Walmart 2023 Closings

Predicting the demise of Sears & Kmart since 2017!
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Re: Walmart 2023 Closings

Post by ClownLoach »

babs wrote: March 23rd, 2023, 12:17 pm
storewanderer wrote: March 23rd, 2023, 12:06 am
babs wrote: March 22nd, 2023, 2:02 pm The Walmart in Downtown Honolulu that used to be a Macy's is closing as well. I gotta think theft, high operating costs and fewer people working in the office in downtown Honolulu did it in.
Another irregular format store closing.

Probably had an odd sales mix with that location.
There's not a lot of residential in downtown Honolulu and with the paid parking, they probably got mostly walk-in traffic. I can't imagine they sold a ton of groceries outside of being an overgrown convenience store. My assumption is that the nearby stacked Walmart/Sam's combo over by the Ala Mona mall is getting the bulk of the area business. Free parking and being closer to the center of the residential units and tourist areas makes a big difference.

I believe they own the building so it will be interesting to see what happens to it. Clearly they will sell it. I highly doubt it will be a department store in the future. Retail at the street level and offices above is probably what's in store but I don't see any demand for office space in the downtown Honolulu in the near future.

Seems like Walmart is using the first part of this year to cleanse themselves of questionable locations. I don't know if they are done yet but probably a smart thing to do by pulling the Band-Aid off locations that don't make much sense.

And another location is closing...Everett, WA:
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/walmart- ... -april-21/
I didn't even realize there was another Honolulu location besides the Walmart/Sam's "stack." The "stack" Walmart has aisle after aisle of Hawaiian souvenirs, probably more than any single tourist trap store on the island. Aside from that it felt pretty much like a low end Walmart with very heavy foot traffic. Last time I was in Hawaii I didn't have a Sam's membership; that was before their more recent "Renaissance" where they have turned the brand a complete 180° and now I probably shop there more than Costco.
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Re: Walmart 2023 Closings

Post by buckguy »

retailfanmitchell019 wrote: March 23rd, 2023, 7:20 pm
Focusing on online retail is a pander to Wall Street, and a pander to affluent people who rarely shop at Walmart. It might somewhat alienate Walmart's working-class, exurban, church-going, pickup truck driving customer base.

The foundation of mail order (Sears, Wards) was rural people; online shopping is just a modern version of that and so it isn't foreign to their base. Even as Walmart built bigger stores, they often greatly edited selections in many departments, so if they can offer more online it will appeal to their base.

The middle class in rural and exurban areas is often just as, if not more socially conservative and parochial, than anyone else, but if you walk into an office in thoseplaces, you'll recognize the gear from LL Bean or higher end outlet stores like Ralph Lauren. Those people always have had choices--in the old days they would have taken the train to the nearest city or ordered the better lines from Sears or specialists like LL Bean, now they make day a out of a trip to the nearest mall and its surroundings or order online. Moving online and degrading their store experience further easily could loosen whatever ability they have to engage better off customers in their strong areas.
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Re: Walmart 2023 Closings

Post by babs »

ClownLoach wrote: March 23rd, 2023, 9:31 pm
babs wrote: March 23rd, 2023, 12:17 pm
storewanderer wrote: March 23rd, 2023, 12:06 am

Another irregular format store closing.

Probably had an odd sales mix with that location.
There's not a lot of residential in downtown Honolulu and with the paid parking, they probably got mostly walk-in traffic. I can't imagine they sold a ton of groceries outside of being an overgrown convenience store. My assumption is that the nearby stacked Walmart/Sam's combo over by the Ala Mona mall is getting the bulk of the area business. Free parking and being closer to the center of the residential units and tourist areas makes a big difference.

I believe they own the building so it will be interesting to see what happens to it. Clearly they will sell it. I highly doubt it will be a department store in the future. Retail at the street level and offices above is probably what's in store but I don't see any demand for office space in the downtown Honolulu in the near future.

Seems like Walmart is using the first part of this year to cleanse themselves of questionable locations. I don't know if they are done yet but probably a smart thing to do by pulling the Band-Aid off locations that don't make much sense.

