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V O L . X X I I I N O. X X S E P T E M B E R 4 , 2 0 1 7 14 I t's mid-August, and Jack Williams is assessing the recently arrived Christmas fabric and back-to-school items at the Biddeford Walmart. e Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) regional general manager is visiting all 74 stores in his coverage area of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and eastern Massachusetts to assess whether stores need to be upgraded or whether its customers prefer mull- ing around inside a store or shopping online and then picking up their items, already bagged, outside the store. It's a dilemma many retailers now face. "Customers are changing over time," says Williams, 49, who became regional manager in May after joining Walmart as a cart pusher in central Indiana and working his way up until he most recently was a divisional oper- ations coordinator in the company's Bentonville, Ark., home offi ce. He's charged with expanding e-commerce operations, rehabbing aging stores and elevating training for employees, which Walmart calls associates. He continues, "Many are going online, but our core customer wants to shop at a store. I've been at Walmart 29 years and we're best positioned now to meet the needs of both cus- tomers. We work hard to see where customers are heading next and what we need to do to go fast. We need to stay ahead of the competition on price, selection and service." In Maine, Williams oversees 25 Walmart stores, as well as three Sam's Jack Williams, the new regional manager for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., including Maine, plans to rehab older stores and add e-commerce features to others such as online grocery pickup at the store. P H O T O / L O R I VA L I G R A Walmart balances foot traffic with online traffic Retailer is evaluating all 74 regional stores B y L o r i V a l i g r a THERE IS THERE IS A DIFFERENCE A DIFFERENCE THERE IS THERE IS Because Construction Management Design/Build General Contracting Engineering Construction Management Design/Build General Contracting Engineering Sheridan Sheridan Construction Construction www.sheridancorp.com www.sheridancorp.com Fairfield Fairfield Portland 207-453-9311 207-453-9311 207-774-6138 Black Dinah Chocolatiers, Westbrook ME