Stores Returning to Regular Hours

[Alpha8472]

The single entrance is for monitoring mask wearing and also to deter shoplifting. They can have security at one entrance and catch shoplifters much better than if the store had 3 entrances. The limiting of customers into the store has drastically cut down on shoplifting.

[pseudo3d]

When a Neighborhood Market closes, it seems like no other supermarket chain wants to take it over. Walmart would want the store to sit empty rather than have a competitor take over.

Two reasons:
1) As stated before, they tend to have no real "grocery departments", meaning it would be additional work for anyone to take it over and reopen it
2) Most of the locations are pretty iffy and a hard sell for a "real" supermarket to go in.

There was one in the Dallas area that was in a good location, a good footprint (former Albertsons), and after closing in the mid-2010s quickly received a replacement tenant in the form of Market Street.

[TW-Upstate NY]

Looks like all Wal-Mart locations nearest to me are at 7:00 AM-10:00 PM now. Website wasn't really clear on auto centers though.

[Super S]

Looks like all Wal-Mart locations nearest to me are at 7:00 AM-10:00 PM now. Website wasn't really clear on auto centers though.

The Walmart I shop at made a couple PA announcements this past week that they were changing hours to 7AM-10PM.

[cjd]

Apparently our Walmart is now on the 7AM-10PM now as well.

Walmart does seem to be the biggest as far as mask enforcement. There was a woman outside the door pulling anyone aside for not wearing a mask. As soon as I went inside though I saw a lady shopping with her kids and none of them had masks on. Not sure how they got in...

Home Depot has their usual lady greeter at the door, Lowes as usual has nobody there "on guard". Publix has people sanitizing carts but not sure about checking for masks. Ross since the pandemic has been going on has a security person inside the door whenever I've been. They never did prior.

Now back on topic, Walmart I think is doing the right thing on extended hours. I used to shop there a lot pre pandemic when I would get out of the gym late. They would be the only place open. That was only around 9PM though. Even that wouldn't have worked with their hours up until now.

I think a lot of people might get off work late or whatever and need those hours, plus people looking for a less busy time to shop. In my area Walmart wasn't really losing any business by closing early though given none of the supermarkets keep very late hours. Honestly I get that some people work the night shift and get off early morning but 24 hours never really seemed necessary to me, yet it always fascinated me that they essentially were never closed all year except for Christmas day.

I think the only time I ever went to Walmart after maybe 9:30 was one year on the way home from a New Years Eve party. It was strange being there at that time in the morning.

[Alpha8472]

I have noticed a few more Walmart stores expanding their hours. However, there are 3 in my area that are still closing at 8:30 PM. I believe that these stores are in danger of closing. They are much less busier than nearby stores, and have not been remodeled. They still have the old decor from either when they opened or from over 10 years ago. It is shocking. Have the Neighborhood Markets ever received an updated decor?

[storewanderer]

Business is very slow in the Reno Wal Mart locations after 8:30 PM. Many customers seem to think they still close at 8:30 PM. They are very busy at 8 PM but if you show up at 8:45 PM there are only a few dozen customers inside the store.

Wal Mart screwed up with the reduced hours. Competitors who kept later hours, especially Target but also specifically grocery stores like Safeway and WinCo, are now much busier in that 8:30-10:00 PM period.

Smiths was similar when they closed at 8 PM- when they reverted back to 11 PM closing the stores were very slow after 8 PM. However in the case of Smiths they seem to have recovered their customers. They posted big signs on their doors advertising the new extended hours, and around the checkstands.

Wal Mart in Reno has NO signs about their new hours; a couple stores still have signs posted showing the 8:30 PM closing (yet these stores are open until 10 PM). Wal Mart must be doing so well that this doesn't matter.

[Alpha8472]

Corporate demands that Walmart employees post updated signs in color. However, the actual stores do not want to do that as it would make the crowds late at night bigger and it would take even longer to get them to leave the stores. The store managers also want to keep the stores less crowded at night so that they can hire fewer cashiers. The manager's bonus is based on having as few employees and as few work hours as possible.

[TW-Upstate NY]

The store managers also want to keep the stores less crowded at night so that they can hire fewer cashiers. The manager's bonus is based on having as few employees and as few work hours as possible.

In other words, corporate wants results but isn't willing to support their store managers to get those results. That's really stepping over dollars to pick up pennies. Even at say $15.00/hr., having even just two extra cashiers that last hour and a half would cost all of $45.00 in wages. How many people have left carts full of merchandise at the check out and just walked out of the store frustrated at the waiting time? And if they were full carts, they've just lost all that money in sales volume which will add up to a heck of a lot more than that extra $45.00 in wages. Oh, and by the way, you now have to pay somebody to restock all of that merchandise which results in even higher costs. Even worse, and as some have pointed out, they head over to a competitor with better hours and buy all the stuff they would've bought at Wal-Mart. Maybe they don't come back next time and guess what-you've lost that customer (and their money) forever.

[storewanderer]

Even worse, and as some have pointed out, they head over to a competitor with better hours and buy all the stuff they would've bought at Wal-Mart. Maybe they don't come back next time and guess what-you've lost that customer (and their money) forever.

Last night in the Wal Mart near me at 8:30 they kept a regular checkout open (lately they had been closing them and were self checkout only), the old tobacco register. They probably got in trouble for not having it open at all times as they are supposed to per their policy. Anyway the new thing last night was the large bank of self checkouts (the walk up ones) was closed. Now the only open self checkout was like 6 of those big clumsy ones with an attached belt to load items onto.

It does seem like they are stretching to stay open later on labor at the front end. Almost like they expanded the hours but gave no extra labor to the front end to staff it.