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Walmart to build 2 e-commerce fulfillment centers

Facilities in Tennessee and Utah will add 2 million square feet of space for online orders

Walmart announced two new fulfillment centers to help it meet growing e-commerce demand, including a facility in Salt Lake City, Utah, seen here in an artists’ rendering. (Photo: Walmart)

Walmart is adding nearly 2 million square feet of warehouse space to expand its growing e-commerce fulfillment operations.

The retailer on Wednesday announced it would build a more than 1 million-square-foot center in Salt Lake City. That followed an announcement last week of a 925,000-square-foot facility in Lebanon, Tennessee. The Utah facility will employ approximately 450 full-time employees and open in the summer of 2022. The Tennessee facility will employ up to 300 and open in the fall of 2022.

“Walmart is excited to welcome our first fulfillment center in Salt Lake City to support our growing e-commerce fulfillment network,” said Steve Miller, senior vice president of supply chain operations at Walmart U.S. “This new facility is the latest example of Walmart’s commitment to offering customers fast shipping on items they need every day, and we look forward to further delivering on that promise with the development of this new, state-of-the-art facility.”


Watch: Last-mile delivery in an omnichannel world


The Utah center will fulfill orders placed on Walmart.com. Walmart’s (NYSE: WMT) e-commerce orders in Q3 grew 8% and are up 87% over the past two years, the retailer said.


Walmart operates three distribution centers, 59 retail stores and employs more than 20,000 in Utah.

In Tennessee, the new e-commerce fulfillment center will feature a combination of associates, AI and automated robots. It will be the first fulfillment center in the state for the retailer.

“We’re thrilled to be bringing a new high-tech fulfillment center to the community of Lebanon,” said David Guggina, senior vice president of automation and innovation at Walmart U.S. “This facility will include game-changing automation technology that’s radically disrupting the supply chain, improving the customer experience and saving time for associates.”

Walmart operates three distribution centers, 150 stores and employs 42,500 in Tennessee.


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Brian Straight

Brian Straight leads FreightWaves' Modern Shipper brand as Managing Editor. A journalism graduate of the University of Rhode Island, he has covered everything from a presidential election, to professional sports and Little League baseball, and for more than 10 years has covered trucking and logistics. Before joining FreightWaves, he was previously responsible for the editorial quality and production of Fleet Owner magazine and fleetowner.com. Brian lives in Connecticut with his wife and two kids and spends his time coaching his son’s baseball team, golfing with his daughter, and pursuing his never-ending quest to become a professional bowler. You can reach him at bstraight@freightwaves.com.