Walmart announced two weeks ago that it will "accelerate" its plans to open more smaller-format stores this fiscal year, but so far, the only one intended for Jacksonville is the previously reported Wilson Square store.
A developer is converting a former Food Lion into a Walmart Neighborhood Market in the West Jacksonville shopping center.
Walmart, based in Bentonville, Ark., said in February that it expects to add 270 to 300 small stores, which include the Neighborhood Markets and the smaller Walmart Express units, in the fiscal year that began Feb. 1, up from the initial forecast of 120-150 stores.
It also will open about 115 new supercenters this year. There are 17 Supercenters in the Jacksonville area, as well as one planned in Southwest Jacksonville at Collins Road and the Interstate 295 West Beltway.
Walmart spokesman Bill Wertz said the only plan for Jacksonville is the Wilson Square Neighborhood Market, which will be the area's fifth. The others are in converted Food Lions in Arlington, Mandarin, St. Johns County and Clay County.
Walmart considers the Express format, created in 2011, as "an ideal format for urban and rural areas that lack access to larger stores."
Walmart has four store formats:
• Walmart Discount Stores. Sam Walton opened the first Walmart Discount Store in Rogers, Ark., in 1962. There are 508 U.S. stores and they average 106,000 square feet.
• Walmart Supercenters, much larger than the discount stores, followed in 1988. There are 3,288 in the United States and they average 182,000 square feet.
• Walmart Neighborhood Markets, much smaller than either, started in 1998. There are 346 in the United States and they average 38,000 square feet, about the size of typical grocery stores.
• Walmart Express stores, even smaller, started in 2011. The 20 open in the U.S. average 15,000 square feet.
Walmart U.S. President Bill Simon said in a news release that the small-store expansion "will help us usher in the next generation of retail."
He explained that customers visit the Supercenters for the "stock-up" trips and the smaller stores for the "fill-in" needs.
The stores, along with sales through e-commerce, provide "our customers with anytime, anywhere access to our brand," he said.
In total, Walmart U.S. intends to open 385 to 415 units in fiscal 2015, which ends Jan. 31, in addition to the more than 4,200 stores already operating.
Walmart also operates 632 Sam's Clubs and 6,107 units internationally. In all, the chain has almost 11,000 stores.
There are three Sam's Club warehouse-clubs in the Jacksonville area.
Simon also considers the stepped-up expansion of its smaller, hybrid stores as "the digital thinking of physical retail."
MediaPost.com reported that Simon, in a presentation this week at the Raymond James Institutional Investors Conference in Orlando, explained that the retailer is using its Neighborhood Market and Walmart Express formats to create a new kind of "fully tethered retailer," combining e-commerce with the convenience of a physical store, including grocery delivery, drive-thru grocery pickup, and storage lockers.
"We are using these formats so shoppers can order groceries and maybe a snow shovel online, then pick it up on their way home, when they are stopping to gas up at Walmart anyway," Simon said.
According to MediaPost.com, Simon said the company's first "fully tethered" units will come online May 2 in Denver, followed by San Francisco.
Its pickup grocery service, which has been testing in 11 stores in Denver, has resulted in a 90 percent customer satisfaction level, he said.
It's Daytona Beach for Trader Joe's
Trader Joe's is proposing a 450-job distribution center in Daytona Beach and has been working with the city and county for months, News-JournalOnline.com reported Wednesday, citing confirmation by Volusia County officials.
Trader Joe's was rumored as a potential Jacksonville project, but sources said the national grocery chain, based in Monrovia, Calif., decided it needed a location farther south.
The news site reported that Volusia County, the city of Daytona Beach and the state are offering about $8 million in economic incentives to persuade Trader Joe's to build its planned Southeastern regional distribution center in Daytona Beach.
The proposed 810,000-square-foot distribution center would be built on 76 acres along the east side of Interstate 95.
The news site said the county proposes to provide up to $2.9 million in road improvements; up to $558,780 in county impact fees on behalf of Trader Joe's; and about $1.1 million cash in three payments to landowner Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co. in exchange for attracting jobs and spending money to make its own property developable.
Daytona Beach is considering at least $1.5 million in tax abatements and infrastructure improvements.
The state would provide up to $1.75 million from a separate incentive fund known as the Quick Action Closing Fund.
The county, the city and economic development groups, including Team Volusia and the CEO Business Alliance, worked with Trader Joe's and the property owner since last summer under the code name of "Project Alpha," according to the site.
The distribution center's estimated 450 direct jobs would pay an average wage of about $28,000, county officials said.
The center would immediately become one of the county's largest employers.
Beaches Animal clinic planned
The St. Johns River Water Management District is reviewing an application for the proposed Beaches Animal Emergency Clinic at Jacksonville Drive and South Third Street in Jacksonville Beach.
Existing buildings on the half-acre site would be removed and a 3,709-square-foot veterinarian's building would be built.
Plans show the site address as 37th Avenue South. Waters Side LLC is the property owner; Urban Partners Construction LLC is the developer; and The Touring Company Inc. is the civil engineer.
@MathisKb
(904) 356-2466