Walmart will add 150 stores in the United States over the next five years, a major expansion drive for the retail giant.
The company, which announced the move in a statement on Wednesday, said would involve millions of dollars in investment. Walmart employs roughly 1.6 million people in the United States, and said it hires hundreds of people each time it opens a new store.
Walmart had just over 4,600 stores nationwide at the end of October 2023, down from more than 4,700 a year earlier. The company has not opened a new U.S. store since late 2021.
Most of the stores Walmart plans to open will be newly built, while others will be conversions of existing locations to new formats. The first two new stores will open in the spring, in Florida and Georgia, and the company is finalizing construction plans for 12 other stores this year. It also said it would remodel 650 locations.
Walmart announced this week that it was raising salaries and benefits for store managers and offering them stock grants.
The company reported sharply higher profit in the first three quarters of 2023, and its share price is hovering near a record high.
Consumer spending, which powers the U.S. economy, has been resilient even though shoppers have been squeezed by high inflation and rising interest rates. Credit card data from the holiday season showed retail sales increased from a year earlier.
Jordyn Holman contributed reporting.