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Walmart Plans Estimated $71.8 Million in Arizona Store Improvements and Innovations in 2019

WMT | April 10, 2019

Walmart Plans Estimated $71.8 Million in Arizona Store Improvements and Innovations in 2019

Arizona customers gaining more convenience and shopping options across the state

Building on its commitment to save customers time and money in new ways, Walmart expects to spend an estimated $71.8 million this year in Arizona through the remodeling of 14 stores, as well as the launch and continued expansion of several customer-focused innovations.

“We want to provide a great shopping experience by investing in our stores and introducing new services that save time and money,” said Todd Peterson, Walmart regional general manager for Arizona. “This investment demonstrates our commitment to our customers, our confidence in our associates and the importance of the state of Arizona to our business.”

2019 Walmart Remodels in Arizona

Walmart plans to remodel stores in the following locations:

Remodels

5329 - 4435 W Anthem Way, Anthem, AZ 85086
1370 - 2840 AZ-95, Bullhead City, AZ 86442
1334 - 100 S Ragus Rd, Claypool, AZ 85532
1299 - 2003 E Rodeo Dr, Cottonwood, AZ 86326
1846 - 199 W, 5th St, Douglas, AZ 85607
3846 - 2725 E McKellips Rd, Mesa, AZ 85213
1442 - 1017 Haul Rd, Page, AZ 86040
2512 - 1825 W Bell Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85023
1417 - 3050 AZ-69, Prescott, AZ 86301
1149 - 755 S 20th Ave, Safford, AZ 85546
2112 - 4915 N Pima Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85251
1240 - 500 AZ-90, Sierra Vista, AZ 85635
5626 - 1260 E Tucson Marketplace Blvd, Tucson, AZ 85713
3377 - 2823 W Valencia Rd, Tucson, AZ 85746

2019 Walmart Innovations in Arizona

Walmart will continue to innovate to help customers save time and money by creating a seamless shopping experience that gives them the options to shop when, where and how they want. The following are examples of the customer-focused innovations that will be expanded this year in Arizona.

(1) Grocery Pickup

Busy customers love Walmart’s grocery pickup option. It gives them the convenience of shopping online and the ease of quickly picking up groceries without having to leave their cars. The best part: it’s all at no additional cost. Walmart plans to expand the popular program to more than 34 stores across the state by the end of the year. The company also recently introduced Walmart Voice Order, which allows customers to simply say “Hey Google, talk to Walmart” and the Google Assistant will add items directly to their Walmart Grocery cart.

(2) Grocery Delivery

Walmart’s convenient grocery delivery service is also proving to be a hit with customers. This year, Walmart plans to add the service to 20 stores, increasing its coverage area in the state.

(3) Walmart Pickup Towers

Walmart Pickup Towers are 16-feet tall, high-tech vending machines capable of fulfilling a customer’s online order in less than a minute once they arrive at the store. It’s easy to do - once the order is ready, step up to the Pickup Tower and scan the barcode sent to your smartphone to retrieve your item. This year, Walmart plans to add 15 Pickup Towers to stores across the state.

(4) FAST Unloader

Today, product is unloaded as it arrives at the store through a complex, highly manual process that has seen little innovation over the last 50 years – until now. A new system in Walmart backrooms - known as FAST - automatically scans and sorts items that come off trucks based on priority and department, allowing associates to spend less time unloading in the backroom and more time on the sales floor with customers. This year, Walmart plans to expand the technology to 41 stores across the state.

(5) Autonomous Floor Scrubber

The autonomous floor scrubber uses assisted autonomy technology to perform the task of cleaning and scrubbing the concrete floors in stores. The company plans to expand the technology to 48 stores across the state this year.

Background and Context

Capital and Innovation Expenditure: The estimated spend in the state this fiscal year (Feb. 1, 2019 – Jan. 31, 2020) is a portion of Walmart’s total capital expenditure guidance of approximately $11.0 billion for Fiscal Year 2020, which was outlined last October at the company’s annual meeting for the investment community and reiterated in February 2019.
National Innovation Expansion Strategy: Nationwide this fiscal year Walmart plans to add an additional 1,200 autonomous floor scrubbers, 300 autonomous shelf-scanners, 1,200 FAST unloaders and 900 Pickup Towers to stores across the country. Also, the company plans to expand Online Grocery Pickup to an additional 1,000 stores and add another 800 stores across the country to the retailer’s Grocery Delivery footprint.

About Walmart in Arizona

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) helps people around the world save money and live better – anytime and anywhere – in retail stores, online and through their mobile devices. In Arizona we serve customers at 127 retail units and online through Walmart.com and our family of brands. We are proud to employ 33,767 associates in Arizona. Walmart supports local businesses, spending $1.6 billion with Arizona suppliers in FYE18 and supporting 33,767 Arizona supplier jobs. Walmart continues to be a leader in employment opportunity, sustainability, and corporate philanthropy. In FY18, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation contributed more than $25.6 million in cash and in-kind donations to local nonprofits in Arizona and our Arizona associates volunteered more than 15,494 hours with local causes. Additional information about Walmart can be found by visiting our corporate website and our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter channels.

*Editor’s Note: The photos above, and video, are available for download here.