It’s all about business agility, as it seems, as Walmart announced Friday it will be closing 269 stores in a major streamlining move.
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Walmart will open 50 to 60 Supercenters and 85 to 95 Neighborhood Markets in the next year.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. yesterday said it will close 269 stores, including its Walmart Express chain, as the world’s largest retailer streamlines amid increased competition, higher USA costs and disappointing
Latin American results.
With most of the closed stores within 10 miles of another Walmart, “the hope is that these associates will be placed in nearby locations”, the company’s announcement said.
The store closures, which represent less than 1% of global revenue from Walmart’s almost 11,600 stores worldwide, will allow the retailer to step up its digital and in-store initiatives, Hitt says.
The closures include all 102 bodega-like Walmart Express stores.
Quartz has posted a list of every USA store set for closure. When that’s not possible, the company will provide 60 days of pay, severance for those eligible and job transition assistance.
The remaining closures will begin at the end of January and in the United States will mostly affect Walmart’s smallest format stores, Walmart Express, which had been launched as a pilot program in 2011.
“Juneau is in a unique circumstance in that there aren’t other Wal-Marts relatively close by as you might find in other locations that are being closed”, Garcia said. “Closing stores is never an easy decision”.
Katherine Huntley a resident of the area said, “We didn’t have a store, we didn’t have a market, so this is basically most people’s market”.
In the U.S., Walmart will now focus on supercenters, Neighborhood Markets, the e-commerce business and pickup services for shoppers.
The decision is expected to influence over 16,000 employees, with an estimated 10,000 in the US.
The city’s only Walmart will close Sunday.
At the same time Walmart has plans to expand its sister discount brand, Sam’s Club, by opening seven to 10 new locations.
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Of the affected stores, 154 of them are in the United States, with two in southern MI, a store in Hartland and a Sam’s Club in Waterford.
