Walmart's (WMT) latest plan for world domination is called "marketside".

It's everything Walmart isn't. A chain of smaller, friendlier stores with a neighborhood quality--providing fresh and prepared foods for higher prices.

And now the FT has spotted one in the wild in Mesa, Arizona. Mesa is a suburb right outside of Phoenix, the area where WMT is building its first 4 pilot stores.

The intial rollout may be small, but WMT inadvertantly revealed its true plans for Marketside via a job post that was quickly taken down: The store is planned to be a chain of more than 1,000 locations with more than $10 billion in yearly revenue.

Walmart will pull in more than $400 billion in revenue this year, so $10 billion is a drop in the bucket. But don't discount the effort too quickly. WMT's growth in the US is limited because it is running out of places that don't already have Walmarts, so a new format creates new growth opportunities. Plus, the margins on that $10 billion could be higher than those in Walmart stores.

The all green lowercase letters, purple awnings, and natural wood finish around the entrances probably have you excited already. However, there is one obvious and very intentional omission on marketside stores: any reference to Walmart.

See Also:

Wal-Mart's (WMT) Next Plan For World Domination: Neighborhood Grocery Stores (WMT)

Wal-Mart (WMT) Sick of Boring Logo: Loses Hyphen and Adds Exciting Sunburst (WMT)