Walmart Inc.'s Canadian subsidiary is looking to hire 10,000 new workers in an effort to keep up with a historic surge in consumer demand amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Walmart Canada chief executive officer Horacio Barbeito released a memo Friday on the company's website stating the retailer is hiring associates for the retailer's stores and distribution centres.

"We want to immediately hire 10,000 more associates in our stores and distribution centres," Barbeito said in the memo. “There’s a lot of work and we need you.” 

Walmart Canada's career website shows nearly 2,000 job positions available ranging from sales associates, bakery workers, cashiers and overnight fulfilment workers. The company currently employs about 90,000 workers in Canada, according to the memo. 

Major Canadian retailers such as Walmart, Loblaw Companies Ltd. and Empire Co. are facing unprecedented demand for goods as people scramble to buy enough food and household products during country-wide social distancing efforts to help stop the spread of COVID-19. 

On Thursday, Loblaw executive chairman Galen G. Weston said the country's largest retailer is reducing store hours to increase sanitization efforts and reduce strain on its workers. Meanwhile, Empire's Sobeys grocery stores started installing Plexiglas shields for its cashiers to protect its staff and customers from contracting the coronavirus.