Ottawa, 27 Aug - Wal-Mart Stores Inc expects to expand its market share in Canada in the second half of the year despite, or perhaps because of, tough economic times, Wal-Mart Canada CEO David Cheesewright said on Tuesday.
Cheesewright also told Reuters he was "reasonably optimistic" about continuing strong sales into the Christmas season.
"We've had a pretty good first half of the year, and we're seeing both north and south of the (U.S.) border, as the economy is toughening, a lot of middle-ground consumers are looking for value in a way that they haven't done before," he said.
"And they tend to head for Wal-Mart when they want that. So I always think we do very well in an economic downturn and we're seeing that so far," Cheesewright said.
"We expect to continue to gain significant market share in the second half of the year in a toughening environment," he said.
Wal-Mart has 309 stores in Canada and expects to continue to expand at a rate of 25 to 30 stores a year over the next five years, keeping it the fastest-growing retailer in Canada.
The company's most aggressive expansion is in supercenters, which sell groceries along with general merchandise, and Cheesewright said Wal-Mart sees particular opportunities here as food price inflation takes hold.