Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times

The newly revamped Walmart in Rocky Mount features wider aisles, shorter shelves and a blue, green and yellow color scheme.

ROCKY MOUNT -- The walls are an eye-catching yellow and green. The shelves are low. The aisles are wide.

Is this Walmart?

It's an improved, contemporary look, according to representatives for the world's largest retailer. Frequent Walmart shopper Jane Spence of Wirtz said it works for her.

"When people stop and talk in the aisles, you can now get around them," said Spence, who picked out shiny apples in the produce section at Walmart's Rocky Mount store Wednesday.

Open aisles, free of bins piled high with merchandise, and shelves reduced about 2 feet in height are some of the major changes of this five-year Walmart redesign that's spanning the majority of its stores nationwide.

So far, Walmart Supercenters in Rocky Mount, Bedford and Bonsack have been remodeled for this contemporary look. The timetable for redesigns at other Walmarts in the Roanoke and New River valleys has not yet been announced.

Some features of this top-to-bottom redesign include shorter shelves, a bright blue, yellow and green color scheme, wider aisles, more signs and some department swaps.

It may not be a coincidence that many of these new features, such as eye-level shelving, mirror Walmart's competitor, Target, a discount chain known for its trendy design and merchandise mix.

"Target has been a genius at doing different color coding and creating zones," said Margie Johnson, a Virginia Beach-based retail consultant.

She advises retailers to encourage shoppers to linger longer by using bright colors and eye-catching displays. After all, Johnson believes that 80 percent of buying is done on emotion, not logic.

At the Rocky Mount Walmart, many of the latest alterations were done with shoppers' convenience in mind.

The aisles were expanded by more than a foot, to about 7.5 feet from 6 feet.

The women's clothing section relocated close to the front of the store, adjacent to the groceries. That's convenient for female customers who are shopping for groceries, said Rick Helton, interim store manager at the Rocky Mount Walmart.

"Ladies make the shopping decisions," he said.

Workers also removed a wall that hid the store's bakery in order to open up that area.

And the electronics department grew significantly. Flat-screen televisions line a wall in the back of the Rocky Mount store where the fabrics section once was located. Walmart has eliminated the fabric sections in all of its remodeled stores, Helton said.

Work began at the Rocky Mount store in late August and was mostly complete this week, except for some last-minute tweaks, such as replacing faulty floor tiles. On Wednesday, work crews marked the faulty white tiles with black X's for replacement throughout the 149,000-square-foot store.

Walmart spokeswoman Amy Wyatt-Moore did not know the cost of each store remodel, though Helton said the investment was several million dollars in Rocky Mount.

For 10 weeks, this 24-hour retailer shut its doors at midnight and reopened at 6 a.m. to allow time for painting ceilings, replacing tile floors and swapping out store counters with new styles.

Walmart used local contractors for some of the construction work and hired 65 temporary employees.

Helton, who has pulled 14-hour days, stopped in at 2 a.m. some mornings to check on the progress.

Are all of these changes worth the time and money?

They make a difference, because attracting consumers with bright colors and orderly displays is key in retail, Johnson said.

"Basically the eyes lead the feet," she said.

Also, shoppers tend to buy items that are placed at least 30 inches off the floor, at eye level, she said.

And a roomy atmosphere is essential. People won't stay in one space too long if they feel boxed in, Johnson said.

"Sometimes you have to give up some real estate to make the aisles wider," she said.

Even so, some of Walmart's changes are a headache for customers who must learn a new shopping routine.

"I like it, if I can ever learn where everything is," said Barbara Brooks of Glade Hill, who commented on the Rocky Mount Walmart remodeling while she shopped for groceries there Wednesday.

Initially, she had a hard time finding cranberry juice, which was shifted to the back of the store.

"I used to get in here and get out in a few minutes," she said.