Community & Culture at the Walmart Neighborhood Market grand opening!

Disclosure:  I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias.

Yesterday, I went to the Grand Opening of the Walmart Neighborhood Market and it was a total surprise!  I was impressed by so many things that I just can't wait to get to it right away.  :)  As a reminder, I found out more about the fun family event on Saturday.  It will be held from 12 - 3 pm at the store, so here is the address and you definitely don't want to miss it!

Walmart Neighborhood Market #5663
8844 Limonite Avenue
Riverside, CA 92509

Now, let's get to the recap with all of the fun and some awesome photos too!

On first sight, the Walmart Neighborhood Market looks just the same as a typical Walmart with greeting cards, cleaning supplies, and more in the aisles.  However, all the signs and baskets are green, so you know there is something else going on!

For one thing it definitely has more of a neighborhood feel!  The pharmacist Terry (who you might be able to spot with his three cut-outs around the store) was already part of the Walmart family.  He moved to this store because he is located in the community and was super excited about being able to take care of his local customers!

Here is a peek at the pharmacy and one of the medication aisles, which was surprisingly huge!

Now, here is the main difference between a Walmart store and a Walmart Neighborhood Market.  It is focused on fresh food and produce, which means that the selection is HUGE!  Not only that, but there is a money back 100% guarantee.  Amazing, right?

And before you think that the policy isn't clearly marked, believe me, it is!

You can find loads of fresh produce, as well as prepped fruits and vegetables.  The selection and freshness is pretty amazing!  The fruit was delicious and colorful.  :)

The prices on the vegetables were really surprising.  The bagged whole carrot were only 48 cents!

The freshness and variety of the produce was so great.  I loved the radishes and took a bunch home, as well as the portobello caps.  They were both incredible deals, along with the avocados and the other veggies!

Now, this is something that I was completely surprised and delighted by.  The selection was really diverse with every kind of squash, rapini (broccoli rabe), turnip roots, and tomatillos.  I was super excited to scoop up a bunch of those items!

The beets were so beautiful, as well as the chayote, calabacita, parsnips, and collard greens.  I couldn't pass up those parsnips, because the quality was so good and they are so delicious!

Back to the fruit...  The tropical fruit section was amazing!  Pineapple, two kinds of mangoes, kiwi, plantains, coconuts, papaya, and more for low prices.  I snapped up a TON of fruit too!  In fact, I talked with Julia, one of the grocery stockers, who helped me pick a papaya and she was super, super nice.

In the middle of my fruit excitement, I ran into Joe, who was utterly amazed at the new store.  He remembered the old grocery store in its place that had closed 6 years before.  That's right, the Walmart Neighborhood Market took over a space that was vacant for a long, long time.  He was camera shy too, but I was captivated by his hat and just had to ask him about it.  We ended up chatting about his time in the service and all about his family who coincidentally lived near me!  Anyways, it was a fun little visit with a fellow customer.  :)

I made my way through the rest of the market, which was clean, well-stocked, and had so many low prices!

First, I went through the huge meat section...

...and I picked up a few things to make some delicious sandwiches.  The deli meat and cheese section also had Mexican cheeses to cater to the population around the store.  That's pretty awesome that they care about the people in their community and find out exactly what their needs are.  :)

There were great prices on not just the Hispanic items (which were plentiful) but also the International foods aisle.  I can't find this stuff at my local supermarket with such great prices, so I definitely stocked up!

Before leaving the supermarket area, I definitely had a few samples of different products.  Yum!

To go along with my food finds, I ended up going through the seasonal aisle, which was filled with all sorts of summer items.  Serving dishes, kids toys, grilling necessities, and even patio furniture!  Not your typical grocery store!  In fact, I found out that when you buy items from Walmart.com and use the Ship to Store option, you can even have them sent to the Neighborhood Markets as well!  Yep, you can even pick up a television with your groceries!

At the checkstand, I ended up talking with another veteran called "Q" who was pretty awesome.  He lives about 2 blocks away for the last 50 years and is happy to have a much closer grocery store.  I found out that not only did he serve in the army, so did his brothers, his kids, and a couple of his grandkids.  That's over 100 years of service from the same family.  Wow!

I don't think it's a coincidence that I ran into some amazing employees and customers at the store.  Everyone was so nice and excited to have the new Walmart Neighborhood Market become a part of their community.  It is certainly a great addition to the area!

Also, if you're around on Saturday, remember to stop by for all the fun!