Your Local Walmart Might Be Closing

Reuters

If you've gotten used to picking up groceries at your local Walmart, or using their "Express" stores, you might be out of luck. The country's biggest retailer announced last week that it will close 269 of its 11,600 stores, including 154 in the US.

For a complete list of the closing store locations, click here.

The decision follows several difficult years for brick-and-mortar retailers, driven by a slowly recovering economy and the rise of online retail. (Despite being the top brick-and-mortar retailer, Walmart has struggled to compete with Amazon online.) These problems were compounded by a weak fourth quarter of 2015, driven by warm weather and slow clothing and home goods sales.

This means Walmart is not the only store to announce closures recently. Earlier this month, Macy's said it was closing 40 of its department stores and cutting 4,800 jobs. And Sears Holding Corp. said it was closing a number of Kmart stores.

However, the chain simultaneously announced plans to open as many as 165 new stores. Walmart said the closing stores were underperforming, and many are within 10 miles of another Walmart. In fact, all 102 Walmart Express stores in the US are getting shuttered. These smaller centers, aimed at urban and rural areas, were meant to compete with dollar stores and groceries, but never got off the ground. Criticisms ranged from poor service to poor inventory.

The closures will affect 10,000 US workers. Walmart says it will try to transfer workers, and provide 60 days pay and/or severance to others, as required by law.