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Walmart Unveils Plan for 6 Chicago Sites

Wal-Mart said it plans to open a Walmart Express and a Walmart Market in the West Englewood section of Chicago — an area it described as the heart of Chicago's food desert and one of the city's most underserved communities.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Wal-Mart here said Wednesday it plans to open a Walmart Express and a Walmart Market in the West Englewood section of Chicago — an area it described as the heart of Chicago's food desert and one of the city's most underserved communities.

The Walmart Market — the format formerly known as Neighborhood Market — is scheduled to open in the spring of 2012 in West Englewood; the Walmart Express, the company's new, under-30,000-square-foot format, is scheduled to open in the same area in the winter of 2012.

Julie Murphy, senior vice president, Walmart U.S., who is based in Chicago, said Wal-Mart will "continue to identfy sites in Chicago's food deserts."

Walmart said Wednesday it also plans to open another Express unit in the West Chatham neighborhood this summer and a Walmart Market in the city's West Loop region next fall; plus two more supercenters — one in West Chatham in the spring of 2012 and another in the Pullman neighborhood in the spring of 2013.

The stores are part of the "Chicago Community Investment Partnership" that Wal-Mart announced last June, outlining a five-year plan to open several dozen stores, create approximately 10,000 jobs and 2,000 unionized construction jobs, and generate more than $500 million in sales and property taxes.

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