Walmart store closings

[LM117]

9 have been announced so far.

https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-stores-closing-list-2019-3

[abefroman329]

I can't say I'm surprised the Neighborhood concept has been a failure.

[jp the roadgeek]

We had 2 Neighborhood Markets in Bristol and West Hartford, CT come and go in about a 3 year span.  The Bristol one was a former Shaw's and was located about 3 miles down US 6 from the full Walmart location.  It currently sits vacant, while the West Hartford one (which was in an upscale area), is slated to become a new concept smaller footprint Target. 

[Rothman]

I miss the Neighborhood Market that was in Schenectady.  Wasn't open for that long, though, and I wonder about what costs Walmart incurred.

[wriddle082]

The Neighborhood store in Columbia, SC that's closing is in a neighborhood that has seen better days.  One of the few Kroger stores in Columbia used to be located not too far from this store, and it closed at least 5 years ago.  However, two Neighborhood stores that opened in Lexington County around the same time as this one are doing just fine, and one of them has even caused the closure of a Bi-Lo across the street, which happened just last week.

[kevinb1994]

We had a Neighborhood Market open since we moved here, in the spot where there was once a Food Lion. It was nice until we stopped going there often.

[formulanone]

For lack of a better word, they've targeted on a few singular locations.

I actually like the Neighborhood Market concept; sure, there's less choices to pick from, but if you're okay with a lot of the national brands, and prefer about 90% less noise than the worst-case scenario Wal-Mart, that's what I want after working all day and then shopping. I'd say the weak point is the produce section - it's either stocked fresh, or there's nothing good left that interests me. I've had to return some produce that spoiled literally overnight. And when you need those "just two things" trips, it's a breeze if it's not at peak weekend times. But that lack of customers is probably what's killing them; putting many locations just 2-3 miles away from another Wal-Mart doesn't seem like a shrewd move. These stores are quiet at 6-7pm on a weekday, regular Wal-Marts are not.

The store footprint seems to be about two-thirds the size of many supermarkets; you know, the way they were made until 20 years ago. With a lot of high-dollar items missing from your store, a lot of profit never sees the light of day. Grocery stores are long-range profit centers, and when you're pricing items low just to beat your competition, you're not going to see massive growth. Your customers are coming in once a week and you'll make $10-25 profit on each one after operating expenses. These are great in areas where the real estate is limited or in rural areas which had few serious grocery stores, but they seemed to get shuttered real fast in a lot of the latter places.

[jeffandnicole]

9 have been announced so far.

https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-stores-closing-list-2019-3

Ugh...today's media.

Why did they feel the need to show a picture below each store that's closing, rather than just present the list of stores?  Many of them were just stock photos, not even representing the actual store.

[LM117]

I actually like the Neighborhood Market concept; sure, there's less choices to pick from, but if you're okay with a lot of the national brands, and prefer about 90% less noise than the worst-case scenario Wal-Mart, that's what I want after working all day and then shopping. I'd say the weak point is the produce section - it's either stocked fresh, or there's nothing good left that interests me. I've had to return some produce that spoiled literally overnight. And when you need those "just two things" trips, it's a breeze if it's not at peak weekend times. But that lack of customers is probably what's killing them; putting many locations just 2-3 miles away from another Wal-Mart doesn't seem like a shrewd move. These stores are quiet at 6-7pm on a weekday, regular Wal-Marts are not.

My experience has been mostly the same, though the NM in my area is usually just as packed as the supercenter and the parking lot is horrendous (I've been hit once already). It used to be open 24/7 when it first opened in August 2016, but it changed to 6AM-12AM not long after because it's a stones' throw from a high crime area. Hell, the copper kept getting stolen when it was still under construction.

The gas station had the cheapest gas in town until a week ago. Now, they're pretty much the same as everybody else.

[abefroman329]

The Neighborhood concept was just a backdoor method of getting Walmarts into cities/neighborhoods that didn't want Walmart.  What they failed to take into account is that the people that didn't want Walmart in their neighborhood also aren't interested in giving Walmart their money.  Small wonder that the smaller-footprint Targets are thriving while these are failing.

[LM117]

The Neighborhood concept was just a backdoor method of getting Walmarts into cities/neighborhoods that didn't want Walmart.  What they failed to take into account is that the people that didn't want Walmart in their neighborhood also aren't interested in giving Walmart their money.  Small wonder that the smaller-footprint Targets are thriving while these are failing.

Walmart Express failed for the same reason, IIRC. I know in Pikeville, NC (where I used to live), Walmart built an Express store in order to compete with Dollar General. DG creamed them, just like they creamed Family Dollar shortly before Walmart came in. DG moved into the Express building and AutoZone opened in the FD building.

Dollar General-2
Walmart/Family Dollar-0

[Rothman]

The Neighborhood concept was just a backdoor method of getting Walmarts into cities/neighborhoods that didn't want Walmart.  What they failed to take into account is that the people that didn't want Walmart in their neighborhood also aren't interested in giving Walmart their money.  Small wonder that the smaller-footprint Targets are thriving while these are failing.

This wasn't true for the one in my area.  There was no fight against Walmart when the Neighborhood Market was built.  It was clearly Walmart deciding the property wasn't making enough money.  I also suspect there was stiff competition from Shop Rite and Aldi.

I was quite wary when a bunch of big boxes decided to have a war in my area (i.e., we now have Shop Rite, Aldi, Walmart, Price Chopper and Hannaford all within close proximity; throw in Trader Joe and Whole Foods, too).  At least when Kmart went under, it got demolished.  I am wondering what will happen to the next big box to go kaput.

