Walmart Closes 269 Stores in Giant’s Biggest Single Culling

The announcement came hours after Wal-Mart said it is closing 269 stores, more than half of them in the US and another big chunk in its challenging Brazilian market.

Most of the stores being closed are smaller-footprint businesses, called Walmart Express stores, located in the south. Wal-Mart will now focus in the USA on supercenters, Neighborhood Markets, the e-commerce business, and pickup services for shoppers. Only 12 U.S. Walmart Supercenters will close, along with four Sam’s Club stores.

Shares of WalMart, which said the store closures represented less than 1 percent of its global square footage and revenue, fell 2.4 percent to $61.57.

Its closure is part of Wal-Mart’s plan to close 269 stores globally, following a review of its portfolio in October.

Financial performance is just one of many factors the company took into account when deciding which stores to close, Garcia said, but she wouldn’t specify what else was part of the decision.

Katherine Huntley a resident of the area said, “We didn’t have a store, we didn’t have a market, so this is basically most people’s market”. Of the stores being closed 154 are in the United States. The company aims to place those associates in nearby Walmarts. The company will give them 60 days of pay, and some will be eligible for additional severance.

Walmart has 4,500 stores in the U.S. Its important to remember that well open well more than 300 stores around the world next year.

The global closings include 60 money-losing stores in Brazil and another 55 unprofitable units in other Latin American countries, Walmart said.

“Wal-Mart is showing evidence of evolution in thinking in making tough “pare-back” decisions to reposition the business longer-term”, Stifel analyst David Schick said.

Of the affected USA stores, 95% are within 10 miles of another Walmart store, and they’re heavily concentrated in southern states where the retailer has the greatest store density. During the same period, its subsidiary, Sam’s Club aims to inaugurate its stores in seven to 10 different new locations.

Walmart will shutter 102 of its smaller stores, known as Walmart Express, as it looks to strengthen its Supercenters.