PELHAM – Walmart Supercenter in Pelham kicked off the start of its online grocery pick up and pickup tower operations on Tuesday, Aug. 21, with a ribbon cutting hosted by the Greater Shelby County Chamber of Commerce.

Through the online grocery pickup service, customers can go grocery shopping online and arrange to pick up their items the same day, said Jennifer Goodwin, assistant manager for the pickup service.

With the pickup tower, Walmart personal shoppers place purchased items into the tower, which has 300 storage bins, and customers are notified when their order is ready and use an emailed barcode to retrieve their items. For larger items, lockers are used to store items. The tower is designed to recognize if the barcode is for a locker or a storage bin within the pickup tower.

The store’s online grocery pickup service allows customers to purchase produce. Once an order is placed, personal shoppers gather and bag the items and keep them refrigerated until the customer picks it up.

“Our personal shoppers pick the freshest items available or their money back guaranteed,” Goodwin said. “If we don’t have an item, we will offer a substitute at no additional charge and customers have to approve the substitution.”

Goodwin said customers reserve a time to get their groceries, which are brought to their car. The personal shopper then shows the groceries to the customer to make sure they’re satisfied with their food.

Both services are offered to customers for free. As of now, the store has five personal shoppers, but will add more as the services grow.

The online grocery pickup is available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The pickup tower can be used anytime during normal store hours.