Walmart Announces $450 Million in 2017-2018 Investments Throughout Florida, Plans to Hire More Than 2,750 Floridians
May 23 2017 - 10:10AM
Business Wire
Company also highlights FY2017 local impact on
associates and communities across the state
The world’s largest retailer today announced its statewide
growth and investment plans for the state of Florida, which will
result in an economic impact well over $450 million. The
plan will expand the company’s more than 375 facility
footprint in Florida and build on the continued positive momentum
in U.S. sales, customer traffic and customer feedback noted in the
company’s most recent earnings report.
2017-2018 Florida
Investments
The positive business climate in Florida has enabled Walmart to
create thousands of local jobs, invest millions in infrastructure
and test innovative ways to serve its customers. In an effort to
continue its growth and investment in the Sunshine State, Walmart
has finalized, or is planning, the following investments across
Florida this fiscal year. (Feb. 1, 2017 through Jan. 31, 2018):
- Open nine new stores across the
state, creating more than 800 jobs statewide.
- Execute a multi-million-dollar
capital investment plan by remodeling more than 40 locations
across the state.
- In the coming months, the company will
announce the official grand opening of its 150-acre eCommerce
Distribution Center campus in Davenport, which has recently been
certified as fully operational.
Details
- Currently employing more than 550
recently hired associates with plans to hire at least 1,000 more
over the next year.
- Approximate investment of more than
$300 million with two buildings spanning more than 2.2 million sq.
ft.
- The company, today, is also confirming
its plans to break ground later this year on a new Distribution
Center for perishable goods in the City of Cocoa.
Details
- The company plans to employ more than
450 associates once fully operational.
- The company is planning an investment
of more than $145 million on the 640,000 sq. ft. facility.
“This year has been an exciting one for Walmart in Florida, and
we’ll build on that momentum as we continue to focus on how to
better serve our customers through innovation and investments so
they can save both time and money,” said Elise Vasquez-Warner,
Walmart’s Vice President and Regional General Manager in North
Florida. “We’ve had a sharp focus on making our store experience
second to none and our customers are telling us that our plan is
working. Our team is energized and we’re looking forward to
exceeding our customer’s expectations for what a great Walmart
shopping experience can be like.”
Walmart’s 2017-2018 investment plans build on Walmart’s growth
last year in Florida, which included:
- Hiring more than 3,225 Floridians by
opening more than 20 stores/clubs across the state.
- Investing millions of dollars in more
than 30 store remodels across the state.
- The expansion of its Online Grocery
Pickup service to 70 stores and the launch of Walmart Pay
statewide.
- Opening a state-of-the-art Supercenter
in Lake Nona with some of the newest shopping innovations in
retail. The store showcases new approaches to technologies,
services, products and store layout, which will be tested with
customers and evaluated for potential implementation in other
locations across the country.
The following illustrates Walmart’s local impact on key issues
in the Global Responsibility Report:
Opportunity: Associate Training,
Education and Wages
Walmart is addressing barriers that can impede career
advancement for associates. In FY2017, Walmart completed a
$2.7 billion investment in U.S. associates that included increases
in training, education and higher wages. FY17 achievements in
Florida included:
- Opening two Walmart Academies in
Florida in FY17 -- while training more than 3,300 Walmart
associates through the six Academies open to date. (Hudson,
Melbourne, Mulberry, Naples, Navarre and Palatka)
- Awarding a total of more than $52
million in quarterly bonuses to Florida associates in FY17.
- Continuing its commitment to hire
military veterans for a total of more than 9,700 veterans hired in
Florida since launching the Walmart Veterans Welcome Home
Commitment in May 2013.
Community: Making a Difference &
Giving Back
In FY17, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation invested more than
$1.4 billion in communities worldwide, including more than $82
million in cash and in-kind contributions to non-profits throughout
Florida.
Fighting Hunger
As the nation’s largest grocer, Walmart is uniquely positioned
to support organizations that are on the front lines in the fight
against hunger. In addition to donating more than 45 million pounds
of food to local Florida food banks – equivalent to more than 37.5
million meals – Walmart and the Walmart Foundation donated more
than $50 million toward hunger relief efforts across Florida in
FY17, including more than $700,000 for after school and breakfast
in the classroom programs.
Walmart also engages customers across the country in making an
impact on hunger in their local communities. In the U.S., Walmart
stores and Sam’s Club locations teamed up with customers and
participating suppliers to support Feeding America through the
“Fight Hunger. Spark Change.” campaign, raising more than $17
million in funds in FY17, including funds for the following Florida
Feeding America affiliate food banks:
- All Faiths Food Bank, Sarasota
- America’s Second Harvest of the Big
Bend, Inc., Tallahassee
- Feeding America Tampa Bay, Tampa
- Feeding Northeast Florida,
Jacksonville
- Feeding South Florida, Pembroke
Park
- Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest
Florida, Fort Myers
- Second Harvest Food Bank of Central
Florida, Orlando
- Treasure Coast Food Bank, Fort
Pierce
Associate Volunteering
Walmart associates are deeply engaged in their communities and
in FY17, associates overall volunteered more than 1.2 million hours
generating more than $12 million in Walmart donations, including
more than 74,000 hours with local non-profits and charitable causes
in Florida, marking another way in which the company supports and
impacts the local communities it serves.
About Walmart in Florida
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) helps people around the world
save money and live better – anytime and anywhere – in retail
stores, online and through their mobile devices. In Florida, we
serve customers at 375 retail units and online through Walmart
Grocery Pickup, Walmart.com and Jet.com. We are proud to employ
more than 108,000 associates in Florida. Learn more at the Walmart
Today blog, and on our Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram
channels. Walmart opened its first store in Florida in 1982.
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WalmartPhillip Keene,
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