Walmart is quietly closing stores
- Walmart is closing 11 stores in the US.
- The closing stores include one Walmart Supercenter in Lafayette, Louisiana, and Walmart Neighborhood Market stores in Arizona, California, Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington.
Walmart is closing at least 11 US stores across eight states.
The closing stores include one Walmart Supercenter in Lafayette, Louisiana, and Walmart Neighborhood Market stores in Arizona, California, Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington.
The closing date for most of the affected stores is April 19, according to employees of those stores, who confirmed the closings to Business Insider.
Walmart representatives had previously confirmed the closings to various local media outlets but did not immediately return Business Insider’s request for comment.
Walmart Neighborhood Markets are about one-fifth the size of a Walmart Supercenter, and they are typically in areas that are more than where Supercenters are located. These stores focus primarily on selling groceries.
Retail apocalypse? JCPenney, Payless, LifeWay announce 3,000+ combined store closures
“In the post-digital era, only the strong will survive. Darwin would love this,” said one retail analyst.
More than 41,000 people have lost their jobs in the retail industry so far this year — a 92 percent spike in layoffs since the same time last year, according to a new report.
And the layoffs continue to mount, with JCPenney announcing this week it would be closing 18 stores in addition to three previously announced closures, as part of a “standard annual review.”
Retail job cuts for January and February total 41,201, said research firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas in a new survey, including nationwide retailers such as Payless and Charlotte Russe.
“This is significant, and marks an acceleration of store closures and job cuts in the near term,” said Mark Hamrick, a senior economic analyst at Bankrate. “Retail is ground zero for seeing the shifts of change in our lives.”
Lifeway Christian Bookstores announced last week it would be closing the doors of all 170 brick and mortar stores, in a pivot to focusing on digital and e-commerce.
“The decision to close our local stores is a difficult one,” said Lifeway Chief Executive Officer Brad Waggoner. “While we had hoped to keep some stores open, current market projections show this is no longer a viable option.”
“In the post-digital era, only the strong will survive,” Ron Johnson, CEO of Enjoy, a retail technology company, told NBC News. “You need a great brand, a strong balance sheet, and a vision for experience that commences digitally. Darwin would love this.”
Johnson previously worked as head of retail for Apple and opened the first Apple Store and scaled it out to 1,200 locations. He then went on to serve as the CEO of JCPenney, but has no connection to this week’s store closure notice.