By Lauren Johnson

The Troy Walmart’s grocery pickup system is now up and running. Starting today, customers can pre-order their groceries online on the Walmart Grocery App.

Customers will be able to pull in the parking lot and their groceries will be brought to them and loaded into their car for them.

On the app, customers will be able to build their grocery list, choose a time slot to pick it up, and confirm the order. The pickup time for groceries is from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. 7 days a week, and there is a $30 dollar minimum to order. This pickup service is a free service with no extra charge.

“You will be able to build your list up to a seven-day time period, and on the seventh day you have to confirm your order, or it will be deleted,” said Tara Carroll, assistant manager at Walmart.

On the app, you will also get to see all the groceries that are being carried in the store, and personal shoppers will pick the freshest produce for you.

“For the last two weeks, we’ve been training our associates, who we call your personal shoppers,” said John Lassiter, who has been the store manager for almost four years. “You build your list and that associate is going out to select all the items on the list, bag it, and bring it out to you when you arrive.”

All the items that the personal shoppers selected for you will be held in the attached room by the pickup parking spots until you come to claim them.

“With the app you will be able to hit the check in button as you leave your house and it will monitor where you are, so as soon as you get to the parking lot, the personal shopper will be ready to grab your stuff and load up your car,” Lassiter explained.

Lassiter said that this new system has been a big hit for the company. “The biggest thing is the convenience aspect. When Walmart launched it, they polled the costumers doing the survey and they said it was a great convenience to them.”

“I’m excited for Walmart,” said Carroll. “This is something new and I always like to lead new things and see what we can do to take care of our customers and our associates.”

With this new service, Troy’s Walmart has added 14 employees as associates, and they are also excited and looking forward to using this new system.

“It’s another way for us to serve our customers and increase their loyalty to our brand,” said Laseter. “It is another kind of shopping experience and, hopefully, a better experience.”

The “tower” on the inside of the store is also available for use. It is for general pickup for items other than food.

“For the tower, you would use the Walmart app with the standard blue and yellow spark, and now there is a Walmart Grocery app that’s orange with the white spark that you need to order online grocery for the outside pickup,” Carroll said.

Customers ordering general merchandise, or an item that is not in stock, can use the app for the tower. It is a self-serve system open 24/7 for customers to use anytime as long as the item says its available to be picked up. There is also no dollar amount to preorder an item from the tower.

Lassiter and Carroll are both excited to see these new advancements be put into use at Walmart and hope to make shopping more convenient for customers.