Discount powerhouse Walmart plans to open roughly 20 new stores this year, more than double 2025, as well as to remodel over 650 locations.
The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer, with about 4,600 namesake stores in the United States, on Thursday unveiled its 2026 rollout schedule for updating its brick-and-mortar fleet. Store improvements include wider aisles, updated layouts and more displays spotlighting merchandise.
The chain, which aims to continue drawing more affluent shoppers, declined to say how much it is spending on the new stores and remodels.
Walmart is following through on a plan it announced in early 2024, when it committed to opening or expanding more than 150 locations while updating stores already in its portfolio over the next five years. A few years before that, Walmart had put the brakes on store expansion in the face of competition from Amazon. The online behemoth surpassed Walmart this year as the largest U.S. retailer by revenue.
In 2022 and 2023, Walmart started testing store updates that included highlighting nongrocery merchandise such as apparel and home goods with displays the way that discounter Target does. Walmart has seen a surge in business from middle- and higher-income shoppers who are pinching pennies on food purchases because of inflation and higher gas prices. Walmart said it wanted to keep those patrons and coax them into buying higher-margin discretionary items at its stores, such as clothing.
There are around 20 new-store grand openings scheduled for this year and early 2027, according to Walmart. The retailer has already debuted several locations this year, including Walmart Supercenters in Eastvale, California; and Apollo Beach, Jacksonville and The Villages, all in Florida. A Walmart Neighborhood Market — a smaller, community-focused grocery store that offers quick and convenient shopping — also opened in Ocala, Florida.
More growth is slated for later this year, including an expansion of the Supercenter in Tucson, Arizona, and the opening of a Supercenter in Celina, Texas.
Last year Walmart launched nine new stores across Alabama, California, Florida, New Jersey, Texas and Utah.
The scheduled store remodels will take place at Supercenters and Neighborhood Markets.
Walmart plans to revamp 72 stores in Texas this year, where it said it has already invested $2.5 billion statewide over the past five years to upgrade its locations. Florida will see 58 stores remodeled, on top of Walmart spending $1.5 billion statewide over the past five years on such improvements.
In California, 56 stores will be remodeled this year, Walmart said. Over the past five years, the retailer has invested more than $1.1 billion to upgrade stores throughout the Golden State. In Mississippi, 19 Walmart stores will be remodeled, with many other states seeing upgrades of 10 to 13 stores within their borders.
In addition to wider aisles and better layouts, the changes will include expanded pickup and delivery services; updated vision centers and pharmacies with private consultation rooms; new digital touchpoints, using QR codes and digital screens to tell customers about the products and services Walmart offers online; and refreshed interiors and exteriors with modern signage, improved parking and fresh landscaping.
Many of the Neighborhood Markets will be offering expanded deli and hot bar selections, get improved lighting and fixtures, and have pharmacy delivery options as well as upgraded areas for fulfilling online grocery orders.
Walmart also touted how its app is making in-store and online shopping into a seamless experience as part of its digital touchpoints.
The app enables customers to find items quickly with aisle locations and store maps; scan items to check prices and view in-store rollbacks; pay quickly with Walmart Pay or use Scan & Go for an even faster in-store experience; choose pickup or delivery to their doors; and reorder essentials, refill prescriptions and schedule appointments for pharmacy, auto care or wireless services directly in the app.
Today Walmart says it can reach 95% of U.S. households with delivery in three hours or less.