Wal-Mart on Pace to Create 10,000 Chicago Jobs

Wal-Mart Stores Inc added another two stores to its list of planned locations in Chicago and said it was on pace to meet its goal of creating 10,000 jobs in that city by 2015.

Last year, Wal-Mart said it planned to eventually open several dozen stores in Chicago and create 10,000 jobs as part of its efforts to spur U.S. sales by entering large cities that have resisted letting the discount chain open stores.

Wal-Mart currently has set plans to open two large-format stores in Chicago, as well as two Walmart Market grocery stores, and two smaller-store-format Walmart Express locations. The first Walmart Express store is set to open this summer.

At an event in Chicago with Wal-Mart executives, Mayor Richard Daley praised the retailer's efforts to cater to city shoppers "by creating smaller urban store formats that will better serve our communities," according to a Wal-Mart statement.

Wal-Mart last month reported its seventh consecutive quarterly decline in sales at U.S. stores open at least a year. New York's City Council last month held hearings on whether to let Wal-Mart open stores there.

Shares were down 1.3 percent to $51.38 in afternoon trading.

(Reporting by Phil Wahba, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)