Harps to Reopen Four of Nine Acquired Stores
by June 23, 2016 9:58 am 141 views
Harps Food Stores Inc. on Thursday announced plans for seven of the nine former Walmart Express stores it acquired earlier this month.
The Springdale-based grocer will open four of the nine stores as Harps stores over the next 11 weeks.
They will open with fueling stations on the following dates:
- Gravette, Aug. 3
- Seligman, Missouri, Aug. 10
- Anderson, Missouri, Aug. 24
- Cedarville, Sept. 7
The former Walmart Express stores in Gentry, Prairie Grove and Noel, Missouri, will be sold. Plans have not been determined for the Charleston or Mansfield stores.
In April, the company purchased a 30,000 SF building at the northeast corner of Arkansas Highways 59 and 12 in Gentry and is investing $3 million into 23,000 SF of the building to convert it into a Harps. It is set to open Sept. 21. The remaining portion of the building is occupied by O’Reilly Auto Parts.
Harps recently completed a $1 million project to remodel its existing store in Prairie Grove. The plan for the existing Harps store in Noel is to remodel it over the summer.
As part of the deal, Harps is acquiring equipment from the former Walmart stores to be used at its current stores. “In addition, we recognized that the larger portfolio we were willing to acquire, the more attractive our proposal,” the release said
Hiring has already started for the nearly 170 associates needed to staff the stores in Anderson, Cedarville, Gentry, Gravette and Seligman.
On Jan. 15, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced plans to close 269 stores globally. Walmart closed the nine stores Harps purchased on Jan. 28.