Walmart has no plans to downsize in 2025, despite reports of 11 stores closing this year
No, it's not April Fools' Day, but despite some erroneous reports that Walmart will be closing at least 11 stores across multiple states in 2025, Walmart says it will not be closing any of its stores this year.
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'There are no current plans to close any stores in 2025,' a spokesperson for Walmart told Fast Company. 'The erroneous claim originated from a late March US Mirror story, and that article was updated following our call to the editors for a correction. Unfortunately, other outlets have incorrectly reported the store closures without checking with our team, leading us to seek corrections from them as well.'
Some of those news outlets included MSN and The Hudson Valley Post. The list of stores supposedly closing included locations in Georgia, Maryland, Ohio, Wisconsin, Colorado, and California.
What is true is that the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retail giant did close those 11 locations in 2024, but to put that in context, Walmart pointed Fast Company to a January 2024 post from Walmart US CEO John Furner, which explains the closures came at the same time the company pledged it would be 'building or converting 150 new stores over the next several years.' That initiative kicked off last year with new locations in Charlotte, North Carolina, Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, and Atlanta, Georgia.
On Tuesday, the company opened its first new Supercenter in more than four years, in the Houston area, and has more openings planned for 2025 in California, Utah, Alabama, and Florida.
Walmart is also remodeling 650 existing stores as it invests in what it calls 'stores of the future.' Expect wider aisles, bigger and 'bolder' signage and displays, and expanded online delivery and pickup to accommodate online orders, according to USA Today. The company also plans to open or remodel more than 45 fuel stations this year, expanding its existing network of more than 400 fuel locations in 34 states.
The retail giant is expected to announce its fiscal first-quarter earnings for 2026 next month, before the stock market opens on Thursday, May 15.
Shares of Walmart (WMT) fell slightly in early morning trading on Tuesday but rebounded, up less than 1% by midday at the time of this writing.
This post originally appeared at fastcompany.comSubscribe to get the Fast Company newsletter: http://fastcompany.com/newsletters
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