Walmart Canada says it will spend $500 million this year to refurbish and upgrade stores across the country–a project that the company says will create 2,000 construction jobs and affect 60 per cent of its locations.
The chain, which operates 408 locations in Canada, also said it is closing three stores in Ontario (Mississauga, Hamilton, and Kitchener), two in Alberta (Calgary and Edmonton) and one in Newfoundland and Labrador (St. John’s).
Workers at those stories, Walmart said, will be offered positions at nearby locations.
Walmart Canada says it is closing six locations this year, but workers affected will have employment at nearby locations. (CBC)
The upgrades–aimed at improving the “look and feel” of its stores–are part of plans Walmart announced last July to invest $3.5 billion in its Canadian operations over the next five years.
They range from fresh paint jobs, new lighting and improving staff lounges to the launch of the company’s first automated market fulfilment centre inside the Scarborough West Walmart Supercentre.
In a press release, Walmart said the work has already begun at the Scarborough West Walmart Supercentre, which will see automated online grocery picking and dispensing and automated kiosks that will serve as vending machines for online grocery orders.
Walmart also said it is revamping the layout of select stores, improving the pickup spaces for online orders in its highest e-commerce volume stores and converting stores in Calgary and Kitchener, Ont., to supercentres.
People wear face masks as they walk by a sign informing customers of a closed section at a Walmart retail store in Montreal on Dec. 28, 2020. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes)
Horacio Barbeito, president and CEO of Walmart Canada, says the company is on a mission to modernize all aspects of its business with a focus on stores and serving customers “in more omnichannel ways.”
Walmart Canada says its stores serve 1.5 million customers each across the country and that Walmart.ca is visited by 900,000 customers daily.
The company employs about 100,000 people in Canada.
With files from The Canadian Press, CBC News (Thomson Reuters)
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