New Sam’s Club Opens in St. Tammany Parish

     Sam’s Club is a division of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT), is the nation’s eighth largest retailer and a leading Membership warehouse club offering superior products and services to more than 47 million Members in clubs across the U.S., as well as in Brazil, China and Mexico. 

    The Covington Sam’s Club will open Tuesday, Oct. 30, at 8:30 a.m. in West St. Tammany Parish’s River Chase development, located at 69630 Stirling Blvd. With a convenient location near I-12 and services including a fuel station and pharmacy, the new club will bring a unique shopping experience to local residents.
The grand opening ceremony, led by Covington Sam’s Club Manager Chris Cuevas, will feature local dignitaries and special appearances as community officials cut the ribbon to signify the club’s opening. Cuevas, who began his career with Sam’s Club in 1997 and has held a management position previously at the Houma, La., Sam’s Club, has overseen the hiring of 180 new Sam’s Club associates for the Covington club, bringing new jobs and growth opportunities to the West St. Tammany Parish community.

      The new Sam’s Club will also help fight hunger in the area by making regular product donations to the Greater Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans. As part of a nationwide collaboration between Sam’s Club and Feeding America, Sam’s Club donated more than 13 million pounds of food to Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief charity.
     The Covington Sam’s Club is the third new club opened in southern Louisiana this year, following a club opening in Baton Rouge in January and Denham Springs in June, and will be the 13^th Sam’s Club in Louisiana.  Along with parent company Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Sam’s Club employs more than 35,000 associates in Louisiana and collected more than $477 million in state and local taxes through sales in 2011.      The Walmart Foundation and Sam’s Club Giving Program contributed $15.8 million to Louisiana non-profit organizations last year.

Walmart Celebrates Newly-Operational Industrial Wind Turbine at Distribution Center in Red Bluff, California

     October 29, 2012 – Walmart celebrated its newly operational large-scale wind turbine at its distribution center in Red Bluff, California. The wind turbine is Walmart’s first onsite industrial-sized wind turbine and will generate approximately 2,200,000 kilowatt hours of power, providing up to 20 percent of the distribution center’s annual electricity use. U.S. House Representative Wally Herger joined local officials, as well as Walmart and Foundation Windpower executives, to commemorate the pilot project.

      The GE SLE 1.0 Megawatt Wind Turbine is comparable in height to a typical 20-story building, with a tower measuring 265 feet tall and a blade spanning 250 feet in diameter. Under the terms of a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Foundation Windpower the project will contribute to energy expense savings as well as provide price certainty for the electricity produced. Foundation Windpower installs, owns, and operates the wind turbine while Walmart purchases the power produced at a fixed rate. Red Bluff was selected for the installation because it provides an ideal environment for an installation of this scale, with good wind conditions and available land already owned by Walmart.
      "I commend Walmart and Foundation Windpower for their commitment to investing in Red Bluff and for working to produce more American-made energy,” said Congressman Wally Herger (R- CA 02). “This project demonstrates how private-sector-led innovation can create jobs and bring down prices for consumers. By making good use of the natural resources Northern California has been blessed with, we can bring more economic growth and opportunity to our communities.”
      “The Red Bluff pilot project is a shining example of how Walmart has made the serious commitment to finding renewable energy solutions for its operations as we work towards the goal of being supplied by 100 percent renewable energy,” said Kim Saylors-Laster, vice president of energy at Walmart.  “With the Red Bluff wind turbine now fully operational, we look forward to continuing to explore renewable energy alternatives to support our operations and reduce our utility costs throughout the country and around the world.”
      “We are delighted to celebrate this partnership with Walmart.  Our project is highly visible evidence that the world’s largest retailer is also the most forward thinking on issues of sustainability and renewable energy,” said John Pimentel, president of Foundation Windpower. “Foundation Windpower now has 22 Megawatts of distributed wind projects in California and looks forward to completing additional similar projects across the country.”
      The wind turbine in Red Bluff is one of more than 180 renewable energy efforts underway worldwide as Walmart works towards its goal of being supplied by 100 percent renewable energy. In addition to a number of solar-focused efforts – including a goal to bring solar energy to more than 75 percent of Walmart and Sam’s Club stores in California, approximately 130 stores, by the end of 2013 – Walmart’s current wind energy projects include:

