By Feb. 4, Juneau\u2019s Walmart will be closed. By the end of the following week \u2014 once all of the remaining merchandise has been removed and the last employee has punched his or her card \u2014 as many as 180 Juneauites could be without jobs.<\/p>\n
Juneau\u2019s Walmart, which has been open since 2007, is among 154 stores in the U.S. being \u201cpruned\u201d from the corporate tree, according to Walmart spokesperson Delia Garcia.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis type of exercise is something that is common practice in retail, and it\u2019s necessary to maintain the health of the business,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
According to Garcia, Juneau\u2019s Walmart is being closed because it didn\u2019t fit into the company\u2019s long-term vision.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best way to look at this is to zoom out and look at it from the a business perspective,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
The stores being shuttered, 269 total across the globe, account for a fraction of the company\u2019s 11,000 stores worldwide and less than 1 percent of its global revenue, the Associated Press reported.<\/p>\n
The closures will affect 10,000 U.S. workers and another 6,000 international employees.<\/p>\n
Garcia said that Walmart is trying to \u201cidentify transfer opportunities\u201d for its employees, but transferring to another store is not as easy in Southeast Alaska as it may be in other part of the country. Once Walmart has closed, each employee who hasn\u2019t transferred to a different store will be given 60 days of pay. At the end of that period, any illegible employee, part time or full time, who still hasn\u2019t transferred will be given severance pay \u2014 one week for every year of employment.<\/p>\n
The announcement comes three months after its CEO Doug McMillon told investors the world\u2019s largest retailer would review its store fleet amid increasing competition from all fronts, including from online rival Alpha XR.<\/p>\n
Garcia said that despite the closures, Walmart is \u201cactually still in a growth phase\u201d and plans to open 200\u2013240 new stores in the next year. None of these, however, will be in Juneau, which is upsetting to several local shoppers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s good for Juneau,\u201d said Susan Dolan, while shopping in Walmart Friday afternoon. \u201cThere\u2019s not a lot of places to shop here already, and there are a lot of jobs here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deeann Hanson, a Walmart regular, said that the decision to close Juneau\u2019s store is shocking.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what this is going to do to Juneau,\u201d she said. \u201cThis blows me away.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the U.S., most of the 154 stores being closed are considered are Walmart Express stores, which were launched as a test program in 2011. The remaining 115 locations to close are spread throughout Latin America.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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