Walmart to invest nearly $1B in store network

Walmart Canada plans to invest close to $1 billion this fiscal year as part of a multi-year plan to modernize its stores and enhance the customer shopping experience.

The plan includes unveiling what the big box retailer is calling its “store of the future” in Mississauga, Ont. and investing more than $300 million in store remodels and renovations.

The latest news builds on the retailer’s planned five-year $3.5 billion investment it announced in 2020 to enhance the online and in-store shopping experience. 

At the store level, Walmart says it will upgrade 55 locations across the country this year, which will include extensive store refurbishments. For its e-commerce business, the retailer plans to invest in facilities that will help get products to Canadians faster. Earlier this year it opened its first distribution centre in Atlantic Canada and in 2022, it opened a $110 million high-tech sortable fulfillment centre near Calgary, Alta.

During the opening of its first distribution centre in Atlantic Canada in May of 2023, Gonzalo Gebara, president and CEO, Walmart Canada stated “we’re strengthening our best-in-class supply chain network with distribution centres from coast-to-coast to ensure product gets into the hands of our customers even faster. We take great pride seeing our associates, customers and communities benefit from these investments in the form of jobs, better product availability and economic impact.”

And Walmart plans to continue to invest in its retail network in 2024 and beyond, says Gebara.

“Walmart Canada has an ambition to be the most trusted retailer for Canadians. This is what we’ve worked towards for the last 30 years and it’s why we continue to invest, including nearly $1 billion this year, to build an even more efficient, consistent, and reliable omnichannel experience for Canadians.”