The company’s plans: Walmart Stores Inc. said Wednesday that it will expedite the openings of Neighborhood Market and Express stores. It hopes to launch 500 Neighborhood Market stores and 12 Express stores by fiscal year 2016.

What are the stores? Unlike the Walmart stores now in the Treasure Valley, the Neighborhood Markets are smaller than 55,000 square feet, and Express stores are 10,000 to 15,000 square feet. The company has slowly opened Neighborhood Market stores since 1998 and had 217 operating in the U.S. in July.

Are they coming here? Walmart plans to open local Neighborhood Market stores next year in the Treasure Valley. One store will be in the Cole Village Shopping Center at Cole and Ustick roads in Boise. A second will be at Roosevelt Avenue and Middleton Road in Nampa.

Striking workers? Walmart’s announcement of plans to accelerate new openings came while workers in several cities protested low wages and slashed hours by going on strike. About 100 workers protested outside company headquarters in Arkansas on Wednesday while executives met with analysts and investors, organizers said.