WALMART TO OPEN UP TO 300 STORES SERVING USDA FOOD DESERTS BY 2016

Walmart announced that it will open between 275-300 stores serving the Department of Agriculture (USDA) designated food desert areas between now and 2016. These estimates are based on the company’s current real estate plans. These stores, in both urban and rural areas, will provide access to groceries for more than 800,000 people living in food deserts.

Since 2007, the company has opened 218 stores serving food deserts. The projected new and existing locations, totaling about 500 stores, will provide access to fresh and healthy food in more than 700 food deserts and will serve approximately 1.3 million people living in these areas. To be included in this figure, a person must both live in a USDA designated food desert area and be within one mile of an urban Walmart or within ten miles of a rural Walmart store.

Many areas classified as food deserts are also job deserts. More than 40,000 associates will work in these stores once they are open. These full- and part-time jobs will provide competitive wages and the opportunity to build a career with the company.

The stores announced today have already undergone Walmart’s rigorous process for new store development and include store openings and expansions. The final number of stores will depend on local market conditions. Additionally, today’s announcement does not include stores yet to be considered through the company’s real estate process or stores to be built in Walmart’s new small format, Walmart Express. Walmart Express stores are designed to serve urban and rural areas and will likely address food deserts, but their locations are still in the evaluation process.