Citrus Heights Planning Commission, by a 6-0 vote, approved in December an expansion project at Walmart, adding roughly 3,271 square feet to the north side (front) of the building. Photo by Thomas J. Sullivan

 

CITRUS HEIGHTS, CA (MPG) - Walmart customers in Citrus Heights who enjoy the convenience of shopping online for their groceries and then pick them up at the Stock Ranch store at 7010 Auburn Blvd. in Citrus Heights will soon have a new designated enlarged pickup area for their purchases.

In December, the Citrus Heights Planning Commission, by a 6-0 vote, approved an expansion project at Walmart, adding about 3,271 square feet to the north side (front) of the building, which will include both an expansion for the online grocery pickup area and the number of designated grocery pick-up parking spaces.

“We’re seeing many more customers preferring to pick up their groceries after placing an online order,” said one store manager, watching as store personnel busily pushed carts up and down aisles, each stacked with individual blue customer bins bearing an order tag.

On one morning, the number of Walmart associates who were busily filling individual online orders outnumbered the number of customers browsing the aisles. In a brief half-hour period, it was easy to count some 60 individual bins being filled by Walmart associates with groceries of all types.

“Customers just enjoy the convenience of placing an order and then trusting us to carry it out,” one Walmart staff member said. Her cart had six orders to fill.

Submitted documents to the city show the expansion of the main building with a new addition near the current Garden Center.

The expanded building area will enclose an existing outdoor space located east of the store’s main entrance. Currently, this area, which is screened by an existing wall, serves as an outdoor employee rest area and is occasionally used for storing racks and garden center supplies. The project will enclose this space and repurpose it for the new use. 

The new area will allow Walmart associates to assemble and store online orders, which will then be delivered to customers waiting in designated parking spaces specifically for online order pick-up.

Online consumers in the U.S. spent an estimated $45.71 billion on groceries from Walmart in 2023. Projections indicate a 17.5 percent annual growth rate in Walmart’s online grocery sales. In 2025, digital consumers will spend an estimated $63.79 billion on Walmart groceries.

Nationwide online grocery sales will total as much as $257.5 billion in 2024; projections indicate that sales will increase up to $363.8 billion in 2026.

The new building addition will feature three curved metal awnings and four decorative columns on the front. Exterior paint colors will match the building’s existing terra cotta color. New safety barriers will match existing ones, city documents show. 

Online order pick-up parking spaces will be re-striped to meet brand standards. Several regular parking spaces will be converted to online grocery pick-up spaces, increasing the total pickup spots. 

According to plan documents, the overall distribution of regular and accessible parking spaces will not change.

Safety features, including new crosswalk markings will be added near the new building addition to “safely manage the movement” of both employees and vehicles through the area. 

At its December meeting, the Citrus Heights Planning Commission also approved design and use permits, along with an amendment to the Stock Ranch Guide for construction of a new 2,309-square-foot Starbucks with a drive-thru lane wrapping around the back to be built on an undeveloped parcel facing Auburn Boulevard.

Development of Stock Ranch began with the construction of the Costco building in 2003 and Walmart in 2005. The city’s Stock Ranch development plan, approved in February 2001, provides for the development of 570,000 square feet of commercial areas as well as 43-plus acres for residential development and 32 acres of open space, according to the city’s website.