Walmart is planning to spend $145M to renovate 34 California stores, including stores in San Jose, Fairfield and the Central Valley, the East Bay Times reports. Renovations are expected to include moving pickup service locations to the front of the store and creating lounges where customers can wait for their orders.
The renovations will occur at 5095 Almaden Expressway in San Jose and 2701 North Texas St. in Fairfield. Stockton, Sacramento, Fresno and Yuba City are other stores expected to undergo renovations.
The retailer has been creating better connections with its e-commerce and physical stores to better compete with the likes of Amazon and other e-commerce retailers.
It has instituted free online grocery pickup where Walmart employees bring groceries to customers waiting outside the store. Walmart provides this service at 44 California stores with plans to add it to 50 more.
Another concept Walmart has been trying is a click-and-collect option where customers can order a product and go to Pickup Tower machines. Customers scan a bar code and then the product is sent via conveyor belt to the customer.
The retailer is looking into ways to do this for large purchases, such as TVs. Walmart also plans to expand its mobile payment program, which is available in San Diego, where customers can scan items from their phone and pay instantly instead of waiting in checkout lines.
