Wal-Mart Seeks To Tether Small Stores To Big Ones

NEW YORK — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to open more small stores as it links them to its supercenters, which will serve as mini-warehouses for their smaller cousins.

The plans, announced at the retailer's annual analysts' meeting, come as the world's largest retailer aims to cut costs and respond to shoppers' demands for convenience as it faces increasing pressure from expanding competition. That includes online retailers like Amazon.com as well as dollar stores, which have been rapidly adding locations and winning customers with low prices and easy access.

Wal-Mart expects to roll out the new distribution strategy in the first of three markets in March, though it declined to say where. It is testing some of the aspects of the plan in areas like Gentry, Ark., where it operates a Wal-Mart Express store, which is less than one-tenth the size of a typical supercenter.

The retailer operates more than 4,000 stores in the U.S., most of them supercenters. But it's seeing its smaller stores like Neighborhood Markets, which number about 300, and Walmart Express, which operate 20 locations, as vehicles for growth.

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