Wal-Mart Stores said Tuesday (Sept 9) it will rebrand its small Express grocery format to the more widely known Walmart Neighborhood Market.
The retailer said the reason for the name change relates to how consumers use the two formats in a similar manner for quicker stops and fill-in trips. Both formats have more grocery items with limited general merchandise, fuel and pharmacy.
“All 21 of the Express formats and all future small formats will bear the name Neighborhood Market. It’s a widely known and accepted brand that consumers can easily identify with,” said Wal-Mart corporate spokesman John Forrest Ales.
Wal-Mart said in February it was expanding its original capital forecast provided last October, and expects to add approximately 270 to 300 small stores during this fiscal year, doubling the initial forecast of 120 to 150 stores. Most of those are the larger 38,000 square-foot version of the Neighborhood Market. The smaller iteration has roughly 12,000 square feet.
Walmart U.S. also plans to add approximately 115 new supercenters this year.
The retailer touts the better store comps it’s seeing in the small formats, positive in terms of sales and traffic. Comp sales for Neighborhood Market stores grew approximately 4% for fiscal year 2014, driven by fresh and pharmacy. That compares to overall dismal comps for the Walmart's entire U.S. fleet of stores.
“Neighborhood Market is performing comparable or favorable to leading grocers,” said Duncan MacNaughton, chief merchandising officer for Walmart U.S.
He and other execs said the small store format linked to Walmart.com and the endless shelf is a powerful draw for consumers.