Wal-Mart Stores Inc said it was closing 269 of its stores around the world. 154 of them are in the United States, and 102 of them are Walmart Express format stores – they’re about 12,000-15,000 square feet, about one-tenth the size of a regular Walmart Supercenter. Walmart Express stores been around since 2011 but haven’t proven as successful as hoped. All of the closings will affect 16,000 employees, 10,000 of them in the US.
Walmart also announced that the Arkansas-based retailer plans to open 142 to 165 stores in the US before January 2017. That will include 50 to 60 Supercenters and 85 to 95 Neighborhood Markets. Walmart’s CEO Doug McMillon said: “Closing stores is never an easy decision, but it is necessary to keep the company strong and positioned for the future.”
