Walmart is targeting New York
The arch-American retail giant has never managed to open a single store in New York City! It has to be one of the most talked-about paradoxes of American retail. Now that is changing!
For three decades or more, the company faced political opposition, union pressure and a broad coalition of local business interests. For many, Walmart became a symbol of the kind of retail New York did not want: large, non-unionized and potentially destructive to the small-store economy.
But while the political front line remained constant the market changed and Walmart changed its strategy.
E-commerce plus 25 percent
According to analysis from CrossDock/LinkedIn and the FT, Walmart is now growing in all five boroughs – without a single brick-and-mortar store. The growth is coming through e-commerce, fast delivery and a logistics model that allows it to serve New York without being in New York.
PYMNTS describes how Walmart is increasing its online sales in the region, despite the company’s continued political unpopularity in the city. What was once a regulatory battle has now become a distribution exercise.
For investors (in Walmart shares), this is a big strategic change. Walmart reports global e-commerce growth of 25 percent and delivers a third of all merchandise in the United States in under three hours. Such figures are no coincidence; they are the result of a massive transformation of logistics, automation and data-driven goods flow.
And it is precisely big cities like New York that make this model profitable. Urban density provides economies of scale that Amazon has long had a monopoly on. Not anymore.
New York cannot be ignored
New York is the most expensive region in the United States. It is not a market Walmart can ignore – and not one it no longer needs political approval to serve. As the company now builds out micro-fulfilment, regional distribution centres and last-mile delivery partnerships, it is effectively a digital establishment in a market that has been physically closed to it for 30 years.
Yet opposition to Walmart runs deep. Unions have seen the company as a threat to organized labour. Local politicians have feared that Walmart would undermine the small shops that characterize the city’s economy. And in New York’s political culture, Walmart has functioned as a symbol – a position more than an actor.
Ironically, it is this resistance that has forced Walmart’s most effective strategy. By blocking physical stores, New York forced the company into a digital model that now gives it greater reach than any single store could. Walmart hasn’t won the battle for New York’s streets. But it has won the battle to take part in the fight for New York’s shoppers—and that’s probably where the margins will lie in 2026, according to FT.
Sources: Walmart, FT, CrossDock, LinkedIn, PYMNTS.