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Walmart adds tower for online pickup to Las Vegas store

Retail giant Walmart has added a 16-foot tower inside a supercenter in the southwestern Las Vegas Valley where customers can pickup online orders.

The pickup tower is housed at the Las Vegas Walmart Supercenter at 5200 S. Fort Apache Road, near the intersection of Hacienda Avenue.

The tower, nicknamed “Rapunzel,” debuted on Sept. 1, according to the store’s account on the Facebook social network. It is the first tower on the West Coast.

The tower can store about 300 items. Customers order online, a store employee adds the item to the tower, and the customer scans his or her smartphone at the tower to retrieve their purchase, according to a Walmart statement Wednesday.

The remodel also includes:

• Updated electronics department where customers can try laptops and other devices before purchase.

• Expanded sporting goods department.

• Updated pharmacy with a new consultation room.

• Brighter lighting in produce.

• Updated MoneyCenter for financial services.

Walmart received a building permit for the project in June. The permit details $1.06 million worth of work on the roof and interior of the 224,000-square-foot store.

This year has marked many new investments in the valley by grocery chains as they try to better compete through combining brick-and-mortar with online services.

In August, online retail giant Amazon closed its purchase of Whole Foods. Grocery chain Smith’s announced that eight local stores will offer home delivery for online orders.

In July, Walmart announced five stores that will allow customers to order online and have employees bring groceries to their cars at pickup, not to mention millions of dollars invested in remodels at Walmart and Sam’s Club stores across the valley.

Contact Wade Tyler Millward at wmillward@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4602. Follow @wademillward on Twitter.

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