Wal-Mart to Debut Hispanic Supermarket Format

Wal-Mart to Debut Hispanic Supermarket Format
March 13, 2009

Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to open its first Hispanic-focused supermarkets this summer in Arizona and Texas, according to the Financial Times. The pilot stores, named Supermercado de Walmart, will open in Phoenix and Houston in remodeled 39,000-sq.-ft. locations occupied previously by two of Wal-Mart's Neighborhood Market stores. The retailer said the stores will feature a new layout and signing and product assortment designed to make them even more relevant to local Hispanic customers. The staff will also be bilingual. Wal-Mart's Sam's Club division also plans to open a 143,000-sq.-ft. Hispanic-focused store called Más Club in Houston this year. Eduardo Castro-Wright, the head of Wal-Mart's U.S. stores since 2005, has been an advocate of testing new smaller, more focused formats, and raised the idea of turning the Neighborhood Market into a Hispanic-style bodega concept several years ago. He also has developed Wal-Mart's efforts to customize its larger Supercenter stores, which have been grouped according to differing community profiles, such as urban, suburban, Hispanic and African-American, with customized merchandise. A 195,000-sq.-ft. Supercenter that opened in Texas last year included a tortilleria bakery, Hispanic foods and a larger selection of Spanish-language music and DVDs.