Walmart Focusing on Smaller Stores

Walmart Stores Inc. (Bentonville, Ark.) says it plans to move into urban markets with a new small store format. The world’s largest retailer spent the summer hunting for small locations, roughly 20,000 square feet, reports the Associated Press.

“They're on an aggressive roll,” Faith Hope Consolo, chairwoman of real estate firm Prudential Douglas Elliman's retail leasing division, told the AP. “This is a creative time. Everyone is thinking out of the box.”

Walmart introduced its smaller Marketside format in 2008, which average 15,000 square feet and focus on fresh food. It also operates 200 Neighborhood Market by Walmart stores, which offer a mix of fresh food, pharmacy, beauty, stationary and pet supplies within the 42,000-square-foot format. In contrast, Walmart supercenters are roughly 195,000 square feet.

The company, which operates more than 4000 stores in the U.S., has reported five straight quarterly declines in revenue at stores opened at least a year.