Walmart hopes to develop a roughly 1.5 million-square-foot fulfillment warehouse in Orange County, New York, according to a project proposal filed July 13.
The site, located in the town of Wallkill, will include truck courts and loading areas to accommodate freight movement, designated truck parking areas, as well as a roughly 41,000-square-foot truck maintenance garage, per the project description. The facility is expected to employ approximately 1,500 associates.
Walmart is in the “very early stages of evaluating this opportunity," a spokesperson told Supply Chain Dive in an email. They did not provide any additional information.
Company executives have highlighted Walmart’s fulfillment strategy, noting how speed is key. Seth Dallaire, EVP and chief growth officer, said at the Evercore conference in June that bringing a seller’s product catalog to a store is just one aspect.
“When we bring that item into one of our fulfillment centers, and we're delivering it to you same day or next day, we see the conversion rates go up,” he said. “Our customers love that. So from a supply chain standpoint and just sort of how we're bringing fulfillment to the table, speed is what our customers want.”
The proposal comes as Walmart continues to adjust its warehouse footprint, modernizing some facilities while building or shuttering others.
Earlier this year, for instance, Walmart outlined plans to invest more than $330 million to modernize a regional distribution center in Louisiana. Meanwhile, in Illinois, the retailer plans to permanently close a fulfillment center in Matteson, impacting more than 100 employees in the process. Instead, operations will be relocated to other “NextGen” facilities. Walmart noted plans to close a Massachusetts fulfillment center in May.
