The old saying “there’s a Walmart in every town” may mostly ring true. But that doesn’t mean the company doesn’t have room for growth.
Walmart is doubling down on a market that has become increasingly important to its global growth strategy.
The retail giant is preparing to open seven new stores across Canada, adding Supercentres in Ontario, Alberta, and Quebec between 2026 and 2027.
The expansion is part of Walmart Canada’s broader $6.5 billion investment in its store and supply-chain network.
The planned locations include stores in Hamilton, Fort McMurray, Tsuut’ina Nation, Sherbrooke, Edmonton, Ottawa, and Brampton.
Canada fits Walmart’s international growth strategy
Canada is becoming an important testing ground for Walmart’s strategy of combining physical stores, e-commerce, delivery, marketplace, and membership businesses.
And Walmart’s latest earnings call suggests that the company increasingly sees that combination as a way to generate growth across international markets. During Walmart’s second quarter, international net sales increased 7.9% in constant currency, with growth led by China.
But Canada was also an important contributor.
CEO John Furner emphasized that Walmart is increasingly able to take capabilities developed in one market and deploy them elsewhere.
“Rather than building entirely new capabilities market by market, we’re increasingly able to build once, improve continuously and scale globally,” Furner said during the earnings call.
Canada is already becoming part of that strategy.
Walmart launched Walmart+ in Canada during the quarter and expanded its U.S. marketplace platform capabilities into Canada and Mexico.
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The company is effectively using the country as another market in which it can deploy the infrastructure and digital capabilities it has developed in the United States. And physical stores are critical to that strategy.
Furner said Walmart’s “physical footprint, fulfillment infrastructure, and local delivery capabilities” give it a competitive advantage in speed and convenience.
That’s particularly relevant as Walmart Canada builds out its supply chain alongside the new stores.
In June, Walmart opened a 750,000-square-foot fulfillment center in Milton, Ontario, designed to expand its assortment and improve delivery of products across Canada. The facility can store more than 43,000 products.
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Walmart still has challenges to overcome
Walmart’s expansion doesn’t mean Canada is an easy market.
Walmart has been competing in Canada since 1994 and now operates more than 400 stores and distribution centres. That means the retailer is already deeply established, but it also means Walmart faces powerful competitors that understand the Canadian consumer.
Canada’s grocery industry remains highly concentrated, with the Competition Bureau identifying Loblaw, Sobeys, Metro, Costco and Walmart among the country’s major grocery operators. The bureau has also highlighted barriers to competition, including property controls that can make it harder for retailers to open new stores.
Walmart also faces a formidable value competitor in Dollarama.
Then there are Walmart’s broader operating challenges.
During its most recent earnings call, CFO John David Rainey warned that Walmart expects more than $2 billion in additional fuel-related costs for the fiscal year.
He also pointed to “near-term macro crosswinds” affecting consumers.
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Those pressures make profitable international growth particularly valuable.
Walmart isn’t simply opening stores because it can. The company is trying to build a global retail platform in which stores, e-commerce, advertising, marketplace, fulfillment, and membership reinforce one another.
Canada is now part of that experiment. The seven new stores will put Walmart’s physical footprint closer to more Canadian consumers, while the company’s supply-chain investments and Walmart+ rollout give those customers more ways to shop.
That has the makings of a real win.
Maurie Backman owns shares of Walmart.
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