Walmart, 801 Chesterfield Highway: February 2010













Surely, many folks refer to this place as the old Walmart. Some of us remember when this was just Walmart. And even fewer people, myself included, recall when this place was the new Walmart...and when the current shopping center behind the Pizza Hut became the old Walmart. I guess that now I'll refer to the old Walmart as the old, old Walmart. Even though that appears to be an active shopping center, maybe I will still get over there for pictures one of these days, but today we're just talking about the old Walmart.

The old Walmart became the old, new Walmart (you still with me?) sometime in the early 1990s. According to this Loopnet listing, the old Walmart was built in 1988, but that seems a bit early to me. I was four years old in 1988, and I remember going to the old, old Walmart for a few years in my early childhood so my guess is that the land was acquired and perhaps started being developed for the Walmart that year.

This Walmart was a big deal when it opened because it was bigger than the previous Walmart and had a pharmacy and a small place to eat, neither of which the previous Walmart had. This was before Walmart began selling groceries, which this location did do for a while starting in the late 1990s though only using maybe one aisle in the store. That's why ever since the advent of the Walmart Supercenter that I refer to the food section as the grocery section and the rest as the Walmart section, that is, the section that was always just known as Walmart previously (i.e. clothes, electronics, household wares, gardening, etc.).

Based on this The Link issue (paywalled, page 7A) being the earliest source I can find regarding this Walmart being the "old Walmart", I have placed the closing date as February 2010. The article mentions that negotiations were happening between the town of Cheraw and Habitat for Humanity to open a Habitat Restore in the old Walmart location. Unless Habitat's stay in the building was short-lived while I was away, it does not appear that the Restore ever occupied this building, instead choosing to purchase the old True Value hardware store downtown. Also, the aforementioned Loopnet listing states that Walmart corporate "has meticulously maintained the building and grounds up until 2/1/2014"; therefore, it is safe to conclude that Habitat did not end up using the old Walmart.

There does appear to be five years worth of vegetation that has taken over this property, though I suppose it doesn't make the former gardening department look much different. The outside of the building still appears to be in decent shape and has not endured any serious vandalism, like Sandy Point Golf Club, for example, has endured. Not foreseeing another big box or grocery store moving in here, the building will likely be divided up into office space, which is what apparently has happened with the old, old Walmart over the years. It would have been cool to have gotten more pictures of the inside, as opposed to the two I took from the gardening department doorway, but I opted to not risk getting arrested for trespassing on private property.


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