Tag Archives: closing

Walmart ditches Express and lagging stores

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There’s a big bag of woe in retail as the third major merchant in little more than a week announces store closings.

Walmart says it will close 269 stores in 2016, as the world’s largest tries to improve its finances.

imagesMost of the underperformers are sited within 10 miles of another Walmart. Of the stores on the chopping block, 154 locations are in the United States; two-thirds of those are the smaller “Walmart Express” stores, a pilot program that failed to get off the ground.

Only 12 U.S. Walmart Supercenters will close, along with four Sam’s Club stores. Most of the foreign closings will be in Brazil.

Of the 16,000 employees impacted, 10,000 work in U.S. stores. The company plans to place those workers in nearby Walmarts. Employees who don’t find a place will get 60 days’ severance and training in job hunting.

Walmart stock swooned 30 percent last year in tough times for retailers. Macy’s and Kmart also recently announced significant store closings.

Blue lights going dark at Kmarts

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Attention Kmart shoppers:

Dozens of stores are closing as the retailer in cutting its losses. So far, Kmart is planning liquidation sales at stores in California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Ohio, South Dakota,  Tennessee, Virginia, Wisconsin and Hawaii, with more to come.

Kmart in Washington Township is one of more than 100 Kmart and Sears full-line stores that will be closed following an announcement from Sears Holdings in December.

Kmart in Washington Township is one of more than 100 Kmart and Sears full-line stores that will be closed following an announcement from Sears Holdings in December.

“Store closures are part of a series of actions we’re taking to reduce ongoing expenses, adjust our asset base and accelerate the transformation of our business model,” says  Howard Reifs, director, corporate communications, for Sears Holdings, Kmart’s parent company. “These actions will better enable us to focus our investments on serving our customers and members through integrated retail – at the store, online and in the home.”

It’s part of an initiative announced by Sears to shutter at least 100 Kmart and Sears locations in the U.S. after ice-cold holiday sales in electronics and apparel. The announcement comes days after Macy’s revealed it would close stores in response to lackluster sales.

Customers with layaway contracts at Kmart have the option of paying off the contract early or transferring their layaways to a neighboring store or online. Store staffers will receive severance pay and can apply for positions at surviving Sears or Kmart stores.