Walmart Abruptly Closes 63 Sam’s Clubs, Lays Off Thousands of Workers
Walmart became the most recent chain to shutter some of it’s stores. Following a rash of store closings by Sears, Kmart, and Macy’s, Walmart shut down 63 Sam’s Club locations unexpectedly, causing thousands of workers to lose their jobs.
Sam’s Club has confirmed the store closing to Business Insider, which estimates that each Sam’s Club warehouse employs about 175 people— meaning somewhere around 11,000 people may now find themselves without a job, at least for the time being. KHOU in Houston is reporting that workers will be paid for the next 60 days if they were employed at any of the affected stores. These workers will also be eligible to apply to transfer to other Sam’s Club or Walmart stores, according to parent company Walmart.
Some employees didn’t even know that their store had been closed until they showed up for work only to find the doors locked, KHOU wrote. In some cases, employees were turned away by police officers.
Ten of the stores will be converted into e-commerce distribution centers and those employees can reapply for positions there, a Walmart representative confirmed to Business Insider. The remaining stores will be opened temporarily — presumably to sell off merchandise as KSEN is reporting — before being closed permanently.
Why are so many Sam’s Clubs closing?
John Furner, the CEO of Sam’s Club, sent out a company-wide email notifying employees of the store closures. “After a thorough review, it became clear we had built clubs in some locations that impacted other clubs, and where population had not grown as anticipated,” Furner wrote. “We will be closing some clubs, and we notified them today. We’ll convert some of them into eCommerce fulfillment centers — to better serve the growing number of members shopping with us online and continue scaling the SamsClub.com business.”
Is your store affected?
If you’ve purchased a $45 Sam’s Club membership at any of the affected stores, you will receive a full refund. Below is a full list of store closures compiled by Business Insider:
8801 Old Seward Hwy, Anchorage, AK 99515
1074 N Muldoon Rd, Anchorage, AK 99504
48 College Rd, Fairbanks, AK 99701
3900 Grants Mill Rd, Irondale, AL 35210
2425 E Florence Blvd, Casa Grande, AZ 85194
5757 E State Route 69, Prescott Valley, AZ 86314
1375 S Arizona Ave, Chandler, AZ 85286
15255 N Northsight Blvd, Scottsdale, AZ 85260
3360 El Camino Ave, Sacramento, CA 95821
17835 Gale Ave, City of Industry, CA 91748
12540 Beach Blvd, Stanton, CA 90680
12920 Foothill Blvd, Sylmar, CA 91342
69 Pavilions Dr, Manchester, CT 06042
2 Boston Post Rd, Orange, CT 06477
355 FL-436, Fern Park, FL 32730
7233 N Seacrest Blvd, Lantana, FL 33462
5135 S Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL 33611
2994 Turner Hill Rd, Lithonia, GA 30038
501 N Randall Rd, Batavia, IL 60510
21430 S Cicero Ave, Matteson, IL 60443
6600 44th Ave, Moline, IL 61265
808 S Illinois Rte 59, Naperville, IL 60540
900 S Barrington Rd, Streamwood, IL 60107
1055 McHenry Rd, Wheeling, IL 60090
460 S Weber Rd, Romeoville, IL 60446
3015 W 86th St, Indianapolis, IN 46268
10859 E Washington St, Indianapolis, IN 46229
4024 Elkhart Rd #1, Goshen, IN 46526
9598 Cortana Pl, Baton Rouge, LA 70815
9750 Reisterstown Rd, Owings Mills, MD 21117
1 Tobias Boland Way, Worcester, MA 01607
340 E. Edgewood Boulevard, Lansing, MI 48911
32625 Northwestern Hwy, Farmington Hills, MI 48334
3745 Louisiana Ave S, St Louis Park, MN 55426
2800 27th Ave S, Moorhead, MN 56560
11 Batchelder Rd, Seabrook, NH 03874
81 International Dr S, Budd Lake, NJ 07828
1900 E Linden Ave, Linden, NJ 07036
301 Nassau Park Boulevard, Princeton, NJ 08540
2649 Erie Blvd E, Syracuse, NY 13224
720 Fairmount Ave, Jamestown, NY 14701
700 Elmridge Center Dr, Rochester, NY 14626
1600 Marketplace Dr, Rochester, NY 14623
5085 Dawn Dr, Lumberton, NC 28360
1101 Shiloh Glenn Dr, Morrisville, NC 27560
4825 Marburg Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45209
9570 Fields Ertel Rd, Loveland, OH 45140
1145 Carr 2, Bo Florida Afuera, Barceloneta, 00617, Puerto Rico
Carr 830, Bayamón, Puerto Rico, 00957
Carr 3 Km 82 Bo Junquitos, Humacao, 00741, Puerto Rico
615 Old Hickory Blvd, Nashville, TN 37209
1805 Getwell Rd, Memphis, TN 38111
1615 S Loop W, Houston, TX 77054
13331 Westheimer Rd, Houston, TX 77077
22296 Market Place Dr, New Caney, TX 77357
12919 San Pedro Ave, San Antonio, TX 78216
741 E Little Creek Rd, Norfolk, VA 23518
4571 S Laburnum Ave, Richmond, VA 23231
901 S Grady Way, Renton, WA 98057
1101 Outlet Collection Way, Auburn, WA 98001
7050 Watts Rd, Madison, WI 53719
1540 S 108th St, West Allis, WI 53214
13550 Aurora Ave N, Seattle, WA 98133
More from FIRST
Woman Heartbroken After She ‘Poisoned’ Cat With Essential Oil
