Walmart scales back on small stores

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart’s quarterly report included the announcement that the retail giant will focus less on small stores in an effort to stress “quality over quantity,” the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette notes. The smaller Neighborhood Market format has been a hit with customers, outperforming other Walmart stores for the past two years. They may have been a victim of their own success: Brian Yarbrough, an analyst at Edward Jones, suggested the markets may be “cannibalizing supercentres.” Building forecasts for new Neighborhood Markets have been cut by up to 20% and fewer than 120 new ones will be built between now and the end of the year.