Walmart closing 269 stores; none in the valley

Citing changes in its market strategy, big-box retailer Wal-Mart announced Friday it would be closing 269 stores globally, including 154 locations in the United States.

More than 95 percent of the stores to be closed in the US are near another Wal-Mart, including all the Wisconsin locations. Express stores are usually confined to very small area of about 12,000 square feet, compared to Wal-Mart Supercenters at 182,000 square feet and the roughly 38,000-square-foot Neighborhood Markets, which are created to rival traditional grocery stores. Wal-mart says that it will focus on strengthening its Supercenters, optimizing Neighborhood Markets, growing the e-commerce business and expanding pickup services for customers.

The closures are part of a total 269 store closures that include four Sam’s Clubs, 12 Supercenters, and 115 stores internationally.

In this Thursday, June 4, 2015, photo, shoppers walk from the checkout at a Wal-Mart Supercenter store in Springdale, Arkansas.

The company said that decisions for closing stores are never easy. Back in October the company’s CEO, Doug McMillon, had told investors that they were looking at their portfolio with a view to becoming more streamlined and competitive. Sam’s Club plans to open in at least seven new locations. If that is not possible, Walmart will pay laid off workers for 60 days, and severance pay if the employee is eligible.

In an announcement, it said 154 of the terminations will happen in the United States, with 60 in Brazil and 55 in other Latin American nations.

Walmart has 4,500 stores it operates in the U.S. The entire workforce for Walmart is more than 2.2 million with approximately 1.4 million working in the U.S.

The company will assist the 10,000 US employees impacted by the closed stores. An analysis by eMarketer found Walmart’s sales per store declined almost 11% so far this fiscal year, with the metric worsening since 2011, when sales per store fell 2.5%. A Walmart Neighborhood Market in Maumelle is also closing.

The company expects the financial impact to be between 20 to 22 cents per share from continuing operations, with about 19 cents to 20 cents expected to impact the fourth quarter. It also for the first time disclosed plans to open 200 to 240 stores overseas in the coming year.