By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – A new grocery store in Alabaster will be able to sell beer and wine when it opens in late September after the City Council agreed to approve its alcohol licenses during an Aug. 24 meeting.

The council voted unanimously during the meeting to approve retail beer and retail table wine alcohol licenses for the new Walmart Neighborhood Market, which is set to hold its grand opening ceremony on Sept. 30.

As a result of the licenses, the store will be able to sell beer and wine for off-premises consumption only. The licenses were signed off by Alabaster Police Chief Curtis Rigney, Chief Revenue Examiner Rebecca Byrd, Zoning Department Director Sheri Proctor and Building Official Emmit Stallworth.

“Everything did come back just fine on the application,” said Ward 1 Councilwoman Sophie Martin.

The new store, which is across Alabama 119 from the Publix shopping center, will hold a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony beginning at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 30, Alabaster Mayor Marty Handlon wrote in an email on Aug. 13. The store will open to the public immediately following the ceremony.

For the past several months, crews have been constructing the 41,920-square-foot grocery store, which will feature a gas station in its parking lot. The store’s primary access point will be at the intersection of Alabama 119 and Fulton Springs Road, and plans also call for a new right-hand turn lane off Alabama 119 south leading to the gas station parking lot.

Walmart aleady has Neighborhood Market locations in Shelby County off Shelby County 17 in Helena and on Valleydale Road in North Shelby in former Winn Dixie supermarket locations.

Walmart Neighborhood Markets are smaller than the company’s Superstores, and primarily focus on grocery offerings, along with a limited selection of non-grocery items.

The Alabaster store is working to hire 95 employees to man the new store, and has set up a temporary hiring center next to Chubb’s Grub Station in Alabaster’s Southbrook Village Shopping Center.

Those interested in working at the Neighborhood Market can apply in person at the hiring center, or online at Careers.walmart.com.