• A 90-megawatt wind farm in West Texas, providing 15 percent of power for over 300 Walmart stores and Sam’s Clubs and delivering the power purchase equivalent to annual usage of more than 20,000 average American homes
• 348 stores in Mexico supplied by wind power, providing 17 percent of energy needs for Walmart de México and reducing CO2 emissions by 137,240 tons annually
• Wind power provides 100 percent of the electricity needs in fourteen stores in Northern Ireland
• Additional wind energy projects include 12 mini wind turbines that power a Walmart store in Worchester, Massachusetts, wind turbine installations at Walmart’s food distribution center in Balzac, Alberta Canada and micro wind installations at the Sam’s Club in Palmdale, California

Walmart International statement on growth plans in China

     Walmart believes strongly that the Chinese retail industry has great potential thanks to economic growth, expansion of the middle class, fast urbanization and government policies to further boost domestic demand as stipulated in the 12^th Five Year Plan. Beginning next fiscal year, Walmart will establish approximately 100 new stores and Sam’s Clubs over the next three years.  We also will invest in logistics infrastructure.  We plan to add 18,000 jobs in China to support this store growth.”

Walmart Foundation Awards $2 Million Grant to Launch The Sustainability Consortium in China

BEIJING, China – Oct. 25, 2012 - Walmart today further strengthened its commitment to a sustainable global supply chain by announcing a series of initiatives to make the company’s supply chain in the United States, China, and around the world more sustainable. At an event in Beijing with government officials, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), academics, suppliers and company associates, Walmart said the company will use the Sustainability Index to design more sustainable products, make its global supply chain more socially and environmentally accountable and responsible, and incentivize merchants to make sustainability a bigger part of their day-to-day jobs.
“Today I’m proud to announce a series of steps and commitments that will make Walmart’s supply chain, in the United States, here in China, and around the world, more sustainable,” said Mike Duke, President and CEO, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. “The impact of these commitments will be global and make a difference with products sold around the globe.”
“Walmart and the Chinese Government, along with local NGOs and suppliers, have worked together and independently to find new solutions and models for sustainable growth,” said Gary Locke, U.S. Ambassador to China. "Today’s announcement will help accelerate the good work under way to make affordable and sustainable consumer goods more accessible here in China and around the world.”
The additional initiatives announced at today’s event will build on the broader sustainability goals Walmart set at the China Sustainability Summit in 2008. The commitments outlined today include:

• By the end of 2017, Walmart will buy 70 percent of the goods it sells in U.S. stores and in U.S. Sam’s Clubs only from suppliers in the United States, China, and around the world who use the Index to evaluate and share the sustainability of their products. This change will involve suppliers who produce goods in categories where the Index is available.

• Beginning in 2013, Walmart will use the Sustainability Index to influence the design of its U.S. private brand products.

• Walmart will change the way its key global sourcing merchants are evaluated so that sustainability becomes an even more important part of buyers’ day-to-day jobs. Beginning in 2013, these buyers will join key buyers in Walmart U.S. and Sam’s Club who already have specific sustainability objectives on their annual evaluations. 

• The Walmart Foundation will grant $2 million to fund The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) and assist in its efforts in launching TSC in China. TSC is an independent research organization. Using the Walmart Foundation grant, TSC China will engage industries, universities and other experts to form a global network of leaders improving sustainability in consumer goods, and will provide tools and resources to help suppliers become more sustainable and competitive. Walmart will use the results of TSC's independent work to refine its Sustainability Index for use in China.

“The $2 million grant from the Walmart Foundation will support the Consortium and position us to help bring the best science and research to support the development of the green supply chain here in China and globally,” said Kara Hurst, CEO of The Sustainability Consortium.

Media Advisory: Walmart to Announce New Sustainability Commitments in Beijing, China

What:

Walmart Sustainable Global Sourcing announcement in Beijing, China, with Walmart executives, U.S. and Chinese government officials, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and Walmart associates to announce strengthened and expanded commitments to the company’s global sustainability supply chain and to update on progress on global commitments announced at the 2008 Beijing Sustainability Summit.

Who:

Mike Duke, President and CEO, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Leslie Dach, Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Walmart
Greg Foran, President, Walmart China
Gary Locke, U.S. Ambassador to China
Li Jun Fung, Director-General National Climate Change Strategy Research, NDRC
Kara Hurst, CEO, The Sustainability Consortium
Orville Schell, Director US-China Center, Asia Society

When:

Thursday, October 25, 2012
China World Hotel
Beijing, China
2:00 p.m. (Beijing Time)

Retailer Gears Up with Racing Simulators, Authentic Race Merchandise, Race Day Savings

