Walmart Stores has revealed plans to invest 1 billion reais—roughly $316 million dollars—in Brazil to refurbish 120 stores—as the country looks to recover from a serious recession.
“We’ve already done about 10 percent of it this year,” Flavio Cotini, Chief Executive Officer of Walmart’s Brazilian unit told news source Reuters at the Latam Retail Show in Sao Paulo this week.
The investment appears to indicate a renewed focus in the Latin America’s biggest economy—where last year the company closed 60 locations.
Reuters noted that rivals like Grupo Carrefour Brasil SA and GPA SA control a large portion of the Brazilian market, and each have made substantial investments in growing their presence as well.
Carrefour, Brazil’s largest food retailer, has announced plans to nearly double its retail footprint in the next three years—investing the proceeds from a stock offering in July. Likewise, GPA SA is undertaking a large-scale renovation program in anticipation of the country’s recovery from what news sources called the worst recession in the country’s history.
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