After 18 successful months in business, Walmart on Salem Road will transition to 24/7 opening hours on November 23rd.
Store manager Ron Tillman said the move is permanent and reflects growing business.

“Many buyers have asked for it,” Tillman said Friday. “Business is growing steadily.”

The move to a 24/7 schedule comes a week before Thanksgiving to give shoppers more time during the holiday season.

Other Walmart stores in the area (Covington and Conyers) are already open 24 hours a day. The Salem Road store is currently open from 6 a.m. to midnight daily.

More than 250 people are employed in the 16,000-square-foot store, Tillman said.

Former district chair Kathy Morgan previously explained that the rule of thumb for an established Walmart Supercenter – one that has been open for three to five years – is that it generates $1 million in sales for every percent of sales tax.

County Commissioner JC Henderson said at Tuesday’s meeting that the Board of Commissioners faced considerable criticism in 2007 for approving Walmart’s plans to build a store at the intersection of Salem and Brown Bridge Road. But he said its success justified the move, pointing out that the store would provide jobs for hundreds of “regular people” who might not be “suited for Baxter (International)” — referring to the $1 billion pharmaceutical manufacturing plant on the Newton-Walton county line.

Walmart bought the 32.04-acre property in April 2007 for $1.67 million, according to the Newton County Tax Assessor’s website. The assessor’s office estimates the value of the land at $4 million and the building at $7.08 million, the website says.