Walmart 2023 Closings

[mjhale]

Not trying to go overtly political with the Walmart Chicago closings but the timing of the closing announcement shortly after the recent mayoral election can't be ignored in my opinion. If theft was the core issue that was affecting the stores perhaps Walmart was looking for a more tough on crime mayor to be elected. When that didn't happen in the minds of Walmart, they bailed on the first group of stores with ultimate plans to exit the city as was suggested in this thread. It seems that Walmart is exiting any area that it doesn't see some sort of assured long term profit. Dense cities and urban areas aren't easy to operate in. Getting product in, merchandising and loss prevention aren't the standard duplicate it a thousand times like you can do in suburban and rural areas. Each store ends up being its own entity. A company like Walmart that needs consistency of operation just isn't able to reproduce because it doesn't fit their "model" store. As someone else said further up thread, I don't think Walmart is in a tailspin. But I certainly think we are seeing the beginnings of a retrenchment back to the original rural, exurban and suburban format that Walmart was most successful with until the early 2000s.

[buckguy]

They just said that stores lost money. The Little Village (Cermak) store is near one of the busiest commercial outside of the Loop--it's a lively busy place. The one on Stewart is near other big boxes and multiple supermarkets (Food4Less and a huge Jewel that started out as their first Grand Bazaar prototype). Lakeview (Broadway) is in a very well-off area with other supermarkets and plenty of successful retail. It looks like it was built into building that used to be Borders---I was in that area for a memorial service a few months ago and its as vibrant bustling as it was year ago when I lived there (and it was much more affordable). These are all places that wouldn't need incentives.

Only the Kenwood store (which isn't really in Kenwood--a more affluent neighborhood to the east)---is in an area that might pose problems, but it's not far from a Marianos and in the path of gentrification from a couple different directions.

They closed 3 stores earlier in middle class to well-off suburbs. The problem is that they simply can't compete in some places. They also can't right a press release--one store is closing and staying open (the one on Broadway) according to one version I've seen.

[storewanderer]

They are closing 3 Neighborhood Markets and 1 Supercenter. So to me the big deal here is the Supercenter closure of what was obviously a very high traffic Supercenter.

It is also stating they are paying all employees through August 11 (4 months) with the option to transfer to other locations through that date, and will then on August 11 to anyone who has not taken a transfer start to pay severance... it is interesting to me they are paying people for 120 days- is there a law in IL that requires that instead of the usual WARN notice/pay in lieu of period of 60 days?

The official press release is here. The media sources who are trying to copy the release seem to be confused about what store is closing on Broadway. It is unfortunate some person or some system that pulls stories together in the media is unable to read Wal Mart's press release that clearly identifies the address and store numbers then other media sources copy the bad data.
https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/ ... ago-stores

It is no secret these Neighborhood Market format stores are problematic, usually not high volume, and have little reason to exist unless there is just no other grocer around for some reason. So I am not surprised to see any of them closing. I am actually surprised more of them are not closing. In the case of these in Chicago, there are competitors who do a better job and also have moderate-low price models so in these cases where customers really have choices, why would they go to Wal Mart Neighborhood Market? I know we see releases how they are creating food deserts by closing these stores, etc. but the fact of the matter is customers are opting to go the 1-2 miles to other competitors because those competitors are doing a better job suiting their needs.

Also the Supercenter seems to have a designated "Wal Mart Academy" complete with exterior signage. Not sure what that is all about.

The 2551 W. Cermak store appears to have had its license suspended by Chicago Department of Public Health on 3/17/23 and it is unclear why, also unclear when it reopened. That store also got an interior remodel in 2021.

[veteran+]

Wal Mart (Community) Academy is a training school for employees (up to 6 weeks?).

[ClownLoach]

I think it is very interesting that Walmart is very specific in revealing the store level financials here. I don't recall when we have seen specific statements of tens of millions in losses from any retailer. Clearly they're going to keep doing this in areas where their stores are being robbed blind. Nobody can argue when they state that the stores are losing tens of millions of dollars each year, and that the losses are increasing. This will be their model for future retreat from these high crime areas where their stores are being shoplifted out of business. More damning is their statement that the entire group of Chicago stores is losing money. So they're basically saying that if the business doesn't transfer to the remaining stores to float them to breaking even or profitability then they will also be closing down, and soon.

