The move covers mostly smaller stores in the USA, including 102 Express stores that were part of a small-format pilot aimed at taking on dollar stores and hard discounters, but which never became sufficiently profitable for Walmart to expand aggressively. The other big chunk is in its challenging Brazilian market.
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The closures represent less than 1% of both Wal-Mart’s global square footage and revenue, but about 16,000 employees, including 10,000 in the USA, will lose their jobs.
The company said the stores it plans to close are generally poor performers, and most are within 10 miles of another Walmart. And internationally the company will add somewhere between 200 and 240 stores.
The company also made a statement: “Our experience over the last three years operating our current stores in D.C. has given us a fuller view on building and operating stores in the District”. “When I saw that in the news, I thought, ‘Oh no, I’ll either have go farther out or don’t go, ‘” said shopper Gayla Morris.
Let us begin with a couple of headlines. “They have good deals and we get everything – down to dog food”. Those stores were opened in 2011 as a test.
Leonard Mayor Willie Johnson said he had just heard the news and was still uncertain what level of impact the closure would have for the city. “I come at least once a week”.
Walmart’s downsizing experiment is over, and the results were not good.
“Actively managing our portfolio of assets is essential to maintaining a healthy business”, said Doug McMillon, president and CEO, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
“The decision to close stores is hard, and we care about the associates who will be impacted”, McMillon said in the release. Friday’s announcement marks the first step in that restructuring effort.
There are no Walmart Express locations in central in, according to Walmart’s website. Four more stores are in development. The company stated that, given the proximity of the locations being closed to other Walmart facilities, it hopes to place the associates affected by the closings at the other stores.
In Hawaii, Walmart has 10 locations and 4,142 associates.
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“It would be good for small businesses”.
