YAKIMA, Wash. -- During a recent Friday afternoon at the new West Valley Walmart, cheers and loud rock music can be heard on the store floor.

The cheers are from Walmart employees as they hear store manager Kim Pierce praise them for everything from going more than a month without any work-related accidents to the amount of money they raised for various charities.

It's a pep rally with Pierce leading the cheers.

Pierce, 30, who came to the new store after holding several manager positions for Walmart in the Tri-Cities for the past nine years, has made it clear that she won't play office manager.

Instead, she'll stock shelves and play cashier, anything to show the neighborhood, especially those who are critical, that the discount retailer will be an asset to the local community.

"We're going to cater to that customer who wouldn't step into a Walmart," she said.

A new market share

Other than the name plastered across the front of the West Valley store, it shows little resemblance to the retailer's existing Yakima store at 1600 E. Chestnut Ave. The company also has a store in Sunnyside.

Inside, the store's walls are painted bright blue and yellow to separate the general merchandise from the grocery section of the store. Aisles are wide and are completely clear, a contrast from the narrow, pallet-filled aisles often seen in the existing store.

Even the small signs show the new bright colors the retailer is adapting.

It's one way Walmart will cater to West Valley, which is generally believed to be more well-off than other areas of the Yakima Valley.

But the store isn't just depending on appearances alone --it's also stocking merchandise that will attract these customers.

For example, the store has a 60-foot-wide module that will stock Washington wines and is working with a vendor to order bottles from local wineries.

While the East Yakima store may lose some customers, the goal is to focus on gaining new customers.

"It's going to cater to a new market share," Pierce said.

Overcoming criticism

Pierce and the new store, which will open today at 6600 Nob Hill Blvd., serve as a local representation of the Bentonville, Ark., retailer's work in the past few years to overcome opposition by a variety of groups.

Some of those groups are close by.

This Walmart opens after more than seven years of conflict. The retailer, the city of Yakima and land owner Congdon Orchards have been fighting with Neighbors for Responsible Development and Concerned Citizens of Yakima, two groups of West Valley residents who believed the new store would destroy the character of the neighborhood and adversely affect local businesses.

Criticism of the Walmart, which ranges from poor treatment of employees to a reputation of destroying nearby mom-and-pop businesses in different communities, has been well documented on a variety of Web sites, and in books and documentaries from unions and other community groups.

The retailer has worked to fight those perceptions by taking on several ventures other retailers won't -- including showing support for health care reform and taking on ambitious environmental sustainability standards.

And during this recession, Walmart has been the big winner.

Before it stopped reporting monthly sales earlier this year, it posted figures that bucked the industry average.

The recession has also given Walmart an opportunity to reach out to shoppers who may have rejected the retailer in the past for reasons that range from its lack of luxury items to social justice issues.

"It's seen a lot of change in the types of cars that's in its parking lot," said Mary Ann Odegaard, director of the retail management program at the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington.

The new West Valley store has an obvious economic benefit -- it brings 389 new part- and full-time jobs, nearly equaling the 400 jobs the retail sector in Yakima County lost year-over-year in September, according to state Employment Security figures.

The store also shows off the store's sustainability efforts. Pierce points to floors made of recycled materials, skylights that the company says reduces the energy required to light the store by up to 75 percent and LED lights that are 70 percent more efficient than traditional fluorescent lighting.

And Pierce believes the sustainability efforts and the store's ability to provide desired merchandise at competitive price points will gain new customers.

"(And) when we do come out of the recession, we hope they don't want to go anywhere else," she said.

Of course, Web sites criticizing Walmart still remain strong. And there are still local residents who are opposed to the development.

"That's all a facade," said Jean Allen, a 53-year-old nurse from Yakima, about Walmart's recent efforts. "(It's) just a huge company of conglomerates that's taking over and running the little people out."

Allen, who says that her views on Walmart come from reading a variety of magazine articles and watching different documentaries, is focused on educating her friends on family on the perils of shopping with the retailer.

