Walmart Opens Two New Neighborhood Market Prototypes

Walmart (Bentonville, Ark.) has taken the wraps off two next-generation iterations of its Neighborhood Markets chain. Details on the pair of new stores were provided by Kyle Kinnard, Senior VP of the markets unit, in a blog on the Walmart site.

“Since 1998, Walmart customers have looked to the convenience of Neighborhood Markets to get what they need,” Kinnard wrote. “A smaller size meets a stellar assortment, creating a store that places the community at its very center. And that’s not changing.

“In fact, Walmart recently committed to opening or converting more than 150 stores in the next five years – with the Neighborhood Market format set to benefit. Two new stores, one in the Dune Lakes area of Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., the other in the Vine City neighborhood of Atlanta, are the first to open under the new initiative.

“The stores aren’t just new or remodeled. They’re also bigger. With 57,000 square feet of salesfloor and pickup and delivery space, the Dune Lakes and Vine City stores will have a footprint that’s about 17,000 square feet larger than the average Neighborhood Market. The expanded space will allow us to sharpen our focus on value, speed and convenience.”

“…The updated stores also feature wider aisles to give customers more room to shop and make navigating our stores easier than it already is. Our customers have busy lives, so one of our goals with the new layout is to help them find what they need even more quickly and easily – whether they choose to shop with us in-store or online.”

“…As we remodel, convert and build new stores, we are being thoughtful about how to make our Neighborhood Markets right-sized for each community. We continually evaluate all our stores to make sure they have the right assortment and services to match our customers’ expectations.”
Walmart currently has about 675 Neighborhood Markets in the U.S. It also operates more than 3500 Walmart Supercenters in the market with an average footprint of 182,000 square feet.