Walker Drug is a pharmacy and variety store. By next spring, it will also be a grocery store.
The 17,000-square-foot retail space at 290 S. Main St. will undergo a full renovation, increasing by 3,000 square feet when it expands into the space that was occupied by Moab Family Medicine.
Work began last month. Officials hope to have the project completed by spring.
And customers don’t have to worry.
“We have no intention to close the store during the remodel,” said general manager Vivian Klocko.
Jack Walker, a local pharmacist, built the drugstore in 1958 as part of a strip mall on what was then the south edge of town. The strip mall included a men’s clothing store, a tire store, an office supply store and a medical clinic. Over the years, the drugstore has increased in size by expanding into the space of the other stores.
“We’ve grown into the other spaces, but this is the first true remodel,” Klocko said. “The different colored floor tiles throughout the store are the remaining evidence of previous expansions.”
The grocery expansion will include 100 linear feet of refrigeration units and 300 linear feet of shelving for canned goods and boxed foods. Associated Foods will be the supplier. The store will accept Horizon cards and WIC vouchers available through government assistance programs. Walker and Klocko are already talking to local farmers to provide locally grown foods.
“Jack has wanted to do groceries for a long time,” Klocko said.
Walker brought City Market to Moab in 1967. The grocery store chain rented space from Walker at 280 S. Main St. until it moved its store in 1990 to its current location at 425 S. Main St.
“We intend to be a one-stop location and offer quicker service,” Klocko said. “We want to be able to get people in and out of the store faster.”
The Walker Drug pharmacy will join the Health Mart network, and the entire store will adopt Health Mart’s signature bright green as part of the new décor.
Moab Construction started the remodel in mid-June by working in the area of the former Moab Family Medicine clinic. Different parts of the store will be closed off to customers as the remodel progresses.
“We hope to be fully done by spring 2013,” Klocko said. “Be aware that there may be delays while trying to keep the store open.”
