The final touches are being put on the new Walmart Neighborhood Market in Derma with grand opening only one week away.
“At this point, we’re probably a little ahead,” said Store Manager Tim Weeks, a native of Slate Springs. “We’re waiting on trucks and detailing our counters. Weather permitting, we should get the rest of our pavement on Friday and our deliveries of fresh goods late this week and next. Everything is in line.”
Weeks, 47, has been with Walmart 19 years and is particularly excited about the potential for this kind of Walmart in Derma.
Tim Weeks
“This is the newest format in Walmart. This is the growth of the company right now,” Weeks said. “Back in the mid 90s, Supercenters were our growth and that was the focus, but this is the focus now. It leaves a small footprint in the community. We can be here and offer low prices and still be a big part of the community.”
The “Neighborhood Market” is predominantly a grocery store with only a couple of aisles dedicated to non-food items. It will also provide a pharmacy and gas pumps.
“We can’t be everything in the small format like this, but we can bring the low prices of Walmart,” Weeks said.
This won’t be the first grocery store Weeks has managed in Calhoun County. His first job was at the Foodway in Calhoun City when he was 15 years old.
“When I graduated high school (at Calhoun City) I was promoted to manager,” Weeks said.
He remained there through the Jitney Jungle and Winn-Dixie transitions before leaving in 1995 when he started as the food manager at the new Walmart Supercenter in Grenada.
In 1997, he transferred to Tupelo as a co-manager. He moved to Sherwood, Arkansas in 2000 where he ran the “number three” Neighborhood Market which was a larger 40,000 square foot store.
He then moved on to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, then Clarkville, Tennessee before returning to Mississippi as a co-manager in Oxford so he could be closer to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Dale Weeks of Slate Springs, both now deceased.
“My father passed away this past May from pancreatic cancer,” Weeks said. “It all happened pretty quick. From the time he found out to the time he passed away was only about nine months. I got to spend that time with him. I was grateful I was here and could take off to be with him.”
Weeks and his wife Elizabeth live in Woodland. She is a registered nurse and works in Amory. He said they are both excited to be back at home and working close to home.
“I’m most excited about being in town and seeing friends and family,” Weeks said. “I’m looking forward to being here and serving the community with Walmart. I never imagined we would have a Walmart here.”
After operating 200,000 square foot stores, Weeks said the 12,000 square foot store suits him well.
“It gives us more time to interact with the customers and the associates,” Weeks said of the new format. “It’s more personal and that’s what I like.”