By The once colorful aisles had been emptied to reveal slate gray shelving in row after row. The now former customers wheeled carts around in search of the best bargains. It wasn’t hard with everything at a 25 to 50 percent discount.
The Wal-Mart Discount Store, a popular shopping spot in downtown Long Beach, is closing Thursday. In what Wal-Mart describes in a statement as a “a disciplined strategy of actively managing its portfolio,” the company is closing 154 stores across the United States and 115 outside of the country
In October 2015 the company conducted a review of the 11,600 stores worldwide and assessed each store’s financial performance and “alignment with long-term plans,” according to the statement.
“Actively managing our portfolio of assets is essential to maintaining a healthy business,” said Doug McMillon, president and CEO of Wal-Mart in the 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.”
Approximately 300 employees from the downtown store will be impacted by the decision, according to Director of Communications Delia Garcia. Wal-Mart will try to place the employees at nearby stores, and when they cannot, the company will provide 60 days of pay and severance if eligible and if they have not been placed by the end of the 60 days.
The nearest Wal-Mart location is about 4 miles away and there are seven Wal-Mart stores within 10 miles.
It is so far unknown what will replace the store on 151 E Fifth St.
This downtown Wal-Mart location has approximately 1.5 stars on Yelp, with some reviews describing it as “one of the sketchier Wal-Marts,” “the worst Wal-Mart ever,” and “ratchet.”
Managers at closing Wal-Marts have been instructed to not comment to media regarding their stores.
Ariana Sawyer, News Editor, contributed to this story.
