Walmart to Spend $200M on Florida Store Openings, Remodels

ORLANDO—Walmart Inc. reports it will spend approximately $200 million on new store openings and existing store remodeling projects in the Sunshine State this year.

The mega discount retailer plans six new store openings in Florida, including three in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale region, two in Jacksonville and one in Central Florida. The company will also open a new distribution center in the city of Cocoa later this year.

Walmart also expects to remodel 43 stores as well as rollout the addition of online grocery pickup at some Florida locations and the introduction of Mobile Express Scan & Go services.

The capital investment in Florida is part of an approximately $11-billion nationwide spending plan during fiscal year 2019 by Walmart. Elise Vasquez-Warner, a vice president and regional general manager for Walmart in Florida, says, “Customers have told us they want the convenience of shopping how, when and where they want. And, here in Florida, we’ll achieve that by building off the momentum we had last year, accelerating the rollout of customer-centered innovations, creating more than 1,000 jobs this year alone, and maintaining a sharp focus on improving our store experience.”

In the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area, Walmart plans to open its Neighborhood Market brand locations in Coral Way West, Naranja and Pompano. A Neighborhood Market is also in the works in Apoka outside of Orlando and in Jacksonville, where Walmart also intends to open a Supercenter location in 2018.

In terms of remodeling projects, Walmart has 12 remodeling projects in Central Florida and another dozen in Tampa Bay in the pipeline or under construction. The retailer has four renovation projects planned in Miami-Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, with three more in Jacksonville, and one each in the Panhandle and Southwest Florida.

Other capital initiatives in the works in Florida include the addition of 80 new grocery pickup locations at area stores in the coming year, which will bring that service’s availability to more than 180 Walmart Florida locations.

Walmart says it is exploring opportunities to expand the Mobile Express Scan & Go service to other Florida locations. At present, Mobile Express is offered at all 49 Florida Sam’s Clubs and was recently launched at more than 10 Florida Walmart stores.

The retailer will also be looking to expand its Pickup Tower service that allow customers to pick up their online orders in less than a minute by scanning a bar code sent to their smartphone. The service is currently available at more than 15 Florida Walmart stores.

According to published reports, Walmart intends to remodel 500 stores and open 20 new stores nationwide. The company is targeting significant capital—approximately $277 million—on a plan to open four new locations and remodel 45 existing stores in Texas.

Other states where Walmart intends to spend significant capital, according to Supermarket News include, California ($145 million), and Ohio where 27 planned remodeling projects this year will cost an estimated $94 million.