Friday, March 18, 2011

Main Streets may feel the impact of new Wal-Marts, yet again…

This note is from Doug Loescher, Director of the National Trust Main Street Center...


Wal-Mart plans to add hundreds of smaller stores in next three years in urban neighborhoods and rural downtowns.

According to Chain Store News, Wal-Mart Stores announced that it would open “hundreds” of smaller-format stores over the next three years. According to Bill Simon, president and CEO of Wal-Mart U.S., the ramped-up development could be augmented by some acquisition activity, although he didn’t elaborate on specifics. The retailer had said it planned to open 30 to 40 smaller units this year in rural and urban areas and that there were “thousands” of potential sites in the U.S. Earlier, Wal-Mart announced it would build its first three smaller-format Express stores, the first of which is slated to open on Chicago’s South Side this summer.

The new stores will include mid-sized Neighborhood Market locations of 30,000-60,000 sq. ft. and the rest will be smaller, Simon said at the investor conference. The Neighborhood Market concept will be renamed “Walmart Market.” Simon said the retailer will introduce more stores on university campuses, and that there are “there are hundreds, if not thousands of opportunities in the U.S.” for the smaller-format stores.

Doug

Doug Loescher
Director, National Trust Main Street Center

National Trust for Historic Preservation
1785 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20036

Phone: 202.588.6241
doug_loescher@nthp.org
http://www.mainstreet.org/
http://www.preservationnation.org/

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