And another location is closing...Everett, WA:
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/walmart- ... -april-21/
I didn't even realize there was another Honolulu location besides the Walmart/Sam's "stack." The "stack" Walmart has aisle after aisle of Hawaiian souvenirs, probably more than any single tourist trap store on the island. Aside from that it felt pretty much like a low end Walmart with very heavy foot traffic. Last time I was in Hawaii I didn't have a Sam's membership; that was before their more recent "Renaissance" where they have turned the brand a complete 180° and now I probably shop there more than Costco.
I found that Walmart near the Ala Mona mall to be odd. Full of Hawaiian souvenirs that gets a ton of traffic. Really small grocery selection. Even though this isn't a full size Supercenter, The small food section gets heavily shopped. I would expect a much larger grocery department. I've rented condos nearby and I would shop here but they have so little food. I can't imagine this is a location where automotive, hardware and home products do well. Maybe if you want food, they expect you to go downstairs to Sam's? But without a Sam's membership, that's not something I would do. Just seems like a missed opportunity to fine tune the assortment a bit for the location.
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Re: Walmart 2023 Closings

Post by Brian Lutz »

Walmarts in touristy areas tend to be pretty good about stocking large quantities of souvenirs, probably because it's something they can sell a lot of. The Walmarts I have been to in Orlando (especially the ones closest to the Disney parks) have rather large departments of Disney merchandise and smaller departments of Universal stuff (that ratio might change closer to Universal Orlando but I haven't paid much attention), and tend to be very busy stores at the times I've gone. The same was true of the Walmart near the cruise port in Puerto Vallarta when I was there in October. The customers seemed to be a mix of tourists and locals but I recall it being very busy, and they also stocked a significant amount of souvenirs.
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Re: Walmart 2023 Closings

Post by ClownLoach »

babs wrote: March 24th, 2023, 10:01 am
ClownLoach wrote: March 23rd, 2023, 9:31 pm
babs wrote: March 23rd, 2023, 12:17 pm

There's not a lot of residential in downtown Honolulu and with the paid parking, they probably got mostly walk-in traffic. I can't imagine they sold a ton of groceries outside of being an overgrown convenience store. My assumption is that the nearby stacked Walmart/Sam's combo over by the Ala Mona mall is getting the bulk of the area business. Free parking and being closer to the center of the residential units and tourist areas makes a big difference.

I believe they own the building so it will be interesting to see what happens to it. Clearly they will sell it. I highly doubt it will be a department store in the future. Retail at the street level and offices above is probably what's in store but I don't see any demand for office space in the downtown Honolulu in the near future.

Seems like Walmart is using the first part of this year to cleanse themselves of questionable locations. I don't know if they are done yet but probably a smart thing to do by pulling the Band-Aid off locations that don't make much sense.

And another location is closing...Everett, WA:
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/walmart- ... -april-21/
I didn't even realize there was another Honolulu location besides the Walmart/Sam's "stack." The "stack" Walmart has aisle after aisle of Hawaiian souvenirs, probably more than any single tourist trap store on the island. Aside from that it felt pretty much like a low end Walmart with very heavy foot traffic. Last time I was in Hawaii I didn't have a Sam's membership; that was before their more recent "Renaissance" where they have turned the brand a complete 180° and now I probably shop there more than Costco.
I found that Walmart near the Ala Mona mall to be odd. Full of Hawaiian souvenirs that gets a ton of traffic. Really small grocery selection. Even though this isn't a full size Supercenter, The small food section gets heavily shopped. I would expect a much larger grocery department. I've rented condos nearby and I would shop here but they have so little food. I can't imagine this is a location where automotive, hardware and home products do well. Maybe if you want food, they expect you to go downstairs to Sam's? But without a Sam's membership, that's not something I would do. Just seems like a missed opportunity to fine tune the assortment a bit for the location.
I haven't been to Hawaii since the pandemic. When I was there in 2019 that Ala Moana area "stacked" Walmart was being remodeled and it seemed like all of the construction was centered around the food department. So I really can't speak to the skze of the configuration today but it appeared like they were installing multiple aisles of new coolers and freezers. And the way Walmart is they could easily have remodeled it two or three times since. I thought the parking garage reminded me of something from the Soviet Union. Quite possibly the most dark and dreary thing in Hawaii besides the elevated highway you drive under when you leave the airport. Terrible first impression.
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Re: Walmart 2023 Closings

