Walmart’s rollback of self-checkout continues. This time in South Philadelphia.

In an increasingly automated world, multinational retailer Walmart is going old school at its South Philadelphia location and rolled back its self-checkout in March, bringing back cashiers.

The South Christopher Columbus Boulevard store is the only one out of the city’s five locations to make the switch, according to a company spokesperson.

“These changes are guided by feedback from associates and customers, local shopping patterns, and the needs of the business in each community,” the spokesperson said in an email, adding the change aimed to “improve the checkout experience and enable associates to provide more personalized customer service.”

The local rollback is the latest in a yearslong trend among big box stores rethinking the potential promise of self-checkout. Major retailers including Dollar General, Target, Five Below, and Walmart were rolling back or limiting self-checkout by 2024.

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Several companies, such as Philadelphia-based Five Below, cited theft prevention as the reason for the change. Still, as Walmart expanded its return to cashier-led checkouts in Missouri and Ohio, it emphasized that the switch was aimed at boosting customer service.

One study published in 2024 found self-checkout can hurt customer loyalty.

“A lot of customers often feel entitled to service in a retail environment,” said Yanliu Huang, professor of marketing at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business and coauthor of the study. “So when they have to do the checkout work themselves, it can reduce their satisfaction.”

But don’t expect self-checkout to go away entirely, said Huang. Deciding whether to keep or ditch self-checkout can vary by store and what companies call “basket size.” Huang said some people prefer the machines if they have small hauls and self-checkout allows them to circumvent lines of full carts.

The South Philadelphia Walmart is keeping a handful of self-checkout lanes for its Spark drivers, the independent contractors delivering orders for the company.

The self-checkout rollback comes as Walmart embarks on plans to remodel 32 stores in Pennsylvania, “upgrading layouts, technology, and services to offer faster, more convenient shopping and delivery in as little as an hour for most customers,” according to the company.

The company, which said it has already invested $518 million in Pennsylvania stores over the last five years, said updates include free pharmacy delivery for Walmart+ members.

In the Philadelphia region, four stores slated for upgrades are located in Montgomery and Berks Counties.