Walmart Closing 269 Stores Worldwide-154 in the US Means 10000 Layoffs

Wal-Mart announced Friday that it will close 269 stores around the world, with 154 of those in the U.S. The closures will affect 10,000 workers in the U.S. and 16,000 around the world.

Of the 154 store closures in the US, 102 of them are under the Wal-Mart Express name, which were opened as a test in 2011. Express stores are usually confined to very small area of about 12,000 square feet, compared to Wal-Mart Supercenters at 182,000 square feet and the roughly 38,000-square-foot Neighborhood Markets, which are created to rival traditional grocery stores. Even with today’s actions, Walmart will continue to invest in its future, with plans to open more than 300 new stores worldwide over the coming year.

Walmart is closing the stores to shift resources to Supercenters and smaller-format Neighborhood Market stores.

Outside the U.S., Wal-Mart is closing 115 stores, including 60 recently-closed, loss-making stores in Brazil, which represented only 5% of sales in that market.

President and CEO, Wal-Mart Stores, Doug McMillon said in the recent press release: “Actively managing our portfolio of assets is essential to maintaining a healthy business. So we are committed to growing, but we are being disciplined about it”, McMillon said.

Over 95% of the stores that will be closed in the United States are 10 miles or less from another existing Walmart store and the company has pledged to ensure workers are placed in locations close to their current store or where they live. The stores will close January 28th.

The Warwick Sams Club is one of four Sams Club stores the company will close in America. During the same period, its subsidiary, Sam’s Club aims to inaugurate its stores in seven to 10 different new locations.

Even as it was announcing the closings, Walmart announced that it plans to open at least 50 Supercenters and at least 85 Neighborhood Markets over the next 13 months.

“As part of a broad, strategic review of our existing portfolio and pipeline, we’ve concluded opening two additional stores in Washington, DC is not viable at this time”. Wal-Mart will be offering 60 days’ pay to affected employees in the US, and a severance package for those who are eligible.