MARTINSVILLE, Va., Oct. 22, 2012 – As the Martinsville Speedway prepares for the upcoming TUMS Fast Relief 500, select Walmart stores in the Martinsville area will offer authentic NASCAR merchandise and host exclusive fan events starting Wednesday, Oct. 24, continuing through Saturday, Oct. 27.  Customers are invited to attend these special events and enjoy stock racing car displays and racing simulator machines – perfect to safely get behind the wheel and feel the power of NASCAR – Oct. 24-27 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The TUMS Fast Relief 500 is the seventh race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. This 500-lap event is part of NASCAR’s 10-race playoff. In 2011, Tony Stewart took the TUMS Fast Relief 500 victory for his third career win at Martinsville Speedway and later went on to win his third NASCAR Sprint Cup championship.
Race Time at WalmartIn addition to the fan events happening in Walmart parking lots, area Walmart stores will feature savings on all the food and snacks fans need to enjoy the race, plus authentic NASCAR merchandise such as T-shirts and racing flags, with an even bigger selection of exclusive products available at Walmart.com/NASCAR.
Participating stores in the Martinsville area include:
515 Mount Cross RoadDanville, Va.

Humana Walmart-Preferred Rx Plan (PDP) Provides Affordable Prescriptions to Seniors and Other Medicare Beneficiaries

 Oct. 15, 2012 — Annual enrollment begins today for 2013 Medicare plans and Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) and Walmart (NYSE: WMT) will once again help beneficiaries afford their prescriptions.  The Humana Walmart-Preferred Rx Plan, which has grown by more than 50 percent over the past year and has nearly 1.5 million Medicare beneficiaries currently enrolled, features:

• One low monthly plan premium of $18.50 a month for beneficiaries in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., regardless of where they live.
• In-store copayments as low as $1 for generic medications after deductible when plan members fill their prescriptions at the more than 4,400 Walmart, Sam’s Club or Neighborhood Market pharmacies.
• Mail order copayments, via Humana’s RightSource Rx Pharmacy, as low as $0. 
• A broad prescription offering with more than 1,500 generic medications. A list of prescription drugs covered by the plan is available at humana-medicare.com.

“Walmart has helped nearly one and a half million seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries save money on their medications so they can ultimately live healthier lives,” said John Agwunobi, M.D., president of Walmart’s Health and Wellness Division. “We pioneered a low-cost, national Medicare Part D program with Humana two years ago, which continues to offer one of the lowest premiums available. This year, we have joined additional plans as a preferred pharmacy as well, allowing us to provide our affordable prescription services to more seniors than ever before.”
“As one of the leading health benefits and Medicare companies, Humana is helping Americans navigate the changing landscape of health care,” said William Fleming, Pharm. D., president of Humana Pharmacy Solutions. “By working with Walmart – a leader in cost savings – we’re enabling seniors and people with disabilities to better afford their medications.”
Medicare Part D is the prescription drug program supported by the federal government. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, nearly 20 million people are currently enrolled in a stand-alone Part D plan. Based on 2010 Census data, there are 40.2 million people 65 years and older, representing 13 percent of the total U.S. population.
“With so many options based on where you live and what prescriptions you need, selecting a Medicare Part D plan can be overwhelming,” said Alexis Abramson, Ph.D, a gerontologist and leading advocate for health and wellness issues affecting baby boomers and seniors. “Programs such as the Humana Walmart-Preferred Rx Plan provide an affordable solution for all qualified Medicare beneficiaries – whether they live in Boise or Chicago.”
Annual enrollment for 2013 Medicare plans runs from Oct. 15, 2012 – Dec. 7, 2012. For more information on the Humana Walmart-Preferred Rx Plan (PDP), please visit walmart.com/rxplan or humana-medicare.com. Beneficiaries can also call Humana toll free at 1-800-899-0441 (TTY: 711). Hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week. The online resources feature plan finder tools to compare Medicare Part D options.
Walmart’s role as a preferred pharmacy on many Medicare Part D plans builds on the retailer’s ongoing commitment to save its customers money on their pharmacy purchases. For example, in 2006 Walmart introduced a $4 prescription program that has saved customers more than $4.8 billion on their prescriptions.

Walmart Expands Health Benefits to Cover Heart and Spine Surgeries at No Cost to Associates

         As health care costs continue to rise, Walmart is introducing a first-of-its-kind Centers of Excellence program that will offer its associates quality health care with no out-of-pocket cost for heart, spine, and transplant surgeries at six of the leading hospital and health systems in the U.S. 
The six designated health care organizations include the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio; Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pa.; Mayo Clinic sites in Rochester, Minn., Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz., and Jacksonville, Fla.; Mercy Hospital Springfield in Springfield, Mo; Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple, Texas; and Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, Wash. These organizations will give Walmart associates the opportunity to receive care at hospitals and medical centers geographically located across the country that specialize in heart, spine and transplant care.

