Wal-Mart Stores Inc is closing 269 stores, more than half of them in the US and another large sector in its challenging Brazilian market.
The stores being shuttered account for a fraction of the company’s 11,000 stores worldwide and less than 1 percent of its international revenue.
More than 95 percent of the stores set to be closed in the US are within 10 miles (16km) of another Wal-Mart. The Bentonville, Arkansas, company said it is working to ensure that workers are placed in nearby locations.
The store closures are due to start at the end of the month.
The announcement comes three months after Wal-Mart chief executive Doug McMillon told investors that the world’s largest retailer would review its fleet of stores with the goal of becoming more nimble in the face of increased competition from all fronts, including from online rival Amazon.com Inc.
“Actively managing our portfolio of assets is essential to maintaining a healthy business,” McMillon said in a statement. “Closing stores is never an easy decision, but it is necessary to keep the company strong and positioned for the future.”
Wal-Mart operates 4,500 stores in the US. Its global workforce is 2.2 million, 1.4 million in the US.
Of the closures announced on Friday, 154 locations are in the US, including the company’s 102 smallest-format stores called Wal-Mart Express, which were opened as a test in 2011. Also covered in the closures are 23 Neighborhood Markets, 12 supercenters, seven stores in Puerto Rico, six discount stores and four Sam’s Clubs.
The retailer is closing 60 loss-making locations in Brazil, which account for 5 percent of sales in that market.
Wal-Mart, which operated 558 stores in Brazil before the closures, has struggled as the economy there has soured. The remaining 55 stores are spread elsewhere in Latin America.
Wal-Mart said that it is still sticking to its plan announced last year to open 50 to 60 supercenters, 85 to 95 Neighborhood Markets and 7 to 10 Sam’s Clubs in the US during the fiscal year that begins next month.
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