Walmart plans to build or convert more than 150 stores over the next five years while continuing its program to remodel existing stores. Additionally, over the next 12 months 650 stores will be remodeled across 47 states and Puerto Rico.
In announcing the news, Walmart U.S. President and CEO John Furner placed a heavy emphasis on the job creation that will accompany these initiatives, pointing out that in addition to the “tens of thousands” of jobs that will be created in support of these infrastructure projects, each new location will also bring hundreds of new jobs to each store’s community.
“We directly employ approximately 1.6 million people in this country and support many more jobs beyond that,” said Furner in a blog post. “Today, I’m proud to announce our support for even more jobs by expanding and modernizing the facilities most core to our business: our stores. These efforts represent millions of dollars in capital investment of labor, supplies and tax revenue, which benefit their respective communities. And they’ll help us reach and serve even more customers.”
The first two new stores to open under the initiative will both be Neighborhood Markets, making their debuts this spring in Santa Rosa Beach, Fla. and Atlanta. Furner said the company also is finalizing construction plans on 12 additional projects that will be started this year, as well as the conversion of one smaller store into a Walmart Supercenter. The specific locations of these 13 additional projects were not shared.
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All of the new and remodeled stores will reflect Walmart’s “Store of the Future” concept, which features improved layouts, expanded product selections and new technology to help associates better support customers and make the shopping experience more convenient. All the new facilities also will include more energy-efficient equipment and lighting, lower-impact refrigerants and other sustainability features.
Finally, Furner pointed to Walmart’s ongoing effort to develop a coast-to-coast network of affordable electric vehicle (EV) fast-charging stations, implying that at least some of the new locations would include this feature as well.
These latest announcements follow Walmart’s previous investment of more than $500 million in store remodels. In October 2023, Walmart hosted “grand re-openings” for 117 locations across 30 states. Separately, Walmart Canada announced that it had invested nearly $1 billion on store modernizations in FY 2023, which ended Jan. 31, 2024.