        “We devoted extensive time developing Centers of Excellence in order to improve the quality of care our associates’ receive,” said Sally Welborn, senior vice president of global benefits at Walmart. “We have identified six renowned health care systems that meet the highest quality standards for heart, spine and transplant surgery. Through these hospital systems, our associates will have no out-of-pocket expenses and a greater peace of mind knowing they are receiving exceptional care from a facility that specializes in the procedure they require. This is the first time a retailer has offered a comprehensive, nationwide program for heart, spine and transplant surgery.”
        The new Centers of Excellence program is being expanded from covering transplants, which began with the Mayo Clinic in 1996, to include treatment for certain heart and spine surgeries. Walmart’s associates and their dependents who are enrolled in the company’s medical plans will receive consultations and care covered at 100 percent without deductible or coinsurance, plus travel, lodging and food for the patient and a caregiver.
         Patients must be healthy enough to travel for the surgeries. Four of the designated health care systems -- Cleveland Clinic, Geisinger Medical Center, Scott & White Memorial Hospital and
Virginia Mason Medical Center, will offer specific procedures for cardiac surgery that include open heart surgery for coronary artery bypass grafting, heart valve replacement/repair, closures of heart defects, thoracic and aortic aneurysm repair and other complex cardiac surgeries.
Three of the health care systems -- Mercy Hospital Springfield, Scott & White Memorial Hospital and Virginia Mason Medical Center will perform spine procedures that will include cervical and lumbar spinal fusion, total disk arthroplasty, spine surgery revisions and other complex spine surgeries. Transplants will continue to be provided by the Mayo Clinic.

Live Better: Children's Miracle Network

    Miracles happen every day. Solaine Carter is one of them.

    This year, between May 1 and June 15, Walmart associates and customers raised over $40 million for Children's Miracle Network -- to help kids just like Solaine.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. webcast agenda for the 19th Annual Meeting for the Investment Community

Oct. 9, 2012 -- Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) will webcast its annual meeting for the investment community on Wednesday, Oct. 10 from approximately 7:45 a.m. CDT to 3 p.m. CDT.
The meeting kicks off at 7:45 a.m. CDT with an overall strategic message from Walmart President and CEO Mike Duke.  The morning will be dedicated to presentations on the operating segments from each CEO and members of their leadership teams:

• Walmart U.S. – Bill Simon
• Sam’s Club – Rosalind Brewer
• Walmart International – Doug McMillon

Following a break for lunch, presentations will run from approximately 12:45 p.m. to 3 p.m. CDT.  The afternoon agenda includes:

• Global eCommerce – Neil Ashe, EVP and CEO of Global eCommerce
• Financial strategy and capital expenditure update – Charles Holley, EVP and CFO of   Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
• Strategic priorities  – Mike Duke

American Express and Walmart Launch Bluebird: a New Alternative to Debit and Checking Accounts

     Oct. 8, 2012 – Walmart and American Express today announced the launch of Bluebird, an alternative to debit and checking accounts designed to help consumers better manage and control their everyday finances. Bluebird has been developed for the tens of millions of Americans who are looking for advanced capabilities such as deposits by smartphone and mobile bill pay, fee transparency, and no minimum balance, monthly, annual or overdraft fees. Bluebird puts the power back in the hands of consumers and will be available next week online at bluebird.com and in more than 4,000 Walmart stores. 

     Building on a pilot program launched in late 2011, Bluebird was shaped by feedback from consumers who said they were not getting the value they expect from traditional checking account and debit services because of increasingly higher fees. According to an independent study by Bretton Woods¹, consumers now pay an average of $259 per year for a basic checking account and that cost is rising due to higher minimum balance requirements and a growing list of fees being added to these services.

Walmart Launches Rapid Reload™ to Provide Americans with an Affordable and Convenient Way to Add Cash to Prepaid Cards

       October 2, 2012 – Walmart is launching an affordable and convenient way for customers to load money onto prepaid cards with Rapid Reload, a new service that will accept reloadable cards affiliated with the Green Dot Network, InComm’s Vanilla Reload Network and First Data’s Money Network. Available today in more than 3,800 Walmart stores nationwide, customers can add money to their card at any register for a low price of $3.74.

       According to a recent study by Mercator Advisory Group, 56 million Americans have a prepaid or payroll card. Rapid Reload is a savings for these consumers who have been paying up to $5 to add cash to their cards.

     “Many of our customers continue to seek alternatives that improve both the convenience and cost of every day financial services,” said Daniel Eckert, vice president of financial services for Walmart U.S. “Through our partnerships with Green Dot, InComm and First Data, we are ensuring that the majority of prepaid cards available in the U.S. can be reloaded at Walmart. This is another way we're providing millions of Americans with affordable ways to manage their money.”

