All Walmart Express outlets to be shuttered as part of move

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart on Friday announced plans to close 269 stores worldwide, including all 102 of its small-format Walmart Express stores in the United States.

The company said the move is a result of a review of the nearly 11,600 stores in its global portfolio. That review, announced in October, was intended to ensure that Walmart’s assets were aligned with its strategy and, to that end, stores were evaluated on their financial performance as well as how they fit in with the company’s long-term plans. The stores that are set to close represent less than 1% of both its global square footage and revenue.

“Actively managing our portfolio of assets is essential to maintaining a healthy business,” Walmart president and chief executive officer Doug 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. It’s important to remember that we’ll open well more than 300 stores around the world next year. So we are committed to growing, but we are being disciplined about it.”

Walmart is closing 154 U.S. stores. In addition to its Walmart Express stores, the closings will include 23 Neighborhood Markets, 12 Supercenters, seven stores in Puerto Rico, six discount centers and four Sam’s Clubs. Walmart said it was ending the test of the Walmart Express format, which was launched in 2011, and will instead will focus on its  Supercenter and Neighborhood Market formats, as well as on expanding its e-commerce business and expanding its pickup services.

The 115 stores outside the United States that are affected by the decision include 60 recently closed, loss-making stores in Brazil, and 55 mostly small, loss-making stores in other Latin American markets.