Walmart to reopen Cielo Vista store on Nov. 6 along with permanent shooting memorial

Walmart plans in early November to reopen the east El Paso store where 22 people were killed, the retail giant said Thursday, noting that construction work on the interior of the building was “progressing smoothly.”

“We are currently working toward re-opening the store on Wednesday, Nov. 6,” Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove told ABC-7. “Our associates will be completing their temporary store assignments over the next few weeks and returning to the Cielo Vista location in early October to help prepare their store to serve the community again.”

About 93% of the hundreds of workers at the store were assigned to temporary jobs at multiple locations across the city following the Aug. 3 mass shooting.

The renovated Cielo Vista store will include a permanent on-site memorial honoring the shooting victims and “convey a message of unity,” Hargrove explained, indicating that Walmart was in the process of finalizing design plans for that memorial.

“We look forward to sharing additional details about the store’s re-opening and construction of the memorial in the coming weeks,” he said.

The announcement from Walmart comes on the heels of a ruling by an El Paso judge allowing lawyers for a couple injured in the shooting attack to briefly inspect the store site as part of a lawsuit against the retailer alleging lack of security.

Hargrove said that suit would not impact the timeline for reopening the store.

“The court has consistently denied the plaintiffs’ request to halt construction on our store and nothing has changed with that,” he said.