News Release

Walmart chooses Alberta to serve Western Canada

The Alberta government’s work to make Alberta the most competitive place to do business has attracted the attention and investment of Walmart Canada.

Alberta’s Recovery Plan focuses on attracting private sector investment to the province to help diversify the economy and create jobs. To help do this, Alberta’s government has lowered taxes on job creators and created an open for business regulatory environment.

“Alberta is proud to welcome more investment to our province: we have the space, the people and the competitive advantage to attract major companies like Walmart to build and expand here. Walmart’s choice to serve their Western Canadian customers from the Calgary area is another signal to the world that our province is coming back, stronger than ever.” Jason Kenney, Premier

Walmart Canada is investing more than $118 million to build a new high-tech, sortable 430,000 square foot fulfilment centre in Rocky View County. The new delivery hub for Western Canada will help meet the needs of millions of their customers while creating jobs in a more diversified Alberta economy.

“Walmart’s investment in our province is another indication that our competitive business environment is what major companies are looking for. This new fulfilment centre is not just creating jobs for Albertans in both the short and long term, it will improve the customer experience throughout all of Western Canada.”Doug Schweitzer, Minister of Jobs, Economy and Innovation

“We are tremendously proud to be investing in a new fulfilment centre in the Calgary area that will create jobs, boost the economy and deliver quicker service for our customers. This modern facility will provide our associates with the latest logistics technology to improve our supply chain. That means more products available, more orders fulfilled and more Canadians offered two-day shipping. This is how we’re transforming our operations to meet the needs of Canadians in Alberta, as well as all Canadians.”Horacio Barbeito, president and CEO, Walmart Canada

Walmart’s new fulfilment centre will create about 325 jobs when it opens, which is expected this fall. In addition to those jobs, the project is generating numerous engineering and construction jobs during its current construction.

“By investing in infrastructure projects like Airdrie’s 40th Avenue interchange, our government has opened the door for major investment opportunities like this one from Walmart Canada. This new fulfilment centre is great news for Airdrie, Rocky View County and the Calgary region. This area is already a hub for many major distribution centres, and we are pleased to welcome Walmart’s expanded operations. This project will not only create short-term jobs while the facility is under construction but will also generate long-term employment opportunities for area residents, helping to revitalize our local economy.”Angela Pitt, MLA for Airdrie-East

The new fulfilment centre will include innovative robotic technology to help associates store, pick and sort items. It will be capable of shipping 20 million items annually from the site to Walmart customers.

This announcement by Walmart is the latest of several significant investments international businesses have made in Alberta recently.

Quick facts

Alberta is home to 61 Walmart stores and four distribution centres, employing more than 16,000 associates.
Walmart purchases more than $1.3 billion worth of products from about 235 suppliers based in Western Canada annually, including about $200 million worth of products from 47 Alberta-based suppliers.
In 2021, Walmart added more than 100 new Canadian suppliers, which includes a nine per cent increase in Alberta-based suppliers.
The new fulfilment centre is expected to be capable of storing 500,000 items to fulfil direct-to-home and in-store pickup orders.