November 5, 2009 — Future Wal-Mart locations will be about 8 percent smaller and cost 16 percent less to build, as part of its Project Impact designed to reduce waste throughout its operations, according to the e-newsletter Environmental Leader.

Wal-Mart already has remodeled about 30 percent of U.S. stores and plans to have remodeled or built out 70 percent of its stores to the new standard by 2012.

Yet one can't help but wonder, with the retail giant's prices already inching up in recent months—often after a store's remodeling—what additional impact Project Impact will have on shoppers' wallets.