Wal-Mart to close stores including smaller stores in Texas

The store, which sells discounted groceries, is a block away from a closed Fresh & Easy and 1 mile from a Stater Bros.

Wal-Mart announced today that it’s closing its Juneau location, along with 154 other stores across the country.

Wal-Mart Stores said Friday it was closing 269 stores, including all 102 of its Walmart Express stores, a small-format concept that the retailer has struggled to make as profitable as Supercenters.

According to the Walmart press release, the retail company will be opening 300 new stores around the world in 2016. Between 50 to 60 Supercenters and and 85 to 95 Neighborhood Markets are slated to open in the U.S.

– D.C. leaders are upset that Wal-Mart has abandoned plans to open two new locations east of the Anacostia River. In total, about 16,000 workers will lose their jobs, including 10,000 in the United States.

It’s all about business agility, as it seems, as Walmart announced Friday it will be closing 269 stores in a major streamlining move.

Most of the stores being closed are smaller-footprint businesses, called Walmart Express stores, located in the south. WalMart will close another 115 stores internationally. It seems that the company has fast tracked the closure process and is shutting down these stores before the end of the month. Approximately 75 per cent of the impact relates to USA closings and the remaining portion involves Walmart International, with a large majority of the international impact relating to the closures in Brazil.

Worker advocates said they fear this could be the beginning of a slew of cuts. It’s unclear how many employees will be affected by the closures in Tennessee.

The world’s largest retailer targeted the Port Covington store for closure after reviewing its almost 11,600 worldwide stores, looking at financial performance and alignment with long-term plans.

“Actively managing our portfolio of assets is essential to maintaining a healthy business”, Doug McMillon, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. “The decision to close stores is hard and we care about the associates who will be impacted”, McMillon said. Most of these stores are 12,000 square-feet and opened about a year ago.

In an announcement, it said 154 of the terminations will happen in the U.S., with 60 in Brazil and 55 in other Latin American nations.