fager also presented checks totaling $14,000 to the Mobile Food Pantry at St. Vincent dePaul, the Green County Inter-Church Food Pantry, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the Fowler Free Dental Clinic and the Green County Literacy Council.