The biggest retailer in the country is expanding - and getting a facelift.
Walmart announced this week that it plans to open around 20 new stores and remodel 650 existing locations from 2026 to 2027. The wide-ranging initiative is meant to improve the “make shopping faster and more convenient for our customers,” the company said in a statement, and grow the brand’s massive 4,611-store footprint in the United States.
Better integration of Walmart’s app into shoppers’ in-store experience is part of the remodeling plans, too, industry news and analysis site Retail Dive reported.
“As it races to compete with Amazon, Walmart is revamping its stores to serve omnichannel demand,” Retail Dive noted. “Shoppers using the Walmart app can get help navigating stores, scan labels to see pricing information and use the Walmart Pay tool.”
The company did not say where all 20 stores are located but did note one future superstore location - Celina, Texas. Four super centers have already opened this year in Eastvale, California, and three Florida cities: Apollo Beach, Jacksonville and The Villages.
Remodeled stores will now have wider aisles, updated vision centers and pharmacies, refreshed interiors and exteriors, and improved parking, the company noted.
Walmart’s coming store openings and overhauls are part of a five-year plan it launched in 2024 to open or convert 150 stores and remodel hundreds more.
April has been a month of transformation for the retailer. In addition to announcing new stores and remodels, the company refreshed its logo for the first time in more than a decade.
The change is a significant one for the U.S. retail market, International Supermarket News observed Tuesday.
“The decision by Walmart to modernize its flagship private label range marks a significant moment in the evolution of global retail branding,” it wrote. “With its Great Value line touching the majority of American households, any change carries weight - not only for the retailer itself, but for the wider industry observing the next phase of private label competition.”
Walmart isn’t the only retailer looking to expand its presence in the U.S.
Walmart’s biggest traditional grocery store rival, Kroger, announced earlier this year it plans to build or has started to build seven new superstore (groceries and merchandise) locations in Indiana, Texas and West Virginia in the next two years, according to industry news outlet Grocery Dive.
Target, the eighth-biggest retailer in the country and another Walmart competitor, announced in March that it plans to open more than 30 stores this year, part of the company’s $5 billion capital investment plan for 2026.