Walmart (NYSE: WMT) has opened a more than 900,000-square-foot next-generation fulfillment center in Stockton, California, strengthening its order capacity for customers along the West Coast.
The facility is the retailer’s fifth next-generation fulfillment center, continuing a buildout first announced in 2022 with the goal of dramatically expanding same- and two-day shipping coverage across the country.
Walmart said the Stockton site leverages automation, technology and machine learning to move products faster and more efficiently than a traditional fulfillment warehouse.
A high-density automated storage and retrieval system brings products directly to associates, reducing repetitive manual tasks and cutting Walmart’s traditional 12-step fulfillment process down to just five steps.
The streamlined process is designed to significantly increase the number of orders the facility can fulfill on a daily basis compared with conventional distribution infrastructure.
Walmart’s first next-generation fulfillment center opened in Joliet, Illinois, in 2022, followed by a second location near Indianapolis in the same year, with subsequent sites built in Lancaster, Texas, and Greencastle, Pennsylvania.
When Walmart first revealed its next-generation fulfillment strategy in 2022, the company said those facilities could provide 75% of the U.S. population with next- or two-day shipping.
Combined with its broader fulfillment network, Walmart now says the next-generation centers will enable the company to reach 95% of the U.S. population with next- or two-day delivery.
Walmart Fulfillment Services, the company’s third-party fulfillment arm, will also operate out of the Stockton facility to fulfill orders placed through its Marketplace platform.
The Stockton opening reflects Walmart’s ongoing investment in California, with the company and the Walmart Foundation contributing more than $84.2 million in cash and in-kind donations to local California organizations in fiscal year 2026.
