Wal-Mart de Mexico in aggressive expansion

-- Home Textiles Today, 2/20/2009 9:09:00 AM

Mexico City – Wal-Mart de Mexico, which now operates 1,208 retail locations in five retail (and one restaurant) formats, plans to open 252 new stores in 2009, an investment of $11.8 billion pesos, or about $798 million.

In a statement by Eduardo Solórzano, ceo of Wal-Mart de Mexico, the division of Wal-Mart International said its 2009 plan represents a 4% increase than the 2008 investment in expansion – and projected a 15% in “new direct jobs,” or as many as 14,500 new positions.

Solórzano stated, “Our 2009 investment plan will allow us to take the savings offer that characterizes us to more rural and urban populations, providing them with a wide variety of goods at every day low prices.”

The 2009 store opening plan includes:

225 Bodega Aurrerá units

13 Walmarts

4 Superamas

7 Sam’s Club

3 Suburbia stores

These units represent a sales floor growth of 10%, the company said.

The company said it will also expand its financial services division, Banco Wal-Mart, at a pace characterized by Solórzano as “gradual growth.”