HERMOSA — The city's third Walmart Supercenter is set to open this summer in Hermosa, just west of Logan Square.
The new store will become the ninth Walmart and the third Supercenter in the city, joining several of the smaller Neighborhood Markets and two Walmart Express stores.
The new store will open in a shopping center at 4600 W. Diversey Ave. that includes Big Lots, Dunkin' Donuts and an Illinois Secretary of State's facility.
Chicago's first Walmart Supercenter — and the first Walmart of any kind in the city — opened in North Austin in 2006 amid protests and criticism of the company's wages and treatment of workers.
After that, no new Walmarts opened until 2011. The other Supercenter opened in Chatham in 2012.
Critics of the chain accuse it of cutting worker hours to avoid a new health care law that requires employers to provide insurance benefits for all full-time workers, and Walmart is still battling gender discrimination lawsuits in California, Texas, Tennessee, Florida and Wisconsin, according to a website that provides updates of the cases.
Proponents, though, say Walmarts bring plenty of positive changes where they open, including jobs and fresh food options in urban "food deserts."
In fact, the company promised in July 2011 to open 300 stores in urban food deserts across the country by 2016, according to a Bloomberg report.
Walmart spokesman Steve Restivo said the new store would bring both jobs and fresh food to Hermosa.
"We look forward to opening our Hermosa store later this summer and becoming part of the solution for local residents who want more convenient employment and shopping options in their own neighborhood," Restivo said in an email Wednesday.
"Grocery is something that Chicago customers have come to expect from Walmart because they know it’s an area where we can provide a broad assortment of fresh food at an everyday low price. To more and more city residents, living better means the ability to walk into a Walmart and find affordable foods that will help their families live healthier lives."
Restivo said the new store would employ about 400 people, most of them full time. Many are already on the job stocking shelves and preparing the store to open.
A fourth Supercenter is set to open this year in Pullman, Restivo said, along with a Neighborhood Market in Englewood and another Neighborhood Market scheduled to open in Grand Boulevard in 2014.
Thought Restivo did not provide an exact opening date for the Hermosa Supercenter, several workers on site said it would open July 17.
