Walmart's closure plans include biggest-ever culling of U.S. locations
Business
Walmart’s closure plans include biggest-ever culling of U.S. locations
Walmart Stores Inc. said on Friday that it would pull the plug on its smallest store format, Walmart Express, and close 269 locations as it contends with higher costs in its home market of the United States and disappointing results overseas. Walmart is closing 154 locations in the U.S. The other 115 stores are in Latin America, including 60 in Brazil. The world’s largest retailer said it hoped to transfer many of the 10,000 U.S. and 6,000 Latin American workers in the closed stores to other locations.
I’ve always wondered why it’s taken so long to cull the U.S. store base, because they really haven’t done much of it over the past several years.
Moody’s retail analyst Charlie O'Shea
Walmart’s earnings have been under pressure due to last year’s decision to raise entry-level wages as well as higher investments aimed at closing the gap online with Amazon.com Inc. At the same time, Walmart is struggling overseas, where a strong U.S. dollar reduces the value of local sales. The closings come three months after CEO Doug McMillon disclosed plans to review global operations and shut underperforming stores. Friday’s announcement marks the first step in that restructuring effort.
