Walmart announces new closures this week: dates and location
In addition to closing two of its stores in San Diego County earlier this month, Walmart has announced it will shutter another location, this time in Ohio.
Walmart continues to close locations in 2024.
Last year, the world’s largest retailer announced the closure of 20 of its stores in 11 states across the country, including Illinois, Florida, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas and Hawaii.
So far in 2024, the supermarket chain had already announced the closure of two more branches for the month of February in San Diego County, California.
Walmart reportedly did not renew the leases for stores located on Fletcher Parkway in the city of El Cajon, as well as on Imperial Avenue in San Diego’s Sherman Heights neighborhood. Both stores closed on February 9.
The company said in a statement that while its overall business is strong, the stores that have ended operations have not performed as expected. Employees at these branches will be eligible to work at nearby Walmart stores.
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Walmart announces another closure this week
Earlier this month, Walmart announced it will close its store at 3579 S. High St. in Columbus, Ohio, in the Great Southern Shopping Center.
“This decision was not made lightly and was reached only after a careful and thoughtful review process,” the company said, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
“We have almost 5,000 stores across the United States and, unfortunately, some do not meet our financial expectations... [so] we made the decision not to renew the lease,” the company added.
Walmart plans to shut down the store on February 16, followed by the pharmacy on March 4. As with the closures in California, the company said the store’s employees are eligible to be transferred to one of the chain’s other stores in central Ohio. Qualified employees who choose not to move to another branch will receive severance pay.
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Walmart still number one
Despite closures last year and this year, Walmart remains a billion-dollar business.
It was once again ranked as the world’s largest retailer, according to the annual list of the top 50 global retailers reported by Kantar and published by the National Retail Federation.
The company remained in first place, with revenues of $585.2 billion, thanks to its “strong growth in fewer markets, along with the success of its new online marketplace and delivery model compliance.”