Wal-Mart to Add Up to 600 Stores Globally in 2006
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to add between 555 and 600 stores globally next year, adding 60 million square feet and becoming more aggressive in the number of supercenters it opens, Chief Financial Officer Tom Schoewe said in an interview.</br></br>The world's largest retailer by sales plans to open 270 to 280 supercenters, which sell groceries and general merchandise, in the U.S. About 160 of these will be expansions or relocations of former discount stores. This year Wal-Mart had estimated it would add between 240 and 255 supercenters, but will end up with 266 new ones.</br></br>"We are ahead of plan and the practical reality is that they are getting more difficult to open, but we're putting a larger number of projects in the hopper," Mr. Schoewe said shortly before Wal-Mart began its two-day analyst conference yesterday at its Bentonville, Ark., headquarters.</br></br>Wal-Mart has seen sales growth in the U.S. slow down this year because of tougher competition, an uneven economic recovery and higher fuel prices. Nonetheless, the retailer's store-opening plans indicate it is bullish on its growth prospects. Indeed, Wal-Mart Chief Executive Lee Scott said yesterday, "We could be three or four times bigger in the U.S."</br></br>Mr. Scott expects local zoning and land-use laws to grow stricter in coming years. The company is reckoning that stores built and opened sooner rather than later will face fewer delays. Already the company has seen projects in certain areas take longer to gain approval than elsewhere.