[wnetmacman]

!	Message from: wnetmacman
	I am posting as moderator here, so listen closely. Any post accusing anything political can be(and have been) removed. This is a politic free zone, so keep that out of this. Feel free to mention weather, Walmart's stance, or anything EXCEPT political views or stances. This will be the only warning of this type. You will not be notified of a deleted post. That is all.

[veteran+]

!	Message from: wnetmacman
	I am posting as moderator here, so listen closely. Any post accusing anything political can be(and have been) removed. This is a politic free zone, so keep that out of this. Feel free to mention weather, Walmart's stance, or anything EXCEPT political views or stances. This will be the only warning of this type. You will not be notified of a deleted post. That is all.

Thank you

I would say that labor Union banter would be political as well?

Your thoughts

[storewanderer]

!	Message from: wnetmacman
	I am posting as moderator here, so listen closely. Any post accusing anything political can be(and have been) removed. This is a politic free zone, so keep that out of this. Feel free to mention weather, Walmart's stance, or anything EXCEPT political views or stances. This will be the only warning of this type. You will not be notified of a deleted post. That is all.

Thank you

I would say that labor Union banter would be political as well?

Your thoughts

If we go down that road, a lot of other things are "political" too- electronic vehicles, plant based food, plastic bags, store openings/closings (incentives to help bring stores to new locations are political for instance), bottle deposits, liquor sales laws, and a multitude of other store topics. Unfortunately this is where things have become in a very polarized society.

My interpretation of this is not to be mentioning specific politicians or specific political parties.

[Alpha8472]

Walmart Academies are training centers for Walmart employees where they take classes to train on various subjects. Most of these academies have converted to Zoom classes making classroom teaching obsolete. I can see why this Academy closed. A Zoom class is cheaper and does not require traveling to another Walmart store for classes.

The Neighborhood Market stores are really awful for customers and for other Walmart stores. The 2 Neighborhood Market stores near the big Walmart store in Pleasanton, California have drained customers from the main Pleasanton store. The sales numbers have gone down so much that the store cannot meet sales goals.

So opening those 2 Neighborhood Market stores might have spelled doom for all three Walmart stores in the area. The customers spread out to shop at 3 stores making sales at each store mediocre causing the corporate office to deem them all as underperforming.

In order to make the other stores on the area look better with regard to sales figures, closing down stores will make the sales numbers increase at the remaining nearby Walmart stores.

It is all about making the sales figures go up for stores. If a store is doing poorly, it is necessary to kill it so that other stores have an improvement in sales.

[ClownLoach]

Walmart Academies are training centers for Walmart employees where they take classes to train on various subjects. Most of these academies have converted to Zoom classes making classroom teaching obsolete. I can see why this Academy closed. A Zoom class is cheaper and does not require traveling to another Walmart store for classes.

The Neighborhood Market stores are really awful for customers and for other Walmart stores. The 2 Neighborhood Market stores near the big Walmart store in Pleasanton, California have drained customers from the main Pleasanton store. The sales numbers have gone down so much that the store cannot meet sales goals.

So opening those 2 Neighborhood Market stores might have spelled doom for all three Walmart stores in the area. The customers spread out to shop at 3 stores making sales at each store mediocre causing the corporate office to deem them all as underperforming.

In order to make the other stores on the area look better with regard to sales figures, closing down stores will make the sales numbers increase at the remaining nearby Walmart stores.

It is all about making the sales figures go up for stores. If a store is doing poorly, it is necessary to kill it so that other stores have an improvement in sales.

Walmart clearly has an obsession with comp sales figures above all else. Yes, they're a key indicator of health but so is profit, transaction count, traffic, and so on. Again many examples in all of their divisions where a competing store opens or remodels, that might not even truly be a big success for the competitor but Walmart still closes the location due to a one time negative comp. I think they have become more accepting of competitive intrusion on the Sam's Club side as they focus more on membership revenue now vs just sales, but if a Walmart sign is out front and it either shrinks out or comps down for anything other than force majeure the plug gets pulled. Again they've made some rather dumb short-sighted closures on that Sam's Club side that I'm sure they're regretting today, but they seem to have a increasing willingness to retreat permanently from any challenge presented to a Walmart building.