An uphill battle

Odegaard, of the University of Washington, believes the retailer is determined enough to overcome even the most stubborn of critics. "It's (about) establishing a personal relationship with people who live around here," she said. "It will take them a while. It's a campaign."

And while critics are far from satisfied, both city officials and Congdon Orchards believe that the drawn-out process and the groups' criticisms did have some impact in their favor.

"I truly believe the public process that culminated in the opening (of the new store) resulted in a better site plan and a better store," said Bill Cook, director of the city of Yakima's Community and Economic Development Department.

One example, he said, is the wall that separates the store from the nearby residential area and numerous road improvements.

Those improvements include the installation of a traffic light and the widening of Nob Hill Boulevard, designed to mitigate increased traffic.

Walmart contributed about $2.5 million to the road improvements, Cook said.

Jamie Carmody, an attorney who represented the citizen groups during the dispute, was pleased with several project improvements, such as the building location and design. He still believes, however, that not enough road improvements were made to deal with traffic issues raised during the public process.

"When (the road system) doesn't function, it will fall on the shoulder of the taxpayers," he said. "I'm also concerned that the lack of those improvements may place additional burden on future developers in the area."

Allen does believe that the development improved with the mitigations enforced by the city of Yakima. Congdon Orchards has also made its own development standards, as such prohibiting tall signs.

But Allen still remains skeptical.

"I think (Walmart) made changes because of the litigation," she said. "(They) wouldn't have done that on their own. It would've been the same old Walmart."

Mike Shinn, an attorney who represented Congdon Orchards during the legal battle, believes that the future projects will receive more scrutiny.

"I think if there is an error to be made, it's on the side of making sure there's ample opportunity for the public to participate and express their concerns," he said. "Does it chill the development market? I don't know. I think the national economy has more to do with that than anything."

Full disclosure: Both Shinn and Carmody are now attorneys with Velikanje Halverson. During the Walmart dispute, Shinn was an attorney for Halverson Applegate while Carmody was an attorney at Velikanje, Moore & Shore. In July 2007, the two firms formed to form Velikanje Halverson, which currently represents Congdon Orchards.

Ready for customers

Back at the new store, Pierce is having her employees give high-fives to each other as they pass each other, an exercise designed to help them be ready to greet customers at a moment's notice.

As she walks around the store, she notes every little detail that's out of place -- a sign on the floor or an employee struggling to carry merchandise.

She's even ordered extra paint and trained employees in case someone tries to tag the store.

"I'm not expecting the negative because I have plans in place," she said.

And all the plans point toward one simple goal --to show that once and for all, this store belongs here.

* Mai Hoang can be reached at 509-577-7685 or mhoang@yakimaherald.com.

Walmart at a glance

LOCATION: 6600 W. Nob Hill Blvd., Yakima.

HOURS: Opens at 8 this morning, remains open 24 hours a day.

SIZE: 220,000 square feet.

MANAGER: Kim Pierce; her Walmart career started in 2000 when she was hired as an assistant manager at a Tri-Cities store.

EMPLOYEES: 389 part- and full-time workers.

INSIDE BUSINESSES: SmartStyle Family Hair Salon, Davi Nails Salon, Subway, Catholic Credit Union.

CONTACT: 509-966-4163

Sunnyside Walmart to reopen

SUNNYSIDE, Wash. -- The West Valley Walmart isn't the only store getting a new look.

Just a half-hour before people will gather this morning at the West Valley Walmart store for its grand opening, another group will be gathering at the Walmart store in Sunnyside for a grand reopening ceremony.

The event concludes a three-month remodeling effort of the store at 2675 E. Lincoln Ave. Among the renovations include wider aisles with no product displays, a new paint scheme and an expanded electronics department.

The ceremony in Sunnyside will be at 7 a.m. today. A ribbon cutting for the opening of the West Valley Walmart at 6600 W. Nob Hill Blvd. is at 7:30 a.m.