Walmart Canada to spend $3.5B to renovate stores for era of COVID-19

Walmart Canada plans to invest $3.5 billion over the next five years to improve service in stores and on the web, renovate 150 stores and build two new distribution centres.

The retail giant says the investment will create hundreds of construction jobs in Canada and forge partnerships with Canadian high-tech companies.

Future technology initiatives include the use of payment on mobile devices so that customers can pay for purchases anywhere in the store.

The company also aims to soon offer a complete merchandise pick-up service at about 270 branches, or 70 per cent of its locations in Canada.

Renovations to more than one-third of its stores will be completed over three years.

Walmart is also planning to spend $1.1 billion to speed up the flow of products by building two new distribution centres, in Vaughan, Ont. and Surrey, B.C., as well as renovating an existing centre in Cornwall, Ont.