Sam's Club planning over 30 more stores
Walmart Inc.'s Sam's Club plans to build more than 30 stores over the next few years in its first expansion since 63 clubs were closed in 2018.
Walmart's members-only warehouse division said Thursday that it will also add distribution and fulfillment centers to its supply chain network and retrofit others.
"The decision to invest in expanding its physical footprint was motivated by historic comparable sales growth, and a record rise in membership over the last two years," Sam's Club said in a news release.
Sam's Club operates about 600 stores in the United States and Puerto Rico.
The first of the new clubs will open in 2024 in Florida, Sam's Club said. The company didn't say if new clubs or facilities will open in Arkansas.
At about 160,000 square feet, the new clubs will be larger than the average club's 136,000 square feet.
Sam's Club's plans for its supply chain expansion include opening five fulfillment and distribution centers this year, starting with one in Georgia in late summer.
Walmart shares fell 13 cents Thursday to close at $142.21.
-- Serenah McKay
Uniti Group signs dark fiber contract
Uniti Group Inc. announced Thursday it has signed a long-term contract to offer long-haul dark fiber connectivity to data centers located in 12 cities in five states.
The routes include major cities in Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Tennessee and Texas. Dark fiber is unused capacity on a fiber-optic network.
The agreement includes 3,100 fiber route miles, connecting several Internet traffic aggregation points and key infrastructure hubs for Uniti's customer. The customer is an unnamed large global internet provider.
"Today's announcement represents one of the largest customer contracts, by total contract value, in Uniti's history, encompassing over 10,600 fiber strand miles," said Greg Ortyl, president of wholesale and strategic accounts.
The Little Rock communications provider owns about 134,000 fiber route miles and 8 million fiber strand miles. Route miles represent the distance covered by the network and strand miles includes the distance covered by all individual strands of fiber in the network.
-- Andrew Moreau
State index finishes session 6.98 higher
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, closed Thursday at 836.34, up 6.98.
"Fourth quarter GDP data reported above expectations moved stocks back higher towards recent resistance levels as investors seized on the unexpected growth despite a slowing economy in hopes of a soft economic landing," said Leon Lants, managing director at Stephens Inc.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.