“Right now we’re taking in product, filling shelves and finishing up fixtures,” co-manager George Reyes said.

The new 185,000-square-foot location will take on more than 500 employees once all the wheels are in motion, making it the largest Walmart employer in McHenry County, Reyes added.

“Everybody’s really excited,” Reyes said. “We’ve been having team meetings and associate meetings with anywhere from 100 to 200 employees a day.”

The store will offer a full selection of groceries, a drive-through pharmacy, and general merchandise. Though an auto store had been mentioned in the past, Reyes said, there will be no such facility.

The village of Johnsburg also is looking forward to the new business brought in by the “Supercenter.”

The village estimated in a budget presentation earlier in the year that Walmart sales tax revenue could give the village an extra $200,000 for the 2012 budget year, reflecting sales tax collections for a partial year based upon an anticipated fall opening. Village Administrator Claudett Peters said that future projections will depend on the numbers they see over time once the store has been opened.

“We’ve been waiting for this day,” Village President Ed Hettermann said. “Long term it’s the start of a great future for the village. It started with Shops at the Fox River and JC Penney, and this just expands it. For quite a few years, residents have been asking us to expand the commercial tax base. It took us some new infrastructure to do it, but we invested in that and we’re finally realizing some of the payoff.”