It’s official: Walmart taking new Joliet warehouse as fulfillment center

Joliet — Joliet officials believed in 2021 that Walmart was the unidentified future tenant of a 1.1 million-square-foot warehouse built at 3501 Brandon Road in Joliet, based on plans submitted to the city.

They were right.

Walmart announced on Friday that the new high-tech fulfillment center in Joliet, set to open this summer, is one of four such fulfillment centers Walmart plans over the next two years.

The Joliet location will be the first to open and is expected to bring 1,000 supply chain jobs to the Joliet region, according to Walmart.

Other locations and their estimated opening dates include a 2,200,000-plus square-foot facility in McCordsville, Ind. (2023); a 500,000-plus square-foot facility in Lancaster, Texas (2023); and a 1,500,000-plus square-foot facility in Greencastle, Pa. (2024).

David Guggina, senior vice president in charge of automation and innovation at Walmart, said in a news release from Walmart that this center will transform online shipping to Walmart customers.

The automated system “transforms” the manual 12-step process into five steps. Walmart warehouse workers typically walk up to nine miles a day to pick items off shelves, Walmart said.

Walmart estimates the four centers could double its daily fulfillment and potentially send millions of items to 75% of people in the United States with next-day or two-day shipping. That percentage rises to 95% when combined with Walmart’s traditional fulfillment centers, Walmart said.