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Walmart’s latest fulfillment center earmarked for Salt Lake City

E-commerce supply chain facility will be the retailer’s first in the region

Russell Redman

December 15, 2021

3 Min Read
Walmart Salt Lake City ecommerce fulfillment center-rendering.jpg
Plans call for the new Salt Lake City fulfillment center (rendering above), which won't be automated, to open next summer.Walmart

A week after announcing plans for a new e-commerce fulfillment center, Walmart has lined up another one.

Walmart said Wednesday that it aims to build a 1 million-square-foot fulfillment center in Salt Lake City to fill online orders placed on Walmart.com. To be located at 990 N 6550 W, just outside the city near the airport, the facility is expected to open in the summer of 2022 and create about 450 full-time jobs across the region.

Last week, the Bentonville, Ark.-based retail giant unveiled plans to erect a 925,000-square-foot automated fulfillment center in Lebanon, Tenn., slated to go into operation in the fall of 2022.

The Salt Lake City facility won’t be automated. Walmart operates three distribution centers and 59 stores and employs over 20,000 associates in Utah.

Walmart-online delivery box.jpg

Unlike distribution centers, fulfillment centers process online orders and hold millions of items to be picked, packed and shipped directly to customers, Walmart said.

“Walmart is excited to welcome our first fulfillment center in Salt Lake City to support our growing e-commerce fulfillment network,” Steve Miller, senior vice president of supply chain operations at Walmart U.S., said in a statement. “This new facility is the latest of example of Walmart’s commitment to offering customers fast shipping on items they need every day, and we look forward to further delivering on that promise with the development of this new, state-of-the-art facility.”

Related:Walmart to open automated fulfillment center in Tennessee

Unlike distribution centers, which receive, house and distribute products to Walmart stores, fulfillment centers process online orders and hold millions of items to be picked, packed and shipped directly to customers, as soon as the next day, according to Walmart. The company said the Salt Lake City facility is part of a broader effort to boost capacity in its supply chain to fuel omnichannel growth.

When reporting fiscal 2022 third-quarter results last month, Walmart said U.S. online sales rose 8% year over year and were up 87% on a two-year stack. And with the growth of its omnichannel presence, Walmart noted that fulfillment centers have become a linchpin of its plan to ramp up supply chain capacity.

Much of that effort will entail the use of automation to support rising demand, improve the customer experience and raise productivity, according to Walmart. In July, the company unveiled plans to automate 25 of its 42 regional distribution centers (RDCs) with robotics and other automation technology.

Besides the new Tennessee automated fulfillment center announced earlier this month, Walmart in October 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.

Related:Walmart launches drone deliveries with DroneUp

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.

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

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