• WAL-MART OPENS ESCAZU LOCATION
Wal-Mart Costa Rica opened a new Hipermas retail store in Escazu, a western suburb of San Jose, July 6.
The 6,500-square-meter store cost a total of $17 millions, of which $730,000 went for public works improvements in the area, Wal-Mart officials said.
The store opening clogged highways between Escazu and San Jose as shoppers scrambled to get a first look.
The new Hipermas is Wal-Mart Costa Rica's first store to have a distinctively Wal-Mart setup in the way products are laid out, and features the familiar Wal-Mart smiley face.
A similar Hipermas is set to open within a month in Cartago, east of San Jose.
That will bring the total Hipermas stores operated by Wal-Mart who acquired a controlling stake in the Central American Holdings Company, whose name was then changed to Wal-Mart Centro America. The company controls 413 supermarkets throughout the region.
It plans to open 64 new stores in Central America by year's end.
