Walmart Neighborhood Market coming to North Stafford

A Walmart Neighborhood Market will be built in North Stafford.

The store will set next to a Sheetz gas station under construction on the corner of Garrisonville and Furnace roads. The Stafford County Board of Supervisors approved a special use permit to allow the store to have a drive-through window to allow customers to drop off and pick up prescriptions at the store's pharmacy.

This is the first Walmart Neighborhood Market in the region, said Judson Honaker with Silver Companies, the developer of the site. Walmart was interested in placing the store at Garrisonville and Furnace roads due to a large number of surrounding houses, he added.

Site planning is underway now. Construction will begin in spring 2016, and the store should open later in the year. The store will be located across the street from an office and retail park on Tech Parkway.

In addition to a pharmacy, the store will also offer a grocery pick-up service for customers who call ahead. Customers will be able to pull into the parking lot and pick up their grocery orders waiting for them at the front of the store.

The developer proffered a 10,000 square foot park to be built on the property or offered to donate $25,000 to the Stafford County Parks and Recreation Department. Honaker said county officials opted for the park to be built outside the Walmart store.

Walmart Neighborhood Markets are popping up in more urban areas across the U.S. The store offers many of the same items a larger Walmart store does, only in a more compact space.

The store is expected to create more competition for grocery stores like Food Lion, Giant Food, and Shoppers Food Warehouse.