Walmart’s North Tonawanda superstore is looking to add something few other locations in the state have, its own gas station and convenience store.
The Niagara Falls Boulevard location plans on building this new station on an underutilized section of its parking lot. It would be located near the lot’s northern entrance, with 10 pumps making up 20 fueling stations for regular and diesel gasoline and the convenience store being 1,600 square feet.
It would be the first such Walmart in Niagara County to have this gas and convenience store option, with other Walmarts located in Springville and Rochester having them. Randy BeBout, the senior project manager of Bohler Engineering in Rochester, said the store chain is looking to add these to between six and nine stores throughout the state.
“There’s sites that they will not do this because the parking ratio would drop …,” BeBout said during Monday’s Niagara County Planning Board meeting, with board members saying that section of parking is always empty.
The gas stations would be open to the public like Tops’ stations are, with the convenience stores being standard and selling propane too. Pricing at Walmart stations is typically cheaper than other gas station chains, with no EV chargers planned.
The planned convenience store hours would be from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., with the gas pumps working 24 hours.
In the neighboring green space between the parking lot and access road, there would be a bio-retention area for water to be discharged to the city’s storm sewer system. As that part of the development is more than one acre in size, it would require a species permit from the state DEC.
The Niagara County Planning Board gave its support for the development’s site plan, with the North Tonawanda Planning Board yet to give its final approval.