Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Dillard Department Stores Inc. said they will build and operate 50 Dillard stores in Mexico in partnership with the Mexican retailer Cifra.
Dillard will be a 50 percent partner in the venture. The other 50 percent will be owned by Wal-Mart and Cifra.Under the agreement, the three companies will own department stores patterned after Dillard's 231 stores in the United States. Dillard will operate the stores.
The first store is expected to open in late 1995 in Monterrey. Wal-Mart and Cifra, which created their own joint venture in 1991 to operate discount stores and clubs in Mexico, will be involved in logistics, recruitment and technology issues for the new stores.
On Thursday, Wal-Mart said it would open an export-distribution center in Tucson to stock the Mexican discount stores.
U.S. retailers are establishing stores in Mexico in response to the North American Free Trade Agreement among the United States, Canada and Mexico. The agreement virtually eliminates trade and investment barriers by 2009.