Batavia Wal-Mart joins online grocery shopping bandwagon

With a fanfare, the Batavia Wal-Mart Thursday joined hundreds of other Wal-Marts nationwide in offering shoppers free online grocery shopping.

"I'm so excited!," said its first customer, Margie Goliak of Batavia, the first to pick up an order, at 9:10 a.m.

Goliak learned of the service several days ago in an email blast the Batavia Chamber of Commerce sent to members. "I was like, 'This is genius!' " she said.

She fit into one of the categories store manager Cory Ringler spoke of, in an opening ceremony: Busy working mother. Goliak owns a home-based wine consulting business.

Shoppers have to order a minimum of $30 worth of items.

"It's not like we don't want you coming into the store," said BethAnn Jacobs of Batavia, department manager for online grocery.

The store still hopes you will come in to visit the optician or for other services. But you can save time on the routine shop-and-get-dinner-on-the-table chore, she said: Place your order before you leave work, let the Wal-Mart workers do the shopping, swing by to pick it up. Store workers load the groceries into your car.

Ringler said he expects the service may be popular with older shoppers, since they won't even have to get out of their cars.

Wal-Mart is not the first store to offer a shopping service. Meijer experimented with it several years ago but it's not offered in this area.

Peapod.com offers home delivery or pickup at regional posts. Jewel-Osco has Instacart.com service at some Chicago stores. Amazon.com delivers groceries to its AmazonPrime members.

Those services charge a fee, although some are discounted depending on how much you order.

The Batavia store, at 801 N. Randall Road, is one of 10 in the Chicago area that debuted the service this week. Other stores are in Johnsburg, Crystal Lake, Lockport, Montgomery, Plainfield, Gurnee, Wheeling, St. Charles and Woodstock.

Wal-Mart began testing the service in 2014. It is available at more than 600 stores.