Managers at the Whitewater Walmart have set Nov. 16 as the official date for the grand opening of Whitewater’s new Walmart Supercenter.

Renovations to Walmart’s Whitewater location had been under discussion for more than three years when demolition began last winter.

Whitewater Walmart Store Manager Joey Marx said though details are hazy at this point, the university will be involved in the grand opening celebration.

“It’s not set in stone nor do we really have anything planned out drastically but we’re going to have some help from the university,” he said.   “I’ve talked to a few people to try to get some help from them as far as any activities or anything that we can get going.”

Marx said students and community members can expect to see familiar faces at the grand opening.

“When you look at vendors we’ll have Chester the Cheetah, the Kool-Aid man, you know things like that,” he said.   “Different people and groups will all be here on that Wednesday to help us celebrate the grand opening.”

Planning for the expansion moved quickly, taking only six months to complete.

Last fall, Marx said planning  was pushed a little faster than most Supercenters due to support shown by the community.

“Whitewater has really invited the renovations with open arms,” he said.

Marx said the community is excited about the new Walmart Supercenter, especially the “food, 100 percent.”

“The food side of the business is the number one excitement for the town,” he said.

Marx said the addition of food products to the new store will help to keep business in Whitewater, staying right inline with the city’s slogan “Think Whitewater, Buy Local.”

“You’ve got so many people in town leaving to go do their grocery shopping.  How many people go grocery shopping and as soon as they’re done, what do they do?  The go eat or they go do something else because walmart didn’t have it,” he said.

“If we can offer all that right here in Whitewater, it’s going to make everyone else in the surrounding areas that much busier because of our business.  Its just keeping people here, keeping people in Whitewater.”

Over the past ten months, the store has undergone a three-wall expansion.

Renovations include the addition of several new departments.

“We’ll have the full bakery, deli, produce, meat department.  When you go down through expanded grocery, we’re going to have 15 doors of frozen pizzas and that just ties in with the college kids.”

Marx said people should also be excited about the electronics department which is “almost tripling in size,” offering all of the new technologies in the next month.

Marx said the new store is considered a small-box store with a smaller stock of items, though selection of items will be the same as other stores.

The expansion of the store has added close to 75 jobs, 50 of which the store is still hiring for.