Sponsored By

Walmart to build new distribution center in Houston area

Retail giant keeps up supply-chain expansion for stores, e-commerce

Russell Redman

March 11, 2022

3 Min Read
Walmart_Baytown_Texas_distribution_center-rendering.jpg
The 1 million-square-foot DC (see rendering above) will enlarge the space of Walmart's Baytown, Texas, supply chain campus to over 5 million square feet.Walmart

Walmart plans to add a 1 million-square-foot distribution center to its Baytown, Texas, supply chain campus, near Houston.

To be located at 4633 Borusan Rd., the new DC is slated to open this fall and will be Walmart’s fourth facility in Baytown, enlarging the campus’ total space to more than 5 million square feet, the Bentonville, Ark.-based retail giant said Thursday.

“Walmart is excited to expand our Baytown campus and another step in Walmart’s continued investment in the state,” Mike Gray, senior vice president of supply chain operations for Walmart. “The Baytown campus and our other regional facilities continue to bring exciting new career opportunities within Walmart’s modern supply chain to hundreds of residents of the Houston area — all while helping us provide our local customers their everyday necessities with more variety and efficiency than ever before.”

The new facility is expected to create another 300 full-time jobs, due to growth across multiple shifts, according to Walmart.

“A highly skilled labor pool in the Houston area, and Texas more broadly, makes Baytown a prime destination for Walmart to continue expanding our supply chain network,” commented Karisa Sprague, senior vice president of U.S. supply chain people for Walmart U.S.

Related:Walmart to build new e-commerce facility in Pennsylvania

Overall, Walmart employs over 185,000 associates and operates 19 distribution centers, and 593 retail stores in Texas.

Walmart has been steadily bolstering its supply chain capacity, including through the use of automation, to support rising demand, improve the customer experience and raise productivity. Last July, the company unveiled plans to automate 25 of its 42 regional distribution centers with robotics and other automation technology.

This past October, Walmart said it aims to build a high-tech distribution center for fresh and frozen food in Lyman, S.C., which will be the retailer’s biggest grocery DC to date. Due to open in 2024, the more than 720,000-square-foot facility will move twice as much grocery product — including perishables such as produce, eggs, dairy, flowers and frozen goods — in supplying area stores via a combination of manual labor and automation, robotics and machine learning technology, the retailer reported.

About two weeks later, in November, Walmart unveiled plans to build two high-tech DCs in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The project in Lancaster, Texas, includes a 1.5 million-square-foot automated fulfillment center expected to open in 2023 and a 730,000-square-foot automated grocery DC slated to open in 2024. Walmart said the facilities will be among the largest automated fulfillment and distribution centers in its network.

Related:Walmart sees stores as linchpin of last-mile strategy

Walmart, too, is adding e-commerce fulfillment centers (EFC), which store millions of items ordered via Walmart.com to be picked, packed and shipped directly to customers, whereas distribution centers focus on receiving, storing and distributing product to Walmart stores. On Tuesday, the company announced plans to build a 1.8 million-square-foot EFC in Shippensburg, Pa. Also upcoming are a 1 million-square-foot EFC in Olive Branch, Miss., a 1 million-square-foot EFC in Salt Lake City and a 925,000-square-foot automated EFC in Lebanon, Tenn.

Read more about:

Walmart

About the Author

Russell Redman

Senior Editor
Supermarket News

Russell Redman has served as senior editor at Supermarket News since April 2018, his second tour with the publication. In his current role, he handles daily news coverage for the SN website and contributes news and features for the print magazine, as well as participates in special projects, podcasts and webinars and attends industry events. Russ joined SN from Racher Press Inc.’s Chain Drug Review and Mass Market Retailers magazines, where he served as desk/online editor for more than nine years, covering the food/drug/mass retail sector. 

Russell Redman’s more than 30 years of experience in journalism span a range of editorial manager, editor, reporter/writer and digital roles at a variety of publications and websites covering a breadth of industries, including retailing, pharmacy/health care, IT, digital home, financial technology, financial services, real estate/commercial property, pro audio/video and film. He started his career in 1989 as a local news reporter and editor, covering community news and politics in Long Island, N.Y. His background also includes an earlier stint at Supermarket News as center store editor and then financial editor in the mid-1990s. Russ holds a B.A. in journalism (minor in political science) from Hofstra University, where he also earned a certificate in digital/social media marketing in November 2016.

Russell Redman’s experience:

Supermarket News - Informa
Senior Editor 
April 2018 - present

Chain Drug Review/Mass Market Retailers - Racher Press
Desk/Online Editor 
Sept. 2008 - March 2018

CRN magazine - CMP Media
Managing Editor
May 2000 - June 2007

Bank Systems & Technology - Miller Freeman
Executive Editor/Managing Editor
Dec. 1996 - May 2000

Supermarket News - Fairchild Publications
Financial Editor/Associate Editor
April 1995 - Dec. 1996 

Shopping Centers Today Magazine - ICSC 
Desk Editor/Assistant Editor
Dec. 1992 - April 1995

Testa Communications
Assistant Editor/Contributing Editor (Music & Sound Retailer, Post, Producer, Sound & Communications and DJ Times magazines)
Jan. 1991 - Dec. 1992 

American Banker/Bond Buyer
Copy Editor
Oct. 1990 - Jan. 1991 

This Week newspaper - Chanry Communications
Reporter/Editor
May 1989 - July 1990

Stay up-to-date on the latest food retail news and trends
Subscribe to free eNewsletters from Supermarket News

You May Also Like