Wal Mart Atlanta area closure

Predicting the demise of Sears & Kmart since 2017!
storewanderer
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Re: Wal Mart Atlanta area closure

Post by storewanderer »

There is a very run down Wal Mart Supercenter out in Winnemucca that was expanded around 2006 and had one light remodel since then, but is very run down, outdated, and does not feel overly clean. I haven't been there since summer so it is possible they finally remodeled. Obviously this store is not in any danger of closing.

I think the remodeling strategy for Neighborhood Market, Irregular Supercenters, and Division 1 Stores is somewhat different from the remodel strategy on what I call "standard" Supercenters. I have the impression the "standard" Supercenters are on some kind of a remodel schedule. The other formats, not so much.

I also suspect the "standard" Supercenters they were so busy constructing in the 00's are very easy for them to remodel using a cookie cutter remodel program whereas the irregular formats are more challenging.
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Re: Wal Mart Atlanta area closure

Post by ClownLoach »

I mentioned a fire at a Target store on another thread, a small shoplifter set fire where the sprinklers and suppression systems caused a loss of $11.3M in damage. That of course isn't going to factor in lost sales, I would estimate that particular SuperTarget to do over $100M annually so their fire loss is more like $25 million from one idiot shoplifter. Knowing the monetary value of the losses from these intentional blazes it is easy to see why they just say "forget it" and cut their losses closing the store permanently.
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Re: Wal Mart Atlanta area closure

Post by ClownLoach »

storewanderer wrote: January 28th, 2023, 9:10 pm There is a very run down Wal Mart Supercenter out in Winnemucca that was expanded around 2006 and had one light remodel since then, but is very run down, outdated, and does not feel overly clean. I haven't been there since summer so it is possible they finally remodeled. Obviously this store is not in any danger of closing.

I think the remodeling strategy for Neighborhood Market, Irregular Supercenters, and Division 1 Stores is somewhat different from the remodel strategy on what I call "standard" Supercenters. I have the impression the "standard" Supercenters are on some kind of a remodel schedule. The other formats, not so much.

I also suspect the "standard" Supercenters they were so busy constructing in the 00's are very easy for them to remodel using a cookie cutter remodel program whereas the irregular formats are more challenging.
I'll throw a different angle at this. There is a heavy hit to sales during major remodels that disrupt store operations. That is a known figure Walmart can determine based on their historical data. Let's say it is 10% of sales lost while the store is under remodel. For a $50M store this might be a few million dollars which they can afford. For a $300M+ supercenter you could be talking about a temporary sales loss that is tens of millions, or much more than the physical and labor cost of the remodel. In that case it makes little sense to remodel until the store is so beaten up that they are experiencing slow sales growth or competitive intrusion. So their best performing stores may go much longer without remodeling because of the impact on sales. This also must mean that the remodel does not deliver a significant sales boost.

I have also noticed that Walmart seems to be remodeling with a geographic focus to support an entire market usually where there is a lot of growth. I just spent a few days in Las Vegas and every Walmart I saw had been remodeled to the newest format with the airport signs (still made with metal, surprising that they haven't cheapened these up yet) and "app icon" sign. The one I went into was hands down the best looking Walmart I've ever seen, if I could find any flaw at all I would say the lighting could stand to be brighter as they had installed the upward facing new LED fixtures with zero glare. They needed to put more in closer together at that location. I thought Walmart had stopped using these and switched to the snap in place LED strips that fit into existing reflectors to save money. I couldn't believe it but even the restroom was nice, dare I say fancy looking with back-lit mirrors and teal tile walls, and it was clean! A small miracle at Walmart.

I'm not an expert by any means on the Vegas market but it feels like Winco is a massive success there and may be the market leader. I saw a packed Winco lot on a random Wednesday morning in a nice area of Henderson. As we know Food4Less was run out of Las Vegas despite the market seeming to be ideal for their stores. I suspect the Walmart remodels there are to fight back at Winco and also gain share as both Kroger (Smith's) and Albertsons have raised prices so drastically the last few years. Pre pandemic I would actually go do a grocery run at Smith's before I left town because the pricing was so much lower than SoCal, but now I think they may be even more expensive.
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