Wal-Mart, Inc.'s first four small-format (15,000 -to- 20,000 square foot) new combination fresh foods and grocery markets are getting closer to their upcoming summer opening in the Phoenix, Arizona Metropolitan region market.
As we wrote in this piece, "Small Format Food Retailing Special Report: Raising (the stakes in) Arizona: Wal-Mart On-Track to Open First Marketside Stores in Arizona This Summer," on May 18, Wal-Mart set up a new website specifically dedicated to Marketside--which also will have its own office in Arizona rather than being run out of corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas--and placed ads on the website for store managers and assistant managers for the four Phonix-area stores in Mesa, Chandler, Tempe and Gilbert.
Wal-Mart has now added job postings for full-time store-level Pantry Controllers and full and part-time Meal Specialists for the four Arizona stores set to open this summer.
Reprinted below in italics are the job descriptions from the Marketside website for each of those positions. The job descriptions for all positions are the same for all four stores. They also are the same for the full-time and part-time Meal Specialist positions.
Title: Full Time Pantry Controller
Description: Pantry Controllers work with the management team to provide customers what they are looking for every time they visit. Specifically, Pantry Controllers receive and stock merchandise, reconcile invoices and manage the administrative tasks of ordering and replenishment, actively managing overall inventory levels. In our small store format, Pantry Controllers also have the opportunity to be personally involved in engaging customers, modeling outstanding service and coaching Marketside Meal Specialists.
Location: AZ - Gilbert
About the Organization
Our Culture: We offer fresh product, value and convenience in a brand new way, and this is your opportunity to be a part of it!
The Opportunity includes:
- A chance to truly impact the retail industry
- The sense of pride and stability that comes with being a part of the world's largest retailer - Excellent opportunities for advancement
Title: Full Time Meal Specialists
Description: Meal Specialists work as a team to provide excellent customer service across all operational areas of the store. Their job is varied, including cashiering, food preparation and service, merchandising and store presentation. Perhaps the most fun however is the opportunity for this knowledgeable team to engage with customers, sharing cooking tips or providing recommendations for meal solutions.
Location: AZ - Chandler
About the Organization
Our Culture: We offer fresh product, value and convenience in a brand new way, and this is your opportunity to be a part of it!
Our Culture: We offer fresh product, value and convenience in a brand new way, and this is your opportunity to be a part of it!
The Opportunity includes:
- A chance to truly impact the retail industry
- The sense of pride and stability that comes with being a part of the world's largest retailer - Excellent opportunities for advancement
As you can see by the brief but descriptive enough job descriptions for both positions, the Marketside stores are going to be extremely fresh food-centric, as we've been reporting in Natural~Specialty Foods Memo since last year, when we were one of the first publications to report on the format development by Wal-Mart.
The Pantry Controllers at the Marketside stores, who will be full-time employees, will be combination store-level buyers/merchandisers and supervisors for the Meal Specialists, along with engaging in customer service activities.
The Meal Specialists will be the primary point of contact with customers, doing everything from operating the checkout stands and serving fresh, prepared foods to shoppers, to some stocking and merchandising and other customer service and store-related tasks. There will be a mix of full and part-time Meal Specialists in all four Arizona stores.
As we've reported, the Marketside stores will prepare fresh foods in-store for both take out and eating in. There will be a kitchen in each store, along with a small eating or dining area which can seat about 9 -to- 10 customers at a time right in the store.
Natural~Specialty Foods Memo has learned a number of Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market store-level employees are applying for the Wal-Mart Marketside positions in Arizona.
The Phoenix Metropolitan region is one of Tesco's three current markets for its small-format (10,000 -to- 13,000 square foot) Fresh & Easy combination basic grocery and fresh food format grocery stores.
Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market store-level employees are all part-time except for the store manager. Even the assistant manager, which Fresh & Easy calls a team leader, is part-time in most of the stores. The store-level workers are paid a starting wage of $10 an hour and get a limited health insurance plan as long as they work at least 20 hours per week. Each Fresh & Easy store employees about 20 workers, according to Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.
According to our Wal-Mart source, a number of Tesco Fresh & Easy store-level employees who want to work full-time, which isn't an option at Fresh & Easy, are applying for the full-time Pantry Controller Positions, as well as the full and part-time Meal Specialists positions. Our source says the full and part-time Meal Specialist positions at Marketside start at about $12 an hour, which is $2 an hour more than Tesco's Fresh & Easy is currently paying.
We've also learned Wal-Mart's Marketside has interviewed more than one former and current Tesco Fresh & Easy corporate employee for its Phoenix, Arizona Metropolitan Marketside buying, merchandising and operations corporate office.
As we reported in this piece, "Small-Format Food Retailing Memo: Wal-Mart's Small-Format Marketside 'Developer-in-Chief' Leaving for CEO Position at British Bicycle Retailer," David Wild, Wal-Mart's senior vice president of business development and the company executive who's been in charge of the Marketside development from the start, is leaving the company to become the CEO of Halfords Group PLC, the United Kingdom's largest bicycle retailer. Wild, who is a British native and worked for Tesco PLC for 18 years, will start at Halford's on August 4.
Our source says one of the reasons Wild is waiting until August 4 to start at Halfords is because he wants to remain with Wal-Mart until the first Marketside store opens this summer, which means the first store will likely open before August 4.
The source tells Natural~Specialty Foods Memo that Wild wants to be around when the first Marketside store opens since he's been leading the format development since day one, as well as wanting to still be in the game so he can see the reaction from his former co-workers at Tesco PLC, Fresh & Easy's parent company.
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