Walmart opening million-square- foot fulfillment center in Salt Lake

Yet another e-commerce fulfillment center will be built in Utah, as Walmart will open a 1 million-square-foot facility this summer in Salt Lake City.

The center at 990 N. 6550 W. will be the retail giant’s first fulfillment center in Utah and is expected to create about 450 full-time, permanent jobs. It will fulfill online orders placed at Walmart.com.

“Walmart is excited to welcome our first fulfillment center in Salt Lake City to support our growing ecommerce fulfillment network,” said Steve Miller, senior vice president of supply chain operations at Walmart U.S. “This new facility is the latest of example of Walmart’s commitment to offering customers fast shipping on items they need every day, and we look forward to further delivering on that promise with the development of this new, state-of-the-art facility.”

Walmart distribution centers are focused on receiving, storing and distributing products to Walmart stores, but fulfillment centers store millions of items that are picked, packed and shipped directly to customers as soon as the next day after ordering.

Walmart operates three distribution centers and 59 retail stores and employs more than 20,000 people in Utah. In fiscal year 2021, stores, clubs and the Walmart Foundation gave $19.4 million in cash and in-kind donations to Utah organizations.

Walmart Inc. has roughly 10,500 stores and clubs in 24 nations and e-commerce websites and employs 2.2 million people worldwide. It had fiscal year 2021 revenue of $559 billion.

The company said the new facility is part of a broader initiative to add more capacity into Walmart’s supply chain. In the third quarter of fiscal year 2022, Walmart U.S. e-commerce sales grew 8 percent for the quarter and 87 percent over the past two years.

Among the center’s full-time positions at the center are general manager; environmental, health and safety operations manager; maintenance manager; and human resources manager. Candidates can search open positions and complete applications at careers.walmart.com.

A competitor in the fulfillment center realm, Amazon, last month opened a center at 6338 W. 700 N. that will focus on “sub-same-day” service, allowing its Prime members to get orders in as quickly as five hours. The 150,000-square-foot center will have more than 250 part-time and full-time positions.

Amazon employs more than 8,000 people at five fulfillment centers and sortation centers, three delivery stations, and four Whole Foods in Utah.