Walmart: It Came, It Conquered, Now It’s Packing Up and Leaving
The Town’n Country grocery in Oriental, North Carolina, a local fixture for 44 years, closed its doors in October after a Walmart store opened for business. Now, three months later — and less than two years after Walmart arrived — the retail giant is pulling up stakes, leaving the community with no grocery store and no pharmacy.
Though mom-and-pop stores have steadily disappeared across the American landscape over the past three decades as the mega chain methodically expanded, there was at least always a Walmart left behind to replace them. Now the Walmarts are disappearing, too.
“I was devastated when I found out. We had a pharmacy and a perfectly satisfactory grocery store. Maybe Walmart sold apples for a nickel less,” said Barb Venturi, mayor pro tem for Oriental, with a population of about 900. “If you take into account what no longer having a grocery store does to property values here, it is a significant impact for us.”
Oriental is hardly alone. Walmart Stores Inc. said on Jan. 15 it would be closing all 102 of its smaller Express stores, many in isolated towns, to focus on its supercenters and mid-sized Neighborhood Markets. The move, which will begin by the end of the month, was a relatively quick about-face. As recently as 2014, Walmart was touting the solid performance of its smaller stores and announced plans to open an additional 90.
That’s a big problem for small towns, often with proportionately large elderly populations. For the older folks of Oriental — a retirement and summer vacation town along the Intracoastal Waterway — the next-nearest grocery and pharmacy is a 50-minute round-trip drive.
Walmart says it is sensitive to the dislocations its business decisions are causing.
“In towns impacted by store closures, we have had hundreds of conversations with elected officials and community leaders to discuss relevant issues and we are working with communities on how we can be helpful,” said Walmart spokesman Brian Nick.
Walmart has been under increasing pressure lately as sales in the U.S. have failed to keep up with rising labor costs. It’s also been spending more on its Web operations. In October, the company announced that profit this year would be down as much as 12 percent. The outlook contributed to a share decline of 29 percent during the past 12 months.
“It is more important now than ever to review our portfolio and close the stores and clubs that should be closed,” Walmart’s Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon said in a statement on the company’s website.
Walmart Shuttered Stores
Towns like Clearwater, Kansas, and Merkel, Texas, are among those hit by Walmart closures. In Godley, Texas, with a population of roughly 1,000, Walmart opened a small store just a year ago. Within months, the only other grocery store in town — Brookshire Brothers, part of an employee-owned regional chain — shut its doors. Now with Walmart gone, the closest full-service grocery store is about a 20-minute drive away.
In some cases, closed businesses may reopen now that Walmart has left. In Merkel, the Lawrence Brothers grocery store, which closed two months ago, is planning to reopen now that Wal-Mart is packing up, said Jay Lawrence, head of the regional chain in Texas and New Mexico.
Residents of Oriental, where some city officials originally tried to block Wal-Mart from opening, are hoping for a similar outcome now that the megastore is gone. But for the moment the damage has been done, they say.
Renee Ireland Smith, who ran Town’n Country, said the store immediately saw sales fall by 30 percent once Wal-Mart opened in May 2014. Whenever her store cut prices, Wal-mart would reduce its prices even more. Smith’s mother, who owned the store, invested $100,000 in savings into the doomed effort. But by October, the family decided to cut its losses and close the business.
“They ruined our lives,” said Smith of Wal-Mart. “They came in here with their experiment and ruined us.”
SOURCE: Bloomberg
This is a single story, but there are untold numbers of this happening across the USA not just grocery stores, but mom and pop hardwares, general mercantile stores, etc. they will bring the consumers to their knees
i’m afraid.
I pray every day for the mom & pop businesses that the Walmart invasion has strained, damaged and ruined. Now that Walmart (and Obummer) will be phasing out, we Americans can tough it out and get back to what we do well–survive and PROSPER with determination, hard work, and God’s help.
Walmart only cares about to all mighty dollar! That’s all nothing else matters to them! They could do so much to better this country but they are just greedy! I am a small business and strive to buy made in America products for both my home and business! If Walmart would support the “Made in America” movement others would follow!
Labor Costs was a factor… Hmmm IT makes me think of the silly 15 dollar an HR movement
lol blaming Obama when