Post by mbz321 »

babs wrote: March 23rd, 2023, 12:17 pm

And another location is closing...Everett, WA:
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/walmart- ... -april-21/
And a Brosnan Security vehicle parked out front in Google Street View. I think we can assume shrink was a problem. I didn't realize that company was nationwide...a store near me here in PA utilizes their services (not that they really seem to do much of anything).
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Re: Walmart 2023 Closings

Post by babs »

mbz321 wrote: March 24th, 2023, 6:29 pm
babs wrote: March 23rd, 2023, 12:17 pm

And another location is closing...Everett, WA:
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/walmart- ... -april-21/
And a Brosnan Security vehicle parked out front in Google Street View. I think we can assume shrink was a problem. I didn't realize that company was nationwide...a store near me here in PA utilizes their services (not that they really seem to do much of anything).
This seems to confirm theft was an issue:
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/w ... -by-theft/
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Re: Walmart 2023 Closings

Post by Alpha8472 »

Brosnan Security is terrible. A local Walmart in the San Francisco Bay Area decided to get additional security from IPS. IPS employs experienced veterans who are armed and wear body armor. They do a great job. Shoplifters avoid the store now. If you need security trust a quality business that employs the best people.

I have seen a local Marriott hotel employ them to protect VIPs from any attempted assassinations.
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Re: Walmart 2023 Closings

Post by storewanderer »

babs wrote: March 24th, 2023, 8:53 pm
mbz321 wrote: March 24th, 2023, 6:29 pm
babs wrote: March 23rd, 2023, 12:17 pm

And another location is closing...Everett, WA:
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/walmart- ... -april-21/
And a Brosnan Security vehicle parked out front in Google Street View. I think we can assume shrink was a problem. I didn't realize that company was nationwide...a store near me here in PA utilizes their services (not that they really seem to do much of anything).
This seems to confirm theft was an issue:
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/w ... -by-theft/
Didn't Starbucks close the store out at the edge of this shopping center in Everett due to "issues" in that odd round of store closures they announced some months back?
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Re: Walmart 2023 Closings

Post by mjhale »

buckguy wrote: March 23rd, 2023, 7:11 pm
arizonaguy wrote: March 23rd, 2023, 6:39 pm

It appears that Walmart is feeling pressure in all aspects of it's business. In addition to these scattered store closings they're also laying off hundreds of workers at some e-commerce fulfillment centers.

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail ... 023-03-23/
Interesting article. Reuters lets them off easy--Amazon's layoffs have a lot to do with stores that no one wanted although they also have cut back in fulfillment centers and Lidl seems to be restarting its expansion after a pause. Even with automation, if WM is laying off in fulfillment centers, it may be a sign that online sales are not growing at the pace they had hoped.

If you take away food, Walmart mostly has been stagnating since the early 2000s. They had a brief bump in the great recession and they have benefited from raising their grocery prices, but they haven't been able to grow their base of customers and didn't benefit very much from the decline of KMart.
I've wondered what Walmart will do going forward with non-Supercenter locations that do not have a significant amount of grocery items. This could either be due to the size of the store or lease restrictions on the location. If Walmart isn't making much outside of grocery I would imagine they will start to have profitability issues with these types of stores especially if shrink becomes an issue. Maybe the exceptions are stores in rural areas where Walmart is the only one around. Even so we are seeing that grocery isn't the magic to success either with the Supercenters that are on closing lists. They have to pull a lot of volume to make a low profit item like grocery successful. If Walmart has a 125,000 square foot non-Supercenter could they convert the store in existing space where possible to at least try to drive more volume to the store. Or maybe that isn't even a profit move if the store just isn;t doing anything in the first place.
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