Wal-Mart to Storm Big Cities With Small Stores

Retailer makes a pitch to urban America

By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 13, 2010 2:15 PM CDT

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Wal-Mart to Storm Big Cities With Small Stores — FILE - This undated file photo provided by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., shows the company's sign in front of their Bentonville, Ark., headquarters. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is offering to buy South African retailer Massmart Holdings Ltd. Monday, Sept. 27, 2010, for approximately $4.25 billion. (AP Photo/Wal-Mart Stores Inc., File)

Wal-Mart is looking to take Manhattan—as well as large US cities—by opening a slew of small- and mid-sized stores in urban America, the Wall Street Journal reports. Wal-Marts as small as 30,000 square feet—six times smaller than the average "supercenter"—are headed to unfamiliar territory such as New York and the large Californian coastal cities, says a Wal-Mart exec. The move is seen as a bid to hold onto low-income customers who are migrating to competitors: "We're going to grow," says the exec.
(Read more Walmart stories.)