As we reported last year, many big-box retailers have been adding smaller stores to appeal to different market segments. Wal-Mart is one of those that is actively following this approach. In 2013 alone, the firm plans to open 115 small-format Neighborhood Market stores.

Marianne Wilson, reporting for Chain Store Age, states that Wal-Mart U.S. CEO Bill Simon  is pleased that “the smaller-format stores (below 60,000 sq. ft.) are making inroads against dollar stores, supermarkets, and drugstores — and will play a key role in the company’s future. ‘They compete really well against multiple channels,’ Simon said. Wal-Mart thinks of its smaller-format units, which include both the Walmart Express and Walmart Neighborhood Market banners, as hybrid stores rather than specific niche competitors. ‘They are more hybrid stores than you would think … they all have fresh food and pharmacy and the Walmart everyday low price promise. And they are all enabled with.com capabilities, and Site-To-Store capabilities. So you have that endless aisle that we can offer that others might not be able to offer.’     Wal-Mart is particularly bullish on its Neighborhood Market concept, with a direct line to 500 by fiscal 2016, according to Simon.”

Click the image for a slide show.