For the past month and a half, Trish Kovalenko’s mother has been helping set out the merchandize that fills 173,000 square feet at Columbia’s newest Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Parker Eshelman photo

Sophia, 4, shows her mom, Trish Kovalenko, dolls at the newly built Wal-Mart Supercenter on West Broadway. Sophia’s grandmother, Mary, is a cashier at the store, which was open for a preview last night for associates and their families. The store will open to the public Wednesday, five years after plans for the controversial Supercenter were announced.

Last night, Kovalenko and her family were checking out her mother’s work at a preview of the store for Wal-Mart associates and their families.

The Supercenter opens for everyone else Wednesday morning. It will employ about 400 people.

The store showcases Wal-Mart’s latest, most sophisticated look. Flat-screen plasma TVs hang from ceilings that sport skylights. The flooring alternates between amber-colored, polished concrete and honey-colored hardwood floors. The merchandise itself is set up less like a warehouse and more like a high-end store: In home decor, for example, aisle ends feature decorated nooks to give shoppers ideas for pairing candle holders, table-runners and vases.

"This is our most modern incarnation, if you will," said store Manager Tim Birk. "Everything in this store is the latest and greatest."

From the store’s brick façade to its organic produce section, the message seems clear: Wal-Mart is getting classier.

"We’re not trying to step away from our traditional shopper," Birk said, noting that the Wal-Mart’s main draw is still low prices. "We’ve taken a lot of criticism in how we present our merchandise.

"We’ve definitely been passed up by more upscale shoppers in the past. We’re trying to get them back."

The Wal-Mart on West Broadway very nearly had a very different look.

Since plans for it were first discussed in 2001, the development has been mired in controversy.

In 2005, the shopping center’s developers threatened to build a generic, blue, gray and red Wal-Mart if the Columbia City Council did not agree to allow more commercial zoning on the property. The center’s developers - Stan Kroenke, Otto Maly and Michael Stanberg - had 23 acres at Fairview Road and West Broadway, which long had been open pasture. But only 17 of those acres were zoned for commercial use.

The zoning issue gave the council leverage to make design demands and mobilized neighbors and other Columbia residents who didn’t want another Supercenter, especially one so close to the Park de Ville neighborhood and nearby schools.

Ultimately, Wal-Mart’s developers got the zoning they desired and the council got concessions it wanted, including 22 "conditions" that include a ban on fast-food restaurants with drive-through windows. The Supercenter has a Subway inside.

Dave Evans, president of the Park de Ville Neighborhood Association, plans to check out the store this week. He’s still not happy about it - he worries it will bring crime and traffic to the area - but he said he will shop there occasionally.

"It’s a block from my house," he said. "I still think it overwhelms the property and the neighborhood. It’s just too big."

Whether Wal-Mart’s image is going upscale, however, is in the eye of the beholder. The fancy floors and skylights don’t amount to much for Kovalenko. "It looks just like any other Wal-Mart," she said.

She has more practical concerns. A nearby resident and regular shopper at Hy-Vee across the street, Kovalenko wonders whether the nearby competition will force Hy-Vee to drop its prices.

Is she more loyal to one than the other?

"They’re all just big stores," she said. "It’s all the same thing to me."

The Wal-Mart on West Broadway is replacing a smaller store at the former Biscayne Mall, located next to The Kroenke Group’s Shoppes at Stadium. That store will close tomorrow evening and eventually will be razed, although a Wal-Mart spokeswoman would not comment on the timeline for its demolition.

Meanwhile another Supercenter, at Grindstone Plaza next to Kohl’s, is under construction and is slated for completion early next year.