Walmart will celebrate the reopening of 117 stores nationwide this Friday, after closing them to modernize some brick-and-mortar locations. The celebration, dubbed “Second Best Day,” is the largest single-day rollout of reopenings in the company’s history.
The retail chain invested over half a billion dollars into improving the stores and plans to renovate more than 700 stores before the end of 2023.
According to the chief executive officer of Walmart U.S., John Furner, the retail chain plans to invest more than $9 billion over two years to continue upgrading more than 1,400 stores nationwide.
“With nearly 90 percent of the U.S. population living within 10 miles of a Walmart, we understand how important our local stores are to customers and communities, and these construction investments allow us to create more local jobs and make it easier for our associates to get customers what they want when they want it,” Furner said in a statement.
Each Walmart store has improved its layouts, expanded product selections, and implemented technology to support customers better and make shopping more convenient. Shoppers can now grab a quick meal or drink in Walmart’s grocery sections, utilize the QR codes and digital screens around the stores to learn more about a product or Walmart’s services and the retail chain even implemented “mother’s rooms,” a private area where mothers can nurse their young children.
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To refocus on the retail chain’s commitment to deals, the company has also implemented a new dollar shop in its renovated locations. There, customers have the option to purchase seasonally relevant products for inexpensive prices.
The reopening and modernizing of some of its locations is part of Walmart’s Signature Experience program that focuses on improving customer experience in the company’s brick-and-mortar stores. The emphasis on enhancing experiential retail has long been a focus for many retail chains after a lack of in-store shopping during the Covid-19 pandemic when online purchases were at a high.
Other retail companies are also focused on improving their in-store shopping experience, like luxury brand Tiffany’s, which reopened its flagship location on Fifth Avenue in New York City, New York, and retail brand Century 21, which reopened its flagship location on Cortlandt Street, New York City, New York. Both stores reopened their flagship locations in May of this year.
Research by the commercial real estate firm Westfield found that 81 percent of shoppers will spend more in retail stores that offer rich shopping experiences.
Walmart plans to continue modernizing its stores across the country in 2024.
