Walmart plans to accelerate the opening of its mid-sized Walmart Market stores, said US stores chief Bill Simon.Walmart will open 90 to 100 of the stores in the year ending in January, and have 300 by fiscal 2013, Simon said yesterday at the William Blair & Co. Growth Stock Conference in Chicago. The stores are roughly the size of typical supermarkets at about 42,000 sq ft.
Walmart is expanding the format because its return on investment in those stores, which now number 185, is comparable to that of its larger supercenters, he said. Chief Executive Officer Mike Duke is looking for ways to spur growth as surging gasoline prices curb some customers’ shopping trips.
Simon reiterated that Walmart expects to post positive comparable-store sales in the US by the end of the year.
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