Wal-mart to close Bedford Supercenter on January 28

Walmart announced Friday it planned to close 269 stores worldwide, including 154 stores in the U.S. In the next fiscal year, which begins February 1, the company plans to open as many as 300 new stores worldwide, focusing on Supercenters and Neighbourhood Market stores. Opening these smaller stores, which at roughly 10,000 to 40,000 square feet were a fraction of the chain’s typical location size, was meant to be part of a growth plan for Walmart.

On Friday WalMart announced the closing of 269 stores across the globe.

Walmart had already stopped expanding the Express pilot and moved it under the umbrella of its supermarket-size Neighborhood Markets.

There are no Walmart Express locations in central in, according to Walmart’s website. This includes all 102 of the world’s largest retailer’s Express Stores; 60 stores in Brazil, alone. The U.S. closings also include 12 supercenters, six of the older-format “Division 1” discount stores, 23 Neighborhood markets, seven stores in Puerto Rico and four Sam’s Clubs.

Walmart warned that earnings during the fiscal year that starts next month would be up to 12% lower as it is investing more in its operations online and is pouring money into improving the customer experience. Walmart has 11,600 stores globally, including around 5,200 in the U.S. A Wal-Mart spokeswoman said that the closures would impact approximately 650 jobs at the San Jose and Oakland stores.

In a news release, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company said it would close 154 stores in the USA and 115 others overseas, including dozens in Brazil that had recently stopped operating.

The company will assist the 10,000 USA employees impacted by the closed stores.

Wal-Mart estimates 16,000 associates would be affected by the closings, including about 95 employees at the Frisco location. The concept never caught on, as the stores served the same goal as Wal-Mart’s larger Neighborhood Markets, fill-in trips, and prescription pickups. If a transfer is not possible, the company will provide 60 days of paid leave and severance for eligible employees. “We spent considerable time assessing our stores and clubs and don’t’ take this lightly”. During the same period, its subsidiary, Sam’s Club aims to inaugurate its stores in seven to 10 different new locations.