Walmart Canada abandons plans to open Quebec fulfillment centre, will upgrade stores instead

Walmart Canada says it is abandoning plans to open a new fulfillment centre in Quebec. The company was slated to spend $100 million on the facility expected to open this year.

The 57,000 sq ft facility was supposed to be a brand new delivery hub for online orders in Quebec and Atlantic Canada.

Walmart Canada senior director of external and internal communications and corporate affairs Sarah Kennedy tells Grocery Business the company will instead focus on accelerating the upgrade of its stores across Canada, including Quebec.

“We are committed to investing in Quebec. Instead of moving forward with the opening of the previously announced fulfillment centre facility in Vaudreuil-Dorion, we’ve decided to accelerate upgrades to our existing network including our Quebec stores to unlock more omni capacities to better serve the growing needs of our local Quebec customers. By the end of our next fiscal year, we plan to invest about $100M to upgrade 8 stores within the province.”

She says Walmart Canada believes it can better serve and fulfill orders for its Quebec customers with the acceleration of upgrades to its existing network.

Walmart Canada has been in Quebec since 1994 and the province has 73 stores and more than 14,000 employees. Kennedy says the company has invested more than $120 million in Quebec store upgrades over the past two years.

“Earlier this year, we celebrated the grand opening of the Marché Central Walmart Supercentre in Montreal, a 140,000 sq ft store, marking a $20 million investment. We purchased approximately $3.5 billion worth of products from more than 480 Quebec-based suppliers last year.”