     Before today, customers had to make an extra stop to reload their prepaid cards before shopping at Walmart. With Rapid Reload, the process is simple. There are no forms to fill out, no scratch-off PINs and no need to make a phone call or visit a website to complete the reload.

     Walmart will now accept individually branded cards such as Account Now, Achieve Card, H&R Block, Momentum, Money Network, MyVanilla, NetSpend, PayPal, Rush Card and Upside among others. Walmart’s MoneyCard, the world’s best-selling prepaid card, will remain available for a low price of $3.

Walmart Institute initiative to be replicated in other countries

Program focuses on young people who seek professional development.

    Sao Paulo, September 25, 2012 - Walmart Institute (IWM) has given a new leap in relation to its private social investment and for the first time, it will have one of its social technologies developed in Brazil - The Social Retail School (ESV) - spread to other countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. This achievement comes from a new partnership signed between the Walmart Foundation and the International Youth Foundation (IYF) and the Aliança Institute.
     Ongoing since 2010, the Social Retail School provides training and the insertion of skilled young people into the labor market, with a focus on retail. The program has trained more than 4000 young people in the five states where it has been held - Rio Grande do Sul, Pernambuco, Bahia, Ceara and Sao Paulo.
By the end of this year there will be planned activities for the first phase of internationalization, which involves three steps. The first one is the translation and adaptation of all teaching materials - for students and teachers - used at ESV. Then, consultants who specialize in education will visit seven countries - China, South Africa, Argentina, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Chile, Mexico - to identify, together with local social organizations, possibilities to organize local ESVs. A study along the same lines will also be made for Brazil, consolidating and strengthening the experience accumulated so far by Walmart Institute and its partners.
The consultants will also come to Brazil to deeply learn about the strategies and methodologies used by the program, and from there, build a map of possibilities to implement the program overseas. The third and final stage of this first phase will be to conduct a mapping of the ESV, identifying success stories and experiences from each of the schools in all States in order to guide the other consultants.
According to Paulo Mindlin, director of IWM, it is a great achievement as it is an acknowledgment of the company and Walmart Foundation for the great results achieved by the program so far.
The proposal, according to Susan Pezzullo, Director of Programs for Latin America and the Caribbean of the International Youth Foundation (IYF), is to gain scale, but always ensuring the quality of training. “As the impacts have been positive in Brazil, I think the challenge now will be to reproduce similar results. Walmart Institute is seeking to identify what is essential so as to replicate the results we've seen in the country elsewhere, doing so in less time and with more efficiency”, she says.
The goal is to keep the essence of the program methodology, adapted to local issues that meet the challenges of the country. Vinicius Maffalti highlights that the great legacy the ESV will not miss is the dimension of its young people’s life projects, in view of their personal and professional development.
Currently, the ESV promotes the insertion of about 80% of the young people who participate in the training activities. The result draws attention to one of the major global challenges: youth unemployment. According to the ILO (International Labour Organisation) about 75 million young people are currently unemployed worldwide. “This is a program that responds to a demand that is not only in Brazil but worldwide. Surely this has a significant impact because it is a social technology that has the potential to be replicated elsewhere, in places with very similar demands”, said Vinicius Malfatti, IWM coordinator, responsible for the Social Retail School.
According to Malfatti, the ESV brings an answer to the yearnings of the youth, to their getting their first jobs, and the program is aligned to opportunities within the business itself, as retail is considered a major gateway to the labor market. He also emphasizes the importance of the partnership with the Government, which also faces the challenge of ensuring the training of young people for the country's development.

Example to be shared
For the young people who have participated in the formation of the ESV, it is this look at the construction of a life project that makes all the difference to their professional insertion. Claudia Cristina Antunes, 19, a participant in the class of 2010 at ESV Barueri (SP), is an example of a girl who knows what she wants in life, having already drawn her career path within retailer Walmart.

This young lady, who works at Sam's Club Osasco, already changed positions three times since entering the store in December 2010, due to her good performance. Today, she serves as check-out inspector, but believes that she will soon be promoted to be a supervisor. For 2013, her plans have also been defined: the beginning of a Marketing degree in order to gain a position at the company office at a later stage.
All this determination, she states, came from the experience she earned at the ESV. “I learned a lot of things for my personal and professional life. It is a program that opens up our eyes, that shows we can grow”, said the girl, who was delighted with the news of the internationalization of the Social Retail School. "It will be great for the program to go elsewhere. I hope it can transform the lives of more young people. "