Walmart Is Remodeling 650-Plus Stores This Year While Bringing Its Online Assortment Into the Physical Store

Walmart announced Thursday that it plans to remodel more than 650 Supercenters and Neighborhood Markets in 2026 and open approximately 20 new locations this year and in early 2027. The investment continues a commitment the retailer made in early 2024 to open or convert more than 150 new larger-format locations over five years while updating its existing fleet. In Walmart’s fiscal year 2026, which ended January 31, 2026, the company completed approximately 675 store remodels across its U.S. portfolio, per the company’s investor presentation.

The remodels are built around Walmart’s Store of the Future concept, which the retailer has been rolling out through new store openings and remodels since 2022. The physical changes include wider aisles, reconfigured layouts, updated signage and exteriors, expanded pickup and delivery infrastructure, and updated pharmacies with private consultation rooms. The additions that go beyond cosmetic improvement are the digital ones.

The Digital Touchpoints Are a Discovery Layer for Online Assortment

The remodeled stores include digital touchpoints placed throughout the store specifically designed to surface Walmart’s online assortment inside the physical shopping environment. Walmart has described these as QR codes and digital screens that communicate to customers the range of products and services available online. In the pets department, for example, a customer can scan a QR code to find additional dog bed options, learn about Walmart’s pet insurance offerings, or have a 20-pound bag of kibble delivered to their door.

That detail matters for suppliers whose extended assortment lives online but not on the physical shelf. The remodeled store is not just a better place to buy what is already there. It is designed to be an entry point into a broader catalog. For Marketplace sellers and 1P suppliers with items carried online but not in physical stores, the digital touchpoints in remodeled locations represent in-store visibility that previously did not exist. For 1P suppliers with full physical distribution, the same touchpoints create a path to extended SKUs and larger pack sizes that the shelf cannot accommodate.

Walmart’s U.S. ecommerce sales grew 27% in fiscal year 2026, with ecommerce now representing 23% of net sales, per the company’s most recent investor presentation. The store remodel program is the physical infrastructure being built to support continued growth in that share.

Neighborhood Markets Are Testing a Compressed Remodel Clock

The program includes a format-specific test that compresses the remodel timeline for select Neighborhood Markets. Rather than stretching a remodel over several months, Walmart is condensing the work by temporarily closing the main sales floor for four weeks while keeping pharmacies and fuel stations open. The test began this spring across stores in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas.

Walmart cited proximity to other store locations as a key factor in selecting which Neighborhood Markets to include in the test, noting that shoppers could place online pickup orders at neighboring stores during the closure. Walmart has described the rapid remodel as an opportunity to test, learn, and refine its process for future use. If the approach validates, the Neighborhood Market fleet could see a materially faster refresh cadence than a traditional multi-month remodel schedule would allow.

Digital Shelf Labels Complete the Picture

Alongside the physical remodel program, Walmart is completing a chain-wide deployment of digital shelf labels. Walmart is replacing paper price labels with digital tags in every U.S. store by the end of 2026, with approximately 2,300 stores already using the technology by early 2026.

Walmart has said the digital shelf labels reduce price update tasks that previously took associates hours or days to minutes, freeing up associate time for customer service and order fulfillment. The labels include a pick-to-light function that directs associates to specific shelf locations for online order picking, directly supporting the expanded pickup and delivery infrastructure the remodel program is installing.

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