Walmart's experiment with pickup-and-delivery stores appears to be over as the last two prepare to close

• Walmart opened up its first pickup-and-delivery-only store in its headquarters city of Bentonville, Arkansas, in 2014.
• The retailer appears to be abandoning the model by closing the concept's last 2 remaining stores.
• The move comes as Walmart's e-commerce growth has greatly slowed since the height of the pandemic.

Long before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Walmart was working to boost its pickup and delivery options and encourage more customers to shop online.

The retail giant opened a pickup-and-delivery-only prototype grocery store in its headquarters city of Bentonville, Arkansas, in September 2014, allowing customers to order food without ever having to get out of their car. In fact, customers could not travel into the store.