THRONGS OF EAGER APPLICANTS SEEK JOBS AT NEW WAL-MARTS TWO STORES TO OPEN EARLY NEXT YEAR.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer PALMDALE - A pair of east-side Wal-Mart stores slated to open in early 2002 are drawing hundreds of job seekers job seeker also job·seek·er n. One who seeks employment. , with thousands more expected in the months ahead. With assistance from the state Employment Development Department office in Lancaster and the Career Planning Center office in Palmdale, Wal-Mart management has been taking in boxloads of applications for the two new stores. As many as 6,000 people are expected to drop off applications. ``This has been a real big event,'' said Pete Eskis, manager of the EDD Noun 1. EdD - a doctor's degree in education DEd, Doctor of Education doctor's degree, doctorate - one of the highest earned academic degrees conferred by a university office in Lancaster. ``They have been coming in a constant stream.'' Each of the stores will hire from 250 to 290 people to start, most of them full-time workers, said Steve Higbee, who will manage the new Lancaster store. Wal-Mart has been impressed im·press 1 tr.v. im·pressed, im·press·ing, im·press·es 1. To affect strongly, often favorably: with the application turnout so far. ``It's fantastic,'' Higbee said. ``We're excited about the applications we're getting.'' The applicants have ranged from the unemployed to people working at other retail stores to retired people. ``We're getting a lot of people retired from the aerospace industry who say, 'I want something to keep me busy,''' Higbee said. Wal-Mart will begin interviewing next week and will start job training in December. Both the east Palmdale store at 47th Street East and Avenue S and the east Lancaster store at Avenue J and 20th Street East are expected to open in January or early February. The two Wal-Marts will anchor shopping centers shopping center, a concentration of retail, service, and entertainment enterprises designed to serve the surrounding region. The modern shopping center differs from its antecedents—bazaars and marketplaces—in that the shops are usually amalgamated into being developed by Stan STAN Stanchion STAN Stärke- und Ausrüstungsnachweis (German) Stan Standard Man (human patient simulator) STAN SEMCIP Technical Assistance Network STAN System Trace Audit Number STAN Star Trek Area Network Rothbart, the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. developer behind the Palmdale Promenade promenade Public place where people walk (or, in the past, rode) at leisure for pleasure, exercise, or display. Promenades are pedestrian avenues pleasingly landscaped or commanding a view, often located along waterfronts and in parks. Vehicular traffic may or may not be restricted. shopping center that contains Palmdale's existing Wal-Mart. The two new Wal-Marts are expected to spur retail development on the Antelope Valley's east side, a region officials from both cities say is underserved. The east-side Palmdale Wal-Mart will anchor a 360,000-square-foot shopping center that will also include a Walgreen's drug store, a Radio Shack See RadioShack. and a Jack-in-the-Box restaurant. The east-side Lancaster Wal-Mart will anchor a 335,000-square-foot shopping center. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Construction continues on the Wal-Mart store on Avenue J and 20th Street East in Lancaster, set to open in early 2002. Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer |
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