Walmart 1998 Annual Report Download - page 10

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A roof over our heads
alk in any Wal-Mart
store and you’re imme-
diately drawn to the
friendly associates, the attractive dis-
plays and cheery Mr. Smiley ( )
signs. Wal-Mart strives to make
shopping enjoyable and convenient,
even as it offers the lowest prices on
items for every member of the family.
Part of Wal-Mart’s formula for
success is the convenient location
of its more than 2,800 U.S. operat-
ing units, with easy access to major
highways and ample parking. In
addition, each store has roomy
aisles and abundant space for dis-
plays of items as varied as cook-
ware, tents and sneakers.
A little-known division of our
company, Wal-Mart Realty Co.,
selects and manages the sites for
Wal-Mart discount stores, Super-
centers and SAM’S Club units
across the United States. Decisions
on new stores take into account sev-
eral factors: potential market satura-
tion, competition, expansion or relo-
cation alternatives, total capital
expenditure, cash-on-cash incre-
mental rate of return and a market-
ing plan for the existing real estate if
the project involves relocation.
With about 310 million square
feet of property, Wal-Mart Realty
is the largest owner and manager of
retail space in the country; far larg-
er than the nation’s next-largest
shopping center manager.
And Wal-Mart’s real estate hold-
ings will only continue to grow. The
company added, relocated or
expanded 147 stores in the fiscal
year ended January 1998 and
plans 180 to 200 more in the year
ending January 1999. In the future,
Wal-Mart expects to add, relocate
or expand about 200 stores a year.
Supercenters will lead Wal-Mart’s
domestic growth in the future, which
means an even larger role for Wal-
Mart Realty. As the division rolls out
new Supercenter prototypes (rang-
ing from 110,000 to 220,000 square
feet), it also must find uses for exist-
ing relocated stores after they are
closed.
In the past four years, Wal-Mart
Realty has implemented an aggres-
sive marketing plan for once-occu-
pied stores. Its goal: sell or lease
the unused space.
In the latest fiscal year, Wal-Mart
Realty leased or sold more than 10
million square feet of once-occu-
pied space. Some non-retail uses
include call centers, light manufac-
turing, storage, physicians’ offices,
family entertainment and commu-
10
UP FRONT
Only a major real estate and transportation company could move $118 billion in product and
house 825,000 people. And that company is Wal-Mart!
W
W
W
Nobody Knows
The