After three months of round-the-clock renovations and additions, the Lehighton Walmart Supercenter now sports a new look.

The store hosted a grand reopening and ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday morning as a way to give back to the community.“The grand reopening is a way to refresh our stores from time to time,” store manager Girvin Janicki said. “It’s been about six-and-a-half years since we grand-opened our Supercenter here in Lehighton.”Janicki said, “We’ve added several areas of the store, most noticeably, our online grocery pickup. Customers can order these groceries online.”“We’ll pick and pack those items, and they will check out online,” he said. “The customer will pull their car around the side of the building, they’ll never have to even enter the store. It’s a time-saver for people looking to save time.”The process is simple and stress-free. Log on to Walmart.com, select your items, and choose a pickup time. A standard pickup is free, and an order minimum costs $30.“It’s important that we stay ahead of the curve,” Janicki said. “Retail is changing by the day. As a company, we are committed to invest back into our stores. Our company chose to invest money into our local Lehighton Walmart store to improve us, and to continue giving our community the latest and most up-to-date items.”Other upgrades throughout the store include the hardware department, which added more of a selection that now includes more power and industrial tools; the pharmacy, which now features a health service room; while the floors inside the store itself are wider, which makes more space for consumers to flow throughout the venue.The biggest revamp may have been to the electronics section, which the photo department will now call its home, and the entire display of the area has changed.“It’s very interactive,” said Janicki. “The customers can feel and touch the displays, tablets, cellphones, and the laptops. That is very important to the customer, and it provides us with easy access to those products.”The store also contributed six grants to six local organizations in the amount of $8,000.Recipients were Marlyn Kissner, Executive Director, Carbon Chamber and Economic Development Corporation ($1,000); Carolyn Long, Trinity Pantry ($1,000); Lt. Justin Smith, Franklin Township Fire Company ($1,000); the PA Treatment and Healing Organization ($1,000); Patrick Mriss, Chief, Lehighton Fire Department ($2,000); and Audie Mertz, Chief, Mahoning Township Police Department ($2,000).“We have an opportunity to give back to every community that we serve,” Janicki said. “There are so many organizations inside every community that need our donation.”A total of 16 Lehighton Supercenter associates have been with the local branch since its first day on Oct. 26, 1994, whom Janicki referred to as the “backbone” of the store, and longtime workers were honored by participating in the ribbon-cutting ceremony.“Business has increased every single year since we’ve been up here, driven mostly by the addition to the food side of the business as we converted to a Supercenter,” Janicki said. “Every department in the store has shown increases over the last six-and-a-half years. This couldn’t happen without truly dedicated associates and managers. We couldn’t accomplish this goal in a short 12-week-period without everyone playing a part.”All of the renovations are live and ready to use, including the online grocery pickup, he said.“It’s been a long time coming,” Janicki said. “Our Lehighton community deserved a store like this. It has supported Walmart for all of the 22-and-a-half years now that we’ve been serving the community.”Photo Gallery:

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