Walmart to remodel 500 stores as part of its $11bn spending plan

American retailer, Walmart, has revealed that it is going to remodel 500 stores and open 20 new stores as part of an $11bn spending plan.

Bolstering its presence in two of the country’s most populous states, the retail giant revealed that the majority of these remodels will happen in Florida and Texas where the firm is set to spend approximately $477mn, opening 14 new stores and remodel 82 others.

As part of the refurbishments, shoppers could see wider aisles, shorter shelving, interactive displays, new signs and flooring in their local Walmart store.

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Through the refurbishments, Walmart will also invest more in its online offerings such as Walmart Online Grocery Pickup, Mobile Express Scan & Go and Walmart Pickup Tower.

"The plan is to continue improving stores and accelerating innovation during the coming year to make shopping faster and easier for our customers," a Walmart spokesman said.

"We'll also continue to look for ways to improve our processes to empower our associates to serve customers even better — we'll be people-powered and tech-enabled, always with our customer's needs in mind."

The grocery giant also said that it would also spend on new store construction and remodels in other states, spending $145mn on

Walmart reported a 2.1% increase in same-store sales for the fiscal year ending 31 January 2018 and said that the growth reflects its efforts to enhance its stores and roll-out innovative services,