Discount juggernaut Walmart plans to remodel more than 650 stores across the United States this year, modernizing its fleet by adding better displays to showcase merchandise, expanding its online pickup-and-delivery services, and offering more items.
The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer on Wednesday unveiled details of its nationwide remodeling and investment efforts, announcing exactly which of its locations will be refreshed. Texas will have the most store remodels, 67, followed by California with 56, a Walmart spokesman said in an email to CoStar News. He added that he couldn't provide a total for the cost of the 2025 remodels, but that each one is a multimillion-dollar project.
During and in the wake of the pandemic, Walmart said it's been attracting higher-income shoppers looking for bargains on groceries, and it wants to retain those more affluent patrons and coax them into also buying higher-margin discretionary items. Over two years ago, Walmart began updating stores, in part, by spotlighted and displayed nongrocery merchandise such as apparel and home goods, similar to what Target does. And that's part of the game plan now. Walmart, with 4,605 U.S. stores, has also been beefing up its e-commerce capabilities to compete with giant Amazon.
The retailer said its store updates will include:
- "Big, bold signage" and new displays to better showcase merchandise.
- More selection, with expanded departments and new items.
- Expanding online pickup and delivery to fulfill the rising number of online customer orders.
- Rethinking its pharmacies with wider aisles, new private screening rooms, and privacy checkout areas.
"The work we're doing to expand our assortment is another reason for our growth, as more customers are finding what they're looking for," Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillon said during an earnings call in February.
In the Lone Star State, the store remodels include seven locations in San Antonio, five in Houston, and two in Dallas-Fort Worth. Prior to this year, Walmart said it invested over $2.6 billion to upgrade stores in Texas in the past five years.
Walmart previously announced it was building three new Texas Supercenters in Cypress, Frisco, and Melissa. The Cypress store is slated to open next week, with the Frisco and Melissa stores scheduled in the fall. And in spring next year, a new Supercenter will be coming to Celina.
In California, the 57 remodels span most of the state, including stores in San Jose, Sacramento, Mountain View, Bakersfield, and Modesto. Walmart previously said it was building a new Supercenter in Eastville.
The retailer will be revamping 41 stores in North Carolina, with three of them in Charlotte, and others in cities such as Cary, Fayetteville, Asheville, Winston-Salem, and Durham.
Florida will have 34 store remodels, including two each in Miami and Delray Beach, as well as in Tallahassee, Orlando, Jupiter, and Daytona Beach. In addition, two new Walmart Neighborhood Market stores, in Milton and Pace, are slated to open later this year. Prior to 2025, Walmart invested more than $1.6 billion to modernize stores throughout the Sunshine State in the past five years.
There are store upgrades planned for 23 stores each in New York and Ohio. The 20 remodels scheduled for Georgia include three store upgrades in Augusta and two in Savannah. Prior to 2025, Walmart said it spent $1.1 billion to upgrade stores in the Peach State in the past five years.
In New Jersey, the four planned remodels include converting a Walmart store in East Windsor into a Supercenter. The Garden State already has several stores with the revamped format, including its Supercenters in North Bergen, Teterboro, and Secaucus.