Dive Brief:
- Walmart is tapping Kyle Kinnard to become senior vice president of its Neighborhood Market business unit, the retailer’s Executive Vice President of Store Operations Cedric Clark wrote on LinkedIn last week.
- Kinnard is currently Walmart U.S.’ senior vice president and general merchandise manager of home, and he previously worked for Sam’s Club for more than two decades, starting as a cashier.
- Kinnard is replacing Kelvin Buncum, who is retiring from the retailer after more than 12 years and most recently served as executive vice president of Neighborhood Market.
Dive Insight:
With Kinnard’s change, Walmart is tapping a veteran executive to lead its grocery-focused format.
During his career at Sam’s Club, Kinnard served in a variety of leadership roles including senior director of operations in China and senior vice president, president of Sam’s Club Mexico, according to his LinkedIn profile.
“Kyle brings a deep-seated knowledge of operational transformation, item merchandising and inventory management,” Clark said in the LinkedIn post. “His international experiences will also help Walmart U.S. learn best practices from our strong international businesses.”
Clark did not say in the post when Kinnard will step into the role heading up the Neighborhood Market business unit.
The first Neighborhood Market opened in Bentonville, Arkansas, in 1998. Walmart now has 675 Neighborhood Markets among its 4,615 Walmart U.S. locations, which include more than 3,500 supercenters, as of the end of January.
The Neighborhood Market format is roughly one-fifth the size of a typical supercenter, which averages 200,000 square feet.
The announcement of Kinnard’s move comes almost two months after Buncum announced his upcoming retirement on LinkedIn.
The leadership change is also happening at a time when Walmart is ramping up its store fleet expansion plans. The retailer announced in January that it aims to build or convert more than 150 locations by 2029 and remodel 650 stores across 47 states and Puerto Rico during the next 12 months.
