Walmart Rebranding Its Express Stores to Neighborhood Markets

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is continuing the aggressive expansion announced last year of its small-format stores, but it’s abandoning its Walmart Express concept in favor of the Walmart Neighborhood Market.

According to Forbes magazine, the recent rebranding is the retail giant’s response to a bidding war between Dollar Tree and Dollar General for Family Dollar.

Walmart cited the fact that analytics show the two store concepts have similar clientele, and operating the two under the same brand should make inventory and store management easier, according to Forbes.

The existing 21 Express stores in operation nationwide, with an average size of 12,000 SF, will take on the name of Neighborhood Market. There are Express stores in Gentry, Fayetteville and Prairie Grove.

The Neighborhood Market format, instead of its previous 45,000-SF floor plan, would range in size between that and 15,000 SF. There are currently 381 Neighborhood Market stores throughout the United States.

During its recent earnings call, Walmart stated it would open 180-200 Neighborhood Market stores and 90-100 Express stores by the end of the year, and 270-300 small stores in 2015, according to Forbes.