Walmart is stepping up its efforts with disaster responses — and it’s using North Texas to test its capabilities.
The Arkansas-based retail giant set up in Dallas this week to see how the upgraded capabilities — including 18-wheelers, tents and other mobile help — would operate in the real world, it said.
At the store parking lot, it tested how multiple services operate together during a disaster response, including a mobile kitchen, mobile pharmacy and drone support. It tested a meal service for both drive-through lines and walk-up customer traffic.
The company evaluated how to better support families who arrive on foot by creating a seating area where people could rest and eat — or, during live activation, could wait while other services, such as showers or laundry, become available.
D-FW Retail News
“We’re very encouraged by what we learned and having the opportunity to test how quickly we can set up and coordinate services to support a community during an actual emergency,” the company said. “This will be incredibly valuable for the future in our disaster response.”
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Walmart has turned to Dallas-Fort Worth for new ideas for its operations in the past, as it taps into the large population and active retail market. That includes efforts around drones and new ways of using technology at Sam’s Club.
The updated emergency response model includes a larger mobile kitchen capable of serving up to 12,000 meals along with other services designed to help communities recover more quickly after a disaster.