First store openings of Walmart's Marketside concept for fast shopping expected shortly

Wal-Mart Stores Inc is developing its Marketside stores to lure shoppers with its quickest option to buy fresh groceries, the chief executive of the company's U.S. division said on Friday.

Wal-Mart shoppers might shop at the company's supercenters once a month and go to its grocery-based Neighborhood Markets once a week, but would use Marketside for quick trips to buy perishables, said Eduardo Castro-Wright, head of the global retailer's U.S. division.

Wal-mart is preparing to open four of its first stores of this format in the Phoenix, Arizona, area.

The company has stayed mostly quiet on its plans for Marketside as British supermarket rival Tesco has entered the U.S marketplace, opening Fresh &Easy Neighborhood Markets stores in California, Arizona and Nevada.