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Big changes are in store for the Andalusia Walmart as management announced the store will undergo a $6 million remodel.

Andalusia Walmart Manager Jared Lickteig said the renovations were to begin Sunday, April 10, and continue over approximately 12 weeks into June. The store will remain open to customers throughout the project.

“We are very excited. This is a full-blown remodel,” Lickteig said. “We’ll get all new fixtures and the latest technology available to Walmart.”

Among the changes will be in the store’s grocery area where aisles will be widened and new coolers and freezers designed for better traffic flow to accommodate customers, as well as creating a better flow for fulfilling online orders.

“We are very excited about our online grocery capabilities. Dot-com business is the future and we have expanded the number of orders we can take per day from 280 to 595. Over the year I have been here, Walmart has gone from 150 orders per day almost to our max capacity of about 270 orders per day,” Lickteig said.

While the average online sales for Walmart stores is about 6 percent, Lickteig said Andalusia’s store is about 14 percent. “It’s a huge sales lift for this community.”

Through online ordering, the Andalusia store serves as a fulfillment center for orders across the country.

“One thing very unique to the Andalusia Walmart is the ship-from-store facility inside our building. We are one of seven stores in the region to have it. It means Walmart online orders from across the country will be sent to our store based on availability and we’ll put those orders in a FedEx box for shipping. What is great about that, we get credit for that sale locally,” he said.

The investment to remodel the local Walmart comes from the confidence the company has in the future of the store, as its business has grown. In all, Lickteig said the Andalusia store saw an 11.5 percent increase in sales over the past calendar year.

“We became the second highest volume store within our market last year, eclipsing the $100 million sales mark for the first time in the Andalusia store’s history. Our average basket size did not increase, so people were still spending the same amount of money, but our traffic increased by 11 percent. Most stores around us saw a decrease, which tells us people are choosing to come to Andalusia and I think that has something to do with all the things going on in the city, along with our customer service.

That Walmart region market includes Andalusia, two Dothan stores, Enterprise, Troy, Ozark, Eufaula and Greenville. Enterprise had the highest volume within that market.

For the remodel, Lickteig said customers visiting the store will see some moving parts over the coming weeks. Some entry points may be closed temporarily as new flooring is installed and there will be aisle changes. Troy recently underwent a remodel and the Enterprise store is currently going through the process.

“This is a very positive thing for our store. It is a re-investment into this community. If Walmart didn’t think Andalusia was worth a $6 million remodel, they would have chosen to do it someplace else,” Lickteig said.