Portmouth, Ohio's New Super Wal-Mart Brings Much-Needed Jobs to Area

There's a new, Super Wal-Mart in town.

Finally, after years of waiting, the new Super Wal-Mart for the Portsmouth, Ohio, area is open and functioning. It is located at 4490 Gallia St., just east of town on State Route 52, between the New Boston and Sciotoville areas. It is the only Walmart in all of Scioto County. According to the Wal-Mart site, www.walmart.com, there are a planned 275 jobs for this store, which is always good for the local economy, which is, to say the least, struggling.

Now while this Super Wal-Mart is very similar to many other Super Wal-Marts that I have been in, the most special thing about this is that it is here in Scioto County. Before it opened you had to drive to Jackson, or West Union or Maysville, Kentucky for a Super Wal-Mart and that was about an hour drive each way to any of them. So the convenience and cost-saving of Wal-Mart are now nearby.

It has a complete grocery store, with a deli section, freezer section; especially special is their huge sub sandwiches and take & bake pizzas. There is also a pharmacy, a hair salon, a tire & lube express center, garden center, hardware, paint, clothing, jewelry and beauty sections.

They have a bank that is open seven days a week, Woodforest Bank which is an almost practically no-fee bank; the only bad feature that I have found is that their ATM card is only no-fee at their bank's ATM machines; which are only located in Super Wal-Marts. Which means that there are no other ATMs in Scioto County that you can use without paying a fee. There is also an eye care center, a portrait studio and one-hour photo lab.

Also for many, Wal-Mart is a social center. Teens go to hang out and meet each other. I know people that have met their future spouse at Wal-Mart; now doesn't that sound like a Jeff Foxworthy comedy bit?

So for rural, small-town, borderline Appalachia towns, the Super Wal-Mart serves some of the same functions as a mall would be in the big city. It is a one-stop shopping center with social center overtones.