Walmart is ending its Express concept and closing 269 stores

Walmart on Friday announced plans to close 269 stores, but the 14 in the Sarasota-Bradenton area were not among them. Walmart is closing two locations in MI, the Supercenter on M-59/Highland Road in Hartland and a Sam’s Club on Summit Drive in Waterford.

The Bishops Corner location is scheduled to close January 28.

The remaining 55 stores are spread elsewhere in Latin America. Officials said the impacted stores represent less than 1 percent of both global square footage and revenue. More than half of the stores being closed are in the US with another large portion in its Brazilian market.

The Express concept was a pilot for the company in 2011.

More than 95 percent of the stores set to be closed in the USA are within 10 miles of another Wal-Mart.

“Our experience over the last three years operating our current stores in DC has given us a fuller view on building and operating stores in the District”, the company said in a statement.

In this Thursday, June 4, 2015, photo, shoppers walk from the checkout at a Wal-Mart Supercenter store in Springdale, Arkansas. “But it is necessary to keep the company strong and positioned for the future”.

American store closings will mostly affect the company’s Walmart Express locations, which account for 102 of the closings. For the first time, it also disclosed plans to open 200 to 240 stores overseas in the coming year. It said it would provide 60 days of pay and severance for eligible workers not placed.

Brian Yarbrough, a retail analyst at Edward Jones, says the move has left him wondering whether this is just the beginning of a years-long streamlining of Walmart’s fleet of 4,100 USA stores.

The announcement comes after the company started reviewing its stores in October when it emphasized the importance of keeping up with online competition. “This sends a chilling message to the company’s hard-working employees that they could be next – and with no one standing up for them, that is no doubt the reality”.