Walmart Canada To Hire 5,000 Applicants For Expansion

Retailer says construction, store and distribution centre jobs across Canada will flow from $340m expansions. Walmart has less competition since Target folded.

Walmart Canada unveiled a $340 million expansion plan for the coming year that is expected to generate 5,000 jobs across the country.

The announcement Wednesday comes in the wake of Target’s surprise departure from Canada, which will mean a lot less competition for Canada’s largest discount retailer.

The chain’s capital spending budget for the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2016 is about 30 per cent less than the $500 million Walmart Canada spent on store growth last year, and is mainly focused on expansion of existing stores into grocery items.

Of the 29 projects, 27 are conversions from regular discount stores to supercentres with full grocery departments, and 20 will not involve an increase of square footage, a Walmart spokesman said.

The location of those and two new supercentres that will be built this year are not yet being disclosed as plans are not yet finalized, the company said.

Analysts say the retail giant will likely pick up some of the stores that Target will vacate when it pulls up stakes this summer. Andrew Pelletier, vice president of corporate affairs and sustainability at Walmart Canada, told the Star it’s too early to speculate on acquiring available Target real estate.

The retailer says the latest expansion is expected to generate about 3,700 construction jobs, 1,000 store jobs and 300 distribution centre jobs across Canada.

The new supercentres are in addition to the 11 Walmart supercentres which opened across Canada in January.

Walmart Canada says the supercentre projects will cost about $230 million and include the remodelling and expansion of several stores to add full grocery departments.

Another $75 million will be spent to add distribution centres and $35 million will be spent on e-commerce initiatives, raising the total capital outlay to about $340 million.

The expansion will bring Walmart Canada’s store count to 396 by the end of January, 2016, consisting of 309 supercentres and 87 discount stores.

“Our mission is to provide multiple access points for customers to save money,” said Walmart Canada president and CEO Dirk Van den Berghe.

“We will deliver on this commitment through a range of channels including our expanding network of supercentres, our accelerating e-commerce business, and our in-store pick up services.”