Calhoun County appears to be the potential target for a couple of miniature WalMart stores.
Multiple sources have told The Journal that representatives of Mossy Oak Properties have been working the past few months on trying to finalize deals on two sites – one in Derma and another just east of Bruce. Neither Mossy Oak nor WalMart officials will confirm whether the retail giant is considering locating in the county.
Miles Jeffery said he was approached by Mossy Oak representatives more than a month ago about buying his family’s property across Hwy. 32 from his house just beyond the eastern city limits of Bruce.
Jeffery said he asked what the property would be used for and the realtor would only say an “upscale store with a pharmacy.” Jeffery said he suspected that was a WalMart based on stories he had read in business publications.
Jeffery declined to sell, prompting Mossy Oak representatives to move farther down the highway to property owned by Jim Earl Aron just east of Snellings’ service station. Aron said surveying and other work has been done on the property over the past few weeks, but no sales deal has been finalized.
Aron said all the realtors would tell him was that it was a store “that would compete with Dollar General and Fred’s.”
The question was raised at Monday’s supervisors’ meeting if anyone had heard the rumor of a “WalMart” going in at Derma. No one could confirm it was true, but sources did confirm Mossy Oak Properties had been researching property near Baileyville on Hwy. 8.
The North Mississippi Herald is reporting this week that Walmart plans to build a 12,000 square foot store on Main Street near BorgWarner, Inc. in Water Valley that will have a strong emphasis on groceries and gas and appears to fit the new Walmart Express model. CSP, a convenience store trade publication, reported in March that Walmart has been testing small-format Walmart Express stores and convenience store-type retail outlets.
CSP said the new WalMart format is “a strategy to quell competition from the dollar-store channel” and that “WalMart has announced that it is significantly accelerating its capital plan for U.S. small-store format openings for the current fiscal year.”