Walmart just announced 380 football fields' worth of new stores

A whole lot more of this to come.Photo: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images (Getty Images)

In its annual report last year, Walmart told investors that it has more than 5,300 stores between its namesake locations and Sam’s Clubs, altogether sprawling more than 782 million square feet. And in an announcement Wedensday (Jan. 31), the company said that it would building more than 150 new stores in the next five years. If the average size holds, that’s 380 football fields’ worth of shopping space.

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It’s a nice vote of confidence in the future of brick-and-mortar retail, given that just a few years ago the retailer said it was closing 269 stores, including all of its smallest Walmart Express locations.

The company told Quartz that the last time it opened new stores was in November 2021, when it welcomed shoppers to new locations in Ceres, California (near Modesto); Yaphank, New York (on Long Island); and Miami, Florida. Walmart also said that it would be renovating more than 650 of its current stores.

“What a win it is to invest in America,” CEO John Furner said in the press release accompanying the announcement.