Wal-Mart aims Marketside for fastest grocery trips
ju4 wa4i dia4n zo1ng he2 ba4o da4o :\n  ROGERS, Ark., June 6 (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc\n<WMT.N> is developing its Marketside stores to lure shoppers\nwith its quickest option to buy fresh groceries, the chief\nexecutive of the company's U.S. division said on Friday.\nWal-Mart shoppers might shop at the company's supercenters\nonce a month and go to its grocery-based Neighborhood Markets\nonce a week, but would use Marketside for quick trips to buy\nperishables, said Eduardo Castro-Wright, head of the global\nretailer's U.S. division.\nAcknowledging that the company doesn't "disclose much\ninformation on Marketside," he said the stores will feature a\nsmaller assortment than a traditional grocery store and will\nfocus on fresh goods.\nThe world's largest retailer, which has described\nMarketside as "the neighborhood market for busy people with a\ntaste for fresh and delicious food," is preparing to open four\nof its first stores of this format in the Phoenix, Arizona,\narea. Plans have been in development for 18 months.\n"The intent is to capture more of the quick trip\ncustomers," Castro-Wright told reporters following the\ncompany's annual shareholders meeting.\nThe company has stayed mostly quiet on its plans for\nMarketside as British supermarket rival Tesco <TSCO.L> has\nentered the U.S marketplace, opening Fresh & Easy Neighborhood\nMarkets stores in California, Arizona and Nevada.\nTesco wants to woo U.S. shoppers with smaller convenience\nstores that emphasize ready-to-eat meals and fresh produce.\nMarketside store application plans call for the stores to\noccupy roughly 15,000 square feet (1,400 square meters). That\nis less than half the average size of Wal-Mart's Neighborhood\nMarket grocery stores, and a small fraction of the size of its\nSupercenters, which combine grocery stores with general\nmerchandise and can be more than three times the size of a U.S.\nfootball field.\n(Reporting by Alexandria Sage; Editing by Gary Hill)\n((tel 213 955 6781 alexandria.sage@thomsonreuters.com))\nKeywords: WALMART/MARKETSIDE