[Verlanka]

Why did they feel the need to show a picture below each store that's closing, rather than just present the list of stores?  Many of them were just stock photos, not even representing the actual store.

Probably so the readers could know what each store looks (or looked) like.

[hotdogPi]

(i.e., we now have Shop Rite, Aldi, Walmart, Price Chopper and Hannaford all within close proximity; throw in Trader Joe and Whole Foods, too)

All of those except Walmart are primarily supermarkets, while Walmart has many items of different types. Why is Walmart participating in this?

[Rothman]

(i.e., we now have Shop Rite, Aldi, Walmart, Price Chopper and Hannaford all within close proximity; throw in Trader Joe and Whole Foods, too)

All of those except Walmart are primarily supermarkets, while Walmart has many items of different types. Why is Walmart participating in this?

I can only suspect that it is trying to apply its usual strategy into the supermarket arena:  Bullying distributors into rock bottom prices and then trying to muscle the competition out.  Probably is failing because of how established the existing supermarkets are and their own ability to negotiate good prices.

[LM117]

There used to be a Save-a-Lot here right down the road from the Walmart NM. I remember reading the local newspaper in 2015 when Walmart first announced that they were going to build a NM. Save-a-Lot was worried that they were going to lose customers. Their concern turned out to be well-founded. They finally went out of business a few months ago.

[hbelkins]

I've only been in one Neighborhood Market, as there are none near me (there may be one in Lexington, but I'm not sure; I do know there are a few in the Louisville area.) They are pretty much grocery stories, and from what I could tell, prices are the same as in a Supercenter.

We still have at least three of the old-style non-Supercenter Walmarts in my area (Jackson, Manchester, and Prestonsburg.)

[doorknob60]

I like Walmart Neighborhood Market, in my limited experience. I haven't been to the Boise one (driven by it plenty of times though), but I went to the Nampa one a few times and it was nice. Good selection of groceries, probably about the same as the grocery section in a full-sized Walmart, or a typical Albertsons. Not super crowded in my experience. Busier than Albertsons, but less busy than Fred Meyer, Winco, Target (though their grocery section is very limited around here), and especially full Walmarts which are crazy (particularly the one Boise location; note the other location that looks like it's in Boise is actually in Garden City).

But their food prices are about the same as normal Walmart, which is great. I like Albertsons for what it is, but on occasion some items are seriously 2-4x as expensive as Walmart or Winco (on average things are maybe 25% more, but there are some outliers for sure), which is crazy. But I don't always want to deal with the crowds of Walmart. If there was a neighborhood market close to my house (the Boise one is on the other side of town, and the supercenter is much closer to me), I'd go there fairly often.

As of now, the only neighborhood markets in the area are one in Nampa and one in Boise (compared to full sized Walmarts where there's one in Boise, one in Garden City, 3 in Meridian, 2 in Nampa, and 1 in Caldwell).

[Scott5114]

Why did they feel the need to show a picture below each store that's closing, rather than just present the list of stores?  Many of them were just stock photos, not even representing the actual store.

Probably so the readers could know what each store looks (or looked) like.

They probably look like Walmarts. As a chain, they're not exactly known for interesting architecture.

[cjk374]

Ruston, LA got a NM in late 2017. It is located next to LA Tech and is few blocks from a County Market grocery store. It seems to be doing fine, as it is also located closer to a low-income neighborhood than County Market (read: lots of foot traffic).

However, I have discovered that their prices a a little higher than the Wal-Mart Super Center's prices (a loaf of Great Value light bread is 10 cents higher at the NM for example). There are other higher prices at the NM as well. I find this to be disturbing as it seems they are taking advantage of lower income residents & students.

[US71]

Ruston, LA got a NM in late 2017. It is located next to LA Tech and is few blocks from a County Market grocery store. It seems to be doing fine, as it is also located closer to a low-income neighborhood than County Market (read: lots of foot traffic).

However, I have discovered that their prices a a little higher than the Wal-Mart Super Center's prices (a loaf of Great Value light bread is 10 cents higher at the NM for example). There are other higher prices at the NM as well. I find this to be disturbing as it seems they are taking advantage of lower income residents & students.

I know someone who works for a StuporCenter. He told me years ago that Neighborhood Markets are often higher. He didn't explain why.

[apeman33]

I drove by Liberal's Neighborhood Market a couple of years ago and recall thinking that it was in an odd place. There are a few businesses on Western Ave. and it's a busy road but it's mostly used to get to the high school.

Several former Walmart Express stores in southwest Missouri were taken over by Harps. and I've seen one in Rose Hill, Kan., that was taken over by Dollar General with an abandoned DG building that doesn't look very old close to what passes as downtown. (The one in Columbus, Kan., is also now a DG).

[US71]

I drove by Liberal's Neighborhood Market a couple of years ago and recall thinking that it was in an odd place. There are a few businesses on Western Ave. and it's a busy road but it's mostly used to get to the high school.

Several former Walmart Express stores in southwest Missouri were taken over by Harps. and I've seen one in Rose Hill, Kan., that was taken over by Dollar General with an abandoned DG building that doesn't look very old close to what passes as downtown. (The one in Columbus, Kan., is also now a DG).

Mulberry, AR was taken over by DG. They were supposed to take over Mansfield, but never did.  Harp's took over Cedarville and (I think) Decatur.
There's one outside Texarkana, TX that was taken over a small regional company.  CV's remodeled and reopened their Gravette store when Walmart moved out (Walmart had forced them to close).

CV's in Mansfield had closed their pharmacy, but reopened it when Walmart left.