Wing expands drone delivery to 8 Walmarts

Wing and Walmart added drone delivery to eight more Walmart stores in the Greater Houston area on July 8, extending a service the companies began there in January at five locations. The expansion covers stores in Houston, Spring and New Caney, according to a July 8 release reported by Community Impact. Wing said customers near the added stores can order groceries and household essentials through the Walmart app, Walmart’s website or the Wing app. The company has described Houston as the first market in what it called its biggest expansion year with Walmart, after earlier growth in Dallas-Fort Worth and metro Atlanta. (communityimpact.com) The move sits alongside a separate Walmart push in California, where the retailer is bringing its branded EV charging network to more stores and offering Walmart+ member discounts on charging, according to a July 8 Los Angeles Times report and Walmart’s EV charging page. ### Which Houston-area Walmart stores were added? Community Impact reported that the eight newly added stores are at 13003 Tomball Parkway, 12353 FM 1960 Road W., 13484 Northwest Freeway, 13750 East Freeway and 3506 Highway 6 S. in Houston; 2901 Riley Fuzzel Road and 1025 Sawdust Road in Spring; and 20310 Highway 59 in New Caney. (communityimpact.com) The service had already launched in January at stores in Crosby, Katy, Houston, Kemah and another Katy location. (latimes.com) Wing’s January announcement said the Houston launch started with five stores and formed part of a broader coast-to-coast expansion plan with Walmart covering more than 270 stores nationwide. Wing also said it had already completed hundreds of thousands of drone deliveries across dozens of U.S. sites. ### How does the drone service work for customers? Wing said Houston-area customers can check whether their address is eligible at its Walmart delivery page and then place an order through Walmart or Wing. (communityimpact.com) The company said its drones are designed to lower packages by tether to a delivery spot on a customer’s property. (wing.com) Wing said the aircraft fly at about 150 feet and can reach about 60 miles per hour, carrying packages weighing up to about 2.5 pounds. On its consumer delivery page, Wing says deliveries can arrive in as little as 15 minutes, while its January Houston announcement described the local service as delivering in as fast as 30 minutes. ### What is Walmart doing in EV charging at the same time? Walmart said on its EV charging page that it is rolling out 400-kilowatt fast chargers compatible with CCS and NACS and integrating payment and charging status into the Walmart app. (communityimpact.com) The company’s site lists California among the states where charging is available or coming soon. Walmart said in 2023 that it intended to build its own EV fast-charging network at thousands of Walmart and Sam’s Club locations by 2030. (wing.com) In a 2024 sustainability update, the company said the chargers would be owned and operated by Walmart using partner technology. The Los Angeles Times report, as reflected in syndicated versions of the article, said Walmart+ members will receive a 10% discount off an average charging price of $0.46 per kilowatt-hour at the company’s chargers. (walmart.com) The same report said Walmart chargers were already available at more than 75 locations in 17 states, with California next in the rollout. ### How do these projects fit into Walmart’s delivery and store strategy? (corporate.walmart.com) Walmart said on May 28 that it had brought 30-minute-or-less delivery to 33 U.S. markets for Walmart+ members for a $10 fee, calling it part of a broader convenience strategy built on its store footprint. The company said that offer uses an algorithm based on basket size, driver availability and distance from the store. (arcamax.com) Walmart said in April that it was making a significant investment in U.S. stores in 2026 to make shopping faster and more convenient. The drone expansion in Houston and the EV charging build-out add to that store-based push, with the next customer step in both cases running through Walmart’s app and store network. (corporate.walmart.com 1) (corporate.walmart.com 2)