Walmart Buys a Mall

Walmart (Bentonville, Ark.) has become a mall owner, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The big-box retailer confirmed to the newspaper that it bought the two-level, super-regional Monroeville Mall – whose biggest claim to fame previously was as the setting for the 1978 zombie classic movie, “Dawn of the Dead” – which is about 12 miles east of Pittsburgh.

Mark Rickel, Walmart Corporate Communications Director, told the PP-G that Walmart is “looking forward to being part of the redevelopment of that site.”

Asked if a Walmart store is part of those plans, Rickel told the paper that “it’s too early in this process” to say. He noted, however, that as of now, there’s no Walmart in Monroeville. In the mall’s current configuration, it has two main anchors at opposite ends – Macy’s Inc. and Dick’s Sporting Goods – and about 100 other stores.

The newspaper noted that previous owner CBL Properties had earlier disclosed it had sold the mall in a $34 million all-cash deal, but that the news release from the Tennessee-based mall owner did not name the buyer at that time.

In its coverage of the news, CNBC reported that Walmart’s purchase is an example of the unexpected ways that malls are being redeveloped and repurposed. Shopping centers have added new restaurants, turned former stores into apartments or gotten demolished for completely new uses, as mall anchors like Sears and Macy’s have scaled back their store fleets.

In addition, CNBC noted that Walmart’s previous deals have been more retail-related, such as its $3.3 billion acquisition of e-commerce startup Jet.com and smart TV maker Vizio for $2.3 billion.