Click above to start audio slide show with Wal-Mart store manager Jim Fryrear 7031 Click below for the complete audio interview with Wal-Mart store manager Jim Fryrear without slide show (approx 8 min.)

Grab a store map at the front door and experience shopping at epic proportions until closing time at 11 p.m.

What awaits shoppers is a mammoth facility nearly the size of the Gloucester store. And it’s not just the typical Wal-Mart merchandise. This place is packed wall-to-wall not only with the things Wal-Mart fans expect, it also has a selection of higher-end items hand-picked to suit local tastes.

Store manager Jim Fryrear said he spent time browsing area stores for what appealed to residents before ordering special merchandise for this store, including items not found in other Wal-Marts.

There are entire sections of international home décor items, faux chocolate leather ottomans and storage bins, fireplace candle holders, fashionable dinnerware, bed and bath linens and some of the latest designs in small appliances.

In the deli, fresh sushi and sashimi will be prepared by an independent Japanese sushi chef Mondays through Fridays. Families can eat lunch in the Subway shop, pick up a special order birthday cake in the bakery, stop to get hair cuts at SmartStyle, or play in a youthful video arcade with parental supervision.

Weary shoppers are invited to relax on one of the benches located throughout the store or wander over to the electronics section for the newest in home entertainment.

Fryrear said the customer service section has been expanded to four registers to minimize waiting in line for returns. For now, the garden section will be limited to mums, but future plans include an on-site horticulturalist to select the best plants for this region. Local seamstresses will be disappointed that there is no fabric section, although Fryrear said he’s working on that.

Shelves are still being stocked and while the grocery section is nearly complete, all the fresh foods will arrive just in time for the grand opening.

Fryrear added that employment positions are filled, but he is taking on extra help in some departments for anyone still wishing to apply.