Hypermart USA was a demonstrator project operated by

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

in the 1980s and 1990s, which attempted to combine groceries and general merchandise under one roof at a substantial discount. The

hypermart Hypermart USA was a demonstrator project operated by Walmart in the 1980s and 1990s, which attempted to combine groceries and general merchandise under one roof at a substantial discount. The hypermart concept was modeled after earlier efforts ...

concept was modeled after earlier efforts from other retailers, notably French retailers such as

Auchan Auchan () is a French multinational retail group headquartered in Croix, France. It was founded in 1961 by Gérard Mulliez and is owned by the Mulliez family, who has 95% stake in the company. With 354,851 employees, of which 261,000 have 5% ...

and

Carrefour Carrefour () is a French multinational retail and wholesaling corporation headquartered in Massy, France. The eighth-largest retailer in the world by revenue, it operates a chain of hypermarkets, groceries stores and convenience stores, whic ...

, and the Midwestern big retailer

Meijer Meijer Inc. (, ; stylized as meijer) is an American supercenter chain that primarily operates throughout the Midwest. Its corporate headquarters are in Walker, Michigan, which is a part of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area. Founded in 1934 ...

. All stores used a floorplan that exceeded . They featured a mini-mall,

food court A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food vendors and provides a common area for self-serve dinner. ...

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

, and other kiosk operations. The ones in Kansas City and Topeka featured

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

Subway Subway, Subways, The Subway, or The Subways may refer to: Transportation * Subway, a term for underground rapid transit rail systems * Subway (underpass), a type of walkway that passes underneath an obstacle * Subway (George Bush Intercontin ...

, and

Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc., also known as Popeyes and formerly named Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits and Popeyes Famous Fried Chicken & Biscuits, is an American multinational chain of fried chicken fast food restaurants that was formed in 1972 ...

in their food courts.

History

The prototype did not go as well as planned. Walmart was unaccustomed to operating such massive stores, and an economic

recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...

had brought on a decline in retail sales. Although the stores were profitable, sales projections were too optimistic and the company did not anticipate the great heating and cooling costs, the resistance of customers towards parking and congestion issues. The first Walmart Supercenter, which used a floorplan in the range, was opened in 1988 in

Washington, Missouri Washington is a city on the south banks of the Missouri River, 50 miles west of St. Louis, Missouri, and the largest in Franklin County, Missouri, United States. The estimated population in July 2021 was 14,916, an increase of 7% since the 2010 ...

. As the Supercenter proved to be a much more profitable experiment, Walmart renamed the stores "Wal-Mart's Hypermart USA" in April 1990, and eventually began either converting them to Supercenter operations or closing them. The Hypermart USA concept was officially discontinued in 2000, when Walmart announced it was converting the Kansas City Hypermart USA into a Walmart Supercenter.http://cjonline.com/stories/052300/bus_walmart.shtml The former Kansas City store, then a Supercenter, ultimately closed in January 2007. The original Hypermart in Garland, Texas closed in May 2008. The Topeka, Kansas, hypermarket, located on Southwest Wanamaker Road, is still open, although its exterior has been remodeled as well as the Arlington, Texas, location on South Cooper Street.

Locations

Garland, Texas

Garland, Texas Garland is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is located northeast of Dallas and is a part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is located within Dallas County except for small portions located in Collin and Rockwall Counties. At the ...

(December 28, 1987) This location was converted several years later to a Walmart Supercenter and lost its Hypermart USA branding. By May 2008, Walmart announced it would replace this store with a smaller Supercenter nearby. In October 2017, it was announced that the city of Garland would buy the vacant site with intentions of redeveloping it as a "gateway" to the city. It was demolished in the summer of 2018.

Topeka, Kansas

Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central U ...

(January 1988) , the Topeka, Kansas store is still operating as a Walmart Supercenter.

Arlington, Texas

Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Tarrant County. It forms part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal city of the metropolis and region ...

(August 1988) , the Arlington, Texas, Hypermart is still operating as a Walmart Supercenter.

Kansas City, Missouri

The

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the List of United States cities by populat ...

, location opened on February 20, 1990. Located just northeast of the now-closed

Bannister Mall Bannister Mall was a shopping mall in the southeast corner of Kansas City, Missouri opened on August 6, 1980. After nearly 27 years of operation, the mall closed on May 31, 2007. It was originally anchored by Macy's (which became Dillard's in 1986 ...

in the Benjamin Plaza development, the South Kansas City store was the last Hypermart USA to open. It was the largest of the four Hypermart stores at . Described as Walmart's "mall without walls," the Kansas City Hypermart included a number of restaurants and specialty outlets in addition to the combination grocery and general merchandise discount store. *Food court with seating for 200 people, with quick service restaurants including Taco John's, Corn Dog 7, V's Pasta Parlor, Torre's Pizzeria, Oasis (ice cream, shakes, and frozen yogurt),

, and

. *United Missouri City Bank *Hypermart Pharmacy *

Aladdin's Castle was a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Na ...

arcade *Cost Cutters, family hair salon *Family Vision Center *Travel Center Ltd. *Hearing Today Laboratory *ShoeSmith *1-Hour Photo-Mart *American Studios, Inc, portrait studio *HyperSound and Video In May 2000, Walmart announced it would spend $4.9 million to convert the Kansas City Hypermart USA to a Walmart Supercenter. Walmart indicated that it was converting its last remaining Hypermart, because the stores were too big and too inconvenient for customers. Walmart explained that the effort of offering everything under one roof was more of a European style of retail, and it was overwhelming to the American shopper. Kansas City Councilman Chuck Eddy claimed that there were other reasons for the failure of the Kansas City Hypermart. Eddy cited a high volume of complaints from residents about the store, including time-consuming lines at checkout counters, trash and runaway carts in the parking lot, dirty restrooms, and overall messy conditions and poor management. Walmart wanted to build a new Supercenter store in South Kansas City on State Line Road near 135th Street, so city leaders pressured Walmart to make improvements to the conditions of the Hypermart location before they would be given approval to move forward with the new South Kansas City store. At the time, Walmart said it would cost almost $5 million to renovate the Hypermart store. Walmart moved forward with the renovation and conversion of the Hypermart store, along with bringing in new management to address the concerns of poor management at the store. In 2006, Walmart began construction on a new Walmart Supercenter on the site of the former Blue Ridge Mall. The new Supercenter was to be the first of Walmart's new "high-efficiency" stores. As a result of the new Supercenters on State Line Road and the former Blue Ridge Mall site, along with declining business and a growing number of retail closings in Bannister Mall and Benjamin Plaza, Walmart announced that it would close former Hypermart store in mid-January 2007. The 400 employees were offered jobs at the new Blue Ridge store and other area Walmart stores. After 7 years of vacancy, the former Kansas City Hypermart was demolished in 2014 along with much of the surrounding vacant retail developments as part of a large redevelopment project."Plan for Wal-Mart superstore stirs fight". ''The Kansas City Star''. March 22, 2000. p1