Wallmart Quietly Closes 23 Locations in Mostly Democrat Controlled Cities

Last year, Walmart closed 23 stores in the US, with eight of them located in Illinois. This brought the total number of stores down to 4,615 from 4,717 in January 2023. Additionally, Walmart sold 79 Moosejaw and Bonobos locations following the sale of these two retailers. The closures were disclosed in recent company filings, coinciding with a 6% increase in revenue to $173 billion in the most recent quarter.

Despite previously announcing plans to expand by more than 150 stores over the next five years, Walmart closed these stores due to underperformance in sales. The closures affected various types of stores across 14 different states, including Illinois, Indiana, Hawaii, and others. Among the closed stores were Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets, Discount Stores, and two experimental ‘pickup only’ stores.

Daily Mail reported:

The closures happened in 14 different states – Illinois, Indiana, Hawaii, Washington, Minnesota, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Florida, Texas, DC, Kansas, Oregon, California, Georgia and Connecticut.

Among those affected were 12 ‘Supercenters’, seven ‘Neighborhood Markets’ and four ‘Discount Stores’. One of those Supercenters is scheduled to reopen as a Neighborhood Market in Atlanta.

It also shut two ‘pickup only’ experimental stores in Illinois and Arkansas.

Four of the total closures were in Chicago and first announced in April last year.

Four closures occurred in Chicago, with Walmart stating that these stores had been unprofitable since their opening nearly 17 years ago. The company noted significant annual losses, which nearly doubled in the last five years.

Looking ahead to 2024, Walmart plans to remodel 650 stores across 47 states, aiming to enhance layouts, introduce new products, and incorporate innovative technology. The sale of Moosejaw and Bonobos locations was related to Dicks Sporting Goods’ and Express’ acquisitions of these retailers, respectively. Moosejaw primarily operates online but has some brick-and-mortar locations, while Bonobos had approximately 68 stores across the US.