The U.S. closings are part of a larger array of store closures. Worldwide, Walmart says it will close a total of 269 stores. These represent only a small portion of the company’s more than 11,000 current locations, but could have real impact for people — shoppers and employees — in the affected markets.
Think about this: While the closing stores only represent less than 1% of Walmart’s total retail footprint, some 16,000 workers (10,000 of them in the U.S.) will be out of a job. That gives you an idea of just how many people Walmart employs.
The company says affected workers will receive 60 days’ pay. Some will additionally receive severance, though Walmart did not provide the eligibility requirements. The retail giant claims it will try to place laid-off associates with jobs at other stores nearby, and that these workers will be given priority for open positions.
Lest you think Walmart is trying to shrink its overall bricks-and-mortar footprint, CEO Doug McMillon says the company still intends to open more than 300 new stores worldwide over the coming year. Here in the U.S., that will include at least 50 Supercenters, 85 Neighborhood Markets and upwards of 10 new Sam’s Clubs.
Walmart will be releasing a list of the stores to be closed later today. We will update this post when we’ve received that information.
“We conducted a thorough review of our stores and clubs worldwide that took into account a number of factors, including financial performance as well as strategic alignment with long-term plans,” says McMillon about how stores were selected.
Regarding the choice to shutter the Express stores, which have only been around since 2011, McMillon explains that “we have learned a lot from this pilot, including a deeper understanding of the everyday needs of our customers,” but that the company has decided it can “better serve our customers by focusing on Supercenters and Neighborhood Markets and by investing in e-commerce and services like Pickup.”
by Chris Morran via Consumerist