Walmart opens new stores – but not to the public. Here's why.
Walmart is testing some new stores, but you won't be able to shop there.
These new "dark stores" are being tested as a better way to fulfill online orders and are not open to the public. Inside, the stores – the first of which opened recently in Dallas – resemble a typical Walmart store. However, there's no signage, as customers cannot come in, a person knowledgeable about the situation but not authorized to speak publicly told Paste BN.
The stores do not have Walmart signage, but inside the store has many of the most popular products ordered online by customers, as a way to speed up online order fulfillment, the person told Paste BN.
Another "dark store" is in the works for Bentonville, Arkansas, the home of the retailer's corporate headquarters, according to Bloomberg, which cited persons familiar with the development in its June 24 story. Walmart is experimenting with the miniature distribution centers to more quickly fill orders from customers who are paying more to get items faster, reported KFSM-TV 5 in Springdale, Arkansas.
"We regularly test new tools, features, and capabilities to better connect with and serve our customers – wherever and however they choose to shop," Walmart said Friday, June 27, in a statement to Paste BN. "Regardless of the channel, our goal remains the same: to deliver a fast, seamless, and engaging customer experience."
The retailer launched its Walmart+ subscription service in 2020 – with unlimited free delivery from stores (on orders $35 or more) – in a move to challenge Amazon Prime. The subscription is priced at $12.95 per month or $98 annually. You can get Walmart+ Assist for $6.47 monthly/$49 annually if you are getting government assistance, including SNAP, WIC and Medicaid.
Amazon Prime, which launched in 2005, had a head start on Walmart+ and has grown to an estimated 186.3 million users in the U.S., up from 171 million in 2022, according to eMarketer, a market research company. Walmart+ has an estimated 34.7 million users, up from 26.5 million in 2022, according to eMarketer.
Walmart uses AI, augmented reality and more drones
In other developments, Walmart on June 24 began rolling out a suite of artificial intelligence tools to help store associates with a real-time multilingual translation feature to help communicate with customers and an augmented reality tool to make it easier to find items within the store.
This expansion in AI and augmented reality came two weeks after Walmart announced plans to expand its drone delivery service to five more major U.S. cities beyond Dallas and Bentonville, Arkansas.
Collectively, these moves – and additional ones to make deliveries faster and smoother – are "certainly signaling that Walmart is not a dated company … (or) an old dinosaur, and that they're tech-first and they're tech-forward, and they're thinking about many different ways of controlling the consumer experience to make it as positive for the end consumer as possible," said Suzy Davidkhanian, vice president of content at eMarketer and leader of the research firm's retail and ecommerce, demographics and financial services practice groups.
In its competition with Amazon, Walmart's strength is its stores – 90% of the U.S. population lives within 10 miles of a Walmart or Sam's Club – Davidkhanian told Paste BN. "Where Walmart was lagging was the tech piece and they've been able to ramp that up now," she said.
This story has been updated with new information.
Contributing: Kasey Caminiti, Natalie Neysa Alund and Kathryn Palmer
Mike Snider is a reporter on Paste BN’s Trending team. You can follow him on Threads, Bluesky, X and email him at mikegsnider & @mikegsnider.bsky.social & @mikesnider & msnider@usatoday.com
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