Wal-Mart Costa Rica has announced plans to build a $12 million Hipermás store in the western San José suburb of Escazú.
Like the other four Hipermás stores in Costa Rica, this store will sell everything from home appliances to clothes to groceries, much like Wal-Mart stores in the United States and around the world, according to a Sept. 22 statement from the company.
In March,Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the United States, purchased controlling shares in the Central American Holding Company (CARHCO), which comprises more than 375 supermarkets and other stores throughout Central America, including Más x Menos, Palí and Hipermás stores in Costa Rica (TT,March 17).
Wal-Mart plans to open the Escazú store in the middle of 2007. It will be built on a 26,500-square-meter lot and will have a 6,500-square-meter sales area, according to Wal-MartCosta Rica corporate affairs director Aquileo Sánchez.
The new store will create 600 jobs, the statement said, and will be the first Hipermás to be modeled after Wal-Mart stores in the United States.
