A Wal-Mart Superstore is set to open in Scarborough by the end of the month – nearly a year after the company had originally planned to open the store.

The Wal-Mart Superstore, which takes the place of the existing Wal-Mart, the first in Maine, will open to the public at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 29.

Along with Scarborough town officials and chamber of commerce members, the Wal-Mart on Gallery Boulevard will have a 7 a.m. ceremony with the doors opening 30 minutes later.

“It’s ready to happen,” said Jeff Vaillancourt, store manager.

The new store was scheduled to open in June 2008, but problems with the soil and a lengthy permitting process delayed the opening, said Harvey Rosenfeld, executive director of the Scarborough Economic Development Corporation.

The Department of Environmental Protection permit was issued in August 2007, but the soil, which was soft, sank about 3 feet below the base of the store. That delayed construction as workers needed to make sure the soil was firm enough to support the foundation, Rosenfeld said.

The soil finally stopped sinking, and construction began last summer. Scarborough approved the project in 2005.

The new Wal-Mart is about 212,000 square feet. The existing building is about 80,000 square feet, according to Fogelman.

“It’s going to be good for the Payne Road area,” Rosenfeld said. “It also opens up the old Wal-Mart store for new business.”

The old building will be put up for sale, but the list price is not known yet, said Wal-Mart spokesman Dan Fogelman.

“That is our plan right now,” he said. “We definitely want to sell that building in the near future.”

Ninety days after the opening of the new store, the existing store will shut down for good.

“It will be exciting to see what happens with the old store,” Rosenfeld said. “It definitely opens up more opportunities in that area.”

The new Wal-Mart will also bring in about 200 more jobs, Vaillancourt said.

The existing store has about 100 employees, and the company advertised for 200 new positions, Vaillancourt said. Wal-Mart received 450 applications for the openings.

“We might need more employees depending on how we do in the first few months,” Vaillancourt said.

The new store will offer one-stop shopping, Vaillancourt said. The existing Wal-Mart sells retail goods, including electronics, sports and limited dry food items. Superstores have a full grocery section, coffee shops, butcher shops, delis, and expanded arts and crafts sections.

“This will definitely offer more items to the customer,” Vaillancourt said.”

The existing Wal-Mart opened in 1992 and was the first in Maine, Vaillancourt said.

According to the company’s Web site, the first Wal-Mart opened in 1962 in Rogers, Ark. Now, the company has 7,800 stores worldwide and employs about 2 million workers. It serves about 176 million customers annually.

There are 27 Wal-Marts in Maine.