EVERGREEN PARK, Ill., Jan. 26 (UPI) -- Wal-Mart says a record 25,000 people applied for 325 jobs at a new store opening Friday in Evergreen Park, Ill., one block west of Chicago's city limits.
All but 500 of the job applicants listed Chicago addresses on their applications, the Chicago Sun-Times said.
"In our typical hiring process, you're pretty successful if you have 3,000 applicants," John Bisco, regional manager of public affairs for Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart, told the newspaper. "They were really crowing about 11,000 in Oakland, Calif., last year. So to get 25,000-plus applicants and counting. I think it is astonishing."
Chicago alderman Howard Bookins, who wanted a Wal-Mart for a development in his South Side ward, says the location of the store is the same as having Wal-Mart in the city -- but that Evergreen Park not Chicago -- gets the tax revenue.
Wal-Mart donated $35,000 to the southwest suburb's library, a hospital, churches and village institutions Tuesday night. Chicago's first Wal-Mart store is being built in the West Side Austin neighborhood.
