Walmart to remodel nine New Hampshire stores, open new pharmacy

Nine New Hampshire Walmart stores were set for remodels, and the Keene store added a new pharmacy, a combination that can change more than the look of the building. For hourly associates and managers, the work usually means altered aisles, more customer questions, cross-training between the front end and pharmacy, and the kind of schedule juggling that comes with construction and a refreshed store format.

Walmart said the statewide push covered Concord, Epping, Keene, Manchester, Plaistow, Plymouth, Rochester, Seabrook and Somersworth. The company said the remodels would improve layouts, technology and services, expand healthy foods and affordable on-trend items, and support faster shopping and delivery. Walmart also said its store-based app experience helps customers navigate stores and book services such as Auto Care, another sign that the company is pushing more traffic through digital tools and in-store services at the same time.

The Keene project carried the clearest day-to-day impact for workers. Walmart said the remodel there included a new pharmacy with affordable medications, vaccines and other clinical services, and local reporting said construction on the full-service pharmacy began in early February. The pharmacy opened on April 24 at the Walmart in Riverside Plaza at 350 Winchester St. and was expected to offer prescription services, immunizations and medication counseling. After Rite Aid closures in 2025 displaced many patients in the area, the new pharmacy filled a local gap and likely brought a fresh stream of customers through the store.

For store teams, that mix of grocery, health and wellness and pharmacy business matters because it changes how the day runs. Pharmacy openings usually bring more compliance-sensitive work, more coordination with management, and more pressure on front-end associates who field questions about transfers, vaccines and store services. Remodels also can mean temporary disruptions to parking, freight flow, signage and department placement while crews widen aisles, add digital touchpoints or refresh displays. Walmart’s broader remodel pattern in 2023 included expanded pharmacies, private screening rooms, digital touchpoints and more open space, a layout that often shifts labor toward customer navigation and service support.

The company said it had invested more than $82 million statewide over the past five years and that Walmart and the Walmart Foundation donated more than $3 million to local nonprofits in the past year, including more than 1.8 million pounds of food. Nationally, Walmart said it planned more than 650 Supercenter and Neighborhood Market remodels this year, putting New Hampshire inside a much larger capital spending cycle that will be felt most directly by the associates asked to keep stores running while the work is underway.