Walmart will open shops at wilderness resorts to connect with consumers on vacation. The company’s General Store by Walmart concept is aimed at outdoors enthusiasts and tourists. It’s part of a partnership between the retail behemoth and Getaway – a network of modern cabins in rural U.S locations.

Getaway experts will curate seasonal products from Walmart for the stores, which will open at Getaway Outpost resorts. Items could include hiking gear, leisure activities, blankets, cameras, lip balm and skillets. The stores also will source goods from small businesses in surrounding communities. Meanwhile, Getaway will stock Walmart products on its website and offer its customers discounts at all Walmart stores.

The first General Store by Walmart will open this August at Getaway Hill Country in Wimberley, Texas, between Austin and San Antonio. Through the end of the year, stores will open in Moodus, Connecticut; Running Springs, California; Roscoe, New York; and then Osceola, Missouri.

The news comes on the heels of a disappointing profit slump for the Walmart. The company’s mammoth discount stores aren’t producing outsize sales growth anymore, thanks in part to inflation. Based on trends at its 10,500 stores, Walmart expects operating income for the full year to decline by as much as 13%.

Gateway meanwhile, is on a growth trajectory. It has 19 Outposts with more than 784 cabins, each less than two hours from a major city. It plans another 28 resorts this year. The annual occupancy rate at its properties was 84% last year.

Venture Capital Feeds F&B

Venture capital funds are feeding food-and-beverage concepts with capital to open new stores.

Everytable — a disruptive food concept that makes fresh, nutritious food accessible and affordable for all by operating stores in food deserts and underserved communities — uses a central kitchen and prices meals according to the median income of each store’s ZIP code.

RELATED: Grab-and-Go Chain That Serves Both Affluent Areas and Food Deserts Plans National Expansion

Everytable closed a $55 million Series C funding round led by venture capital investors targeting healthier and sustainable food systems. Everytable will use the investment to open stores in Southern California, the Bay Area and New York City. Everytable, which opened 20 stores in 2022 alone, is on track to finish the year with 54 locations total. This spring, it launched e-commerce delivery in the Bay Area, and it plans to open storefronts there next year. It also opened its first three New York locations this spring and plans to open three more this year.

Everytable also aims to franchise its operations to minority operators from the communities they serve. To that end, the company will franchise 60 locations within the next three years.

RELATED: Entrepreneurs of Color Fulfill Grab-and-Go Restaurant Everytable’s Bold Expansion Plan

Meanwhile Hawaii-based Holey Grail Donuts, a vegan bakery that launched as a food truck, landed $9 million in seed and Series A funding to pay for its expansion to the continental U.S. Holey Grail will open in Santa Monica and Larchmont, California, this year to complement a food truck that already roams Culver City, California.

The company appeals to vegans with sweet tooths because its donuts are made from taro dough and fried in coconut oil. Holey Grail also will use some of the funding to build out a new ingredients supply chain.

3 Retailers Enter U.S. and 2 More Tenant Updates

Biologique Recherche: The French cult skincare brand opened its first U.S. store, a two-level space featuring six treatment rooms, a VIP suite, a hair salon and a shop selling the company’s products. Its only other store is on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, and until recently, its products were available only at top luxury salons.

GU: Japan’s Fast Retailing will open the first U.S. store for its discount banner GU this fall, in New York City’s SoHo. The company has opened about 450 GU stores since 2006, mostly in Japan. Fast Retailing plans more GU stores across North America, to join its Uniqlo stores.

Globe-Trotter: The British luxury luggage maker opened its first store in the U.S., in Los Angeles’ Melrose Place. The company has only two other stores: A London unit opened in 2014, and a location in Tokyo’s Ginza opened in 2016. Globe-Trotter plans to open a New York City store soon.

Museum of Illusions: The “edutainment” operator will open a 6,600-square-foot location at Mall of America in early 2023. It offers optical illusions, holograms and other brain-bending exhibits, including immersive “illusion rooms.” Parent RP Illusions Corp. recently opened the 37th Museum of Illusions, in Brussels, Belgium. Deals in the works will bring the museum to at least 100 locations in 25 countries over the next four years. Planned U.S. locations include Atlanta; Charlotte, North Carolina; Scottsdale, Arizona; and Washington, D.C.

Solana: On July 28, the blockchain network opened its first physical store to promote cryptocurrency and Web 3.0. The store, in New York City’s Hudson Yards, is called Solana Spaces. Its goal is to educate non-users about how cryptocurrencies work, through tutorials, programming and experiences. Meanwhile, less than a week after the store opened, Solana crypto wallets were hacked, raising questions about cryptocurrencies. The store will feature interactive art installations, a demonstration of Solana’s Saga phone, hoodies, T-shirts and NFTs.