BENTONVILLE, Arkansas - Less than two months after detailing plans to increase the number of Neighborhood Market stores it operates, Walmart Stores Inc. said yesterday that is hiring a management team to develop new store formats for the retail giant. In addition to its core Walmart discount outlets and Neighborhood Markets, the company operates Sam's Club membership stores and a number of Walmart Super Centres in North America.

Walmart began posting jobs for the new managers last week on its web site. The move is viewed by industry insiders as Walmart's response to the U.S. arrival of British grocery giant Tesco PLC, and its need to find leaner ways of operating while still getting customers through the doors.

Industry analyst Patricia Edwards, with Wentworth, Hauser & Violich, said it is logical for Walmart to look at new formats, including much smaller floor space to manage, since it "has been building things from the ground up for a long time." She said new bricks-and-mortar stores have represented the bulk of Walmart's growth.

Tesco PLC, which classifies itself as a "grocery" chain in the UK, but which fits better into the "general merchandise" category used in North America, has announced simultaneous September 2007 openings of stores in California, Arizona and Nevada. The company plans to open 30 of its ‘Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets', each of which is roughly one-half the size of a typical supermarket, throughout the U.S. next year.

It is the largest British retailer by both global sales and domestic market share; is the world's third-largest grocery retailer; and is the fourth-largest retailer behind Walmart of the United States, Carrefour of France, and The Home Depot of the United States.

Walmart Canada refused to comment on company plans to develop new store formats in the U.S. HGO was unable to reach a spokesperson for Tesco PLC to determine if the company plans to operate in Canada also.