Walmart Trims Losing Stores, Ends Convenience Store Experiment

Walmart is closing 269 stores in the U.S. and around the world that lost money or didn’t fit strategic plans. The financial impact will be about $0.20 to $0.22 of diluted earnings per share from continuing operations. The affected stores account for less than one percent of square footage and revenue of the company’s 11,600 locations. The company will shut down its five-year-old Walmart Express small format, convenience store experiment. The company characterized the closings – 154 in the U.S., including 112 Express stores – as a “disciplined” attempt to continue growing through portfolio management. The company plans to open 300 new stores globally this year. It will emphasize strategically its Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets, e-commerce business and customer pickup services.