BENTONVILLE, Ark. — The recession steered a new type of customer to Wal-Mart — deeper in the pockets and suddenly looking for bargains. Now the world’s largest retailer has to figure out how to keep that customer, who spends about 40 percent more than the traditional Wal-Mart shopper, when the economy recovers.
So Wal-Mart is bringing in more brand names, ditching scores of other products and redesigning stores to give them wider aisles, better lighting and better sight lines.
Wal-Mart says it’s placing a big bet on the redesign of most of its 3,600 stores, started last fall. This fiscal year, it plans to redo up to 600 at a cost from $1.6 billion to $1.7 billion.
The prototype for the remodeling also includes lower shelves to make it easier to see across the store. The Associated Press
