Walmart Is Planning Even More Store Closures In April
The recent trend of grocery store closures is showing no signs of slowing, and even the top retailers in the United States aren't immune to losing locations. Supercenter chain Walmart closed six of its stores across the country throughout February and the first half of March because of their failure to meet financial expectations. The company also revealed to Nexstar last month that it would close its only two stores in Portland, Ore., by the end of March.
And the grocery chain's list of shuttered locations is about to get even longer when it closes two additional locations next month. Walmart has confirmed that the 1032 Fort Street Mall location in Honolulu, Hawaii, and the 1200 Shingle Creek Crossing location in Brooklyn Center, Minn., will both permanently close their doors by April 21.
Several factors like historic and current financial performance go into closure decisions, but these specific locations did not perform as well as Walmart had hoped. Pharmacy staff at the closing stores are working to help transfer prescriptions to other locations before the pharmacies close on April 21 as well. As for the employees at those stores, all staff will be eligible to transfer to another nearby Walmart location if they desire.
"We are grateful to the customers who have given us the privilege of serving them at these locations. We look forward to serving them at our other stores in the surrounding communities and on walmart.com," Robert Arrieta, communications manager for Walmart in the North and East, said in an official statement.
While even healthy companies can't ensure that all of their locations are equally profitable, Walmart's decision to close the Minnesota and Hawaii locations came after the company projected weaker-than-expected same-store sales growth for the year ahead. Walmart Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey told CNBC last month that shoppers are still cutting back on spending as grocery prices continue to soar, something that the company considered when determining its predictions for the year.
Walmart is far from the only major retailer that is saying goodbye to some of its locations in 2023. Organic grocery chain Sprouts announced earlier this month that it plans to shutter 11 locations in the first half of the year because those stores were underperforming and larger than their current, smaller prototype. Aldi, Amazon Go, and the Portland-based convenience store chain Green Zebra are among the other companies that have chosen to close certain locations.
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