Wal-Mart Stores plans to add 500 stores by February 2006, about half of them supercenters selling groceries.
Wal-Mart will open 240 to 250 supercenters; about 160 of the supercenters will involve expansion or relocation of existing discount stores. The other 80 to 90 will be new construction. That will bring Wal-Mart’s total to 1,865 supercenters.
The Bentonville, AR-based retailer also will add 40 to 45 discount stores (to 1,387 stores now open); 30 to 40 Sam’s Clubs (20 of them expansions or relocations among its existing 542 clubs); and 25 to 30 Neighborhood Markets (75 are open now). Another 360 stores and clubs will be remodeled.
Wal-Mart International will add 155 to 165 stores in existing markets in nine countries. Thirty will involve expansion or relocation of existing stores; the rest will be new. Wal-Mart operates 1,520 stores in nine countries.
The additions boost Wal-Mart’s retail space 8% to 707 million square feet of selling space.
Also on the drawing board: three new regional general-merchandise distribution centers and three new food distribution centers by Feb. 1 2006, the end of Wal-Mart’s fiscal 2005. The six centers will add a total of five million square feet of distribution space.
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