Iola Walmart staffers were in the mood to celebrate Friday.
The store celebrated a nearly $6 million remodel with its grand reopening — “our second best day ever,” store manager Raymond Simpson declared.
The remodel includes an expanded grocery pickup department, pharmacy delivery services, an expanded deli and bakery and improved outdoor living spaces, Simpson said.
The project also meant adding a coach, four team leaders and more than 40 associates.
To help with the celebration, the store donated $2,000 each to the Iola Public Library and the Iola Police Department, as well as $2,800 to Iola’s Pregnancy Resource Center.
On hand for the event were members of the Iola Area Chamber of Commerce, a color guard from the Kansas National Guard’s 891st Engineer Battalion and vocalist Genevieve Billings from the University of Kansas to sing the national anthem.
Pastor Tom Eastman of the First Christian Church of Chanute provided the invocation. He was chosen because his son was part of the construction crew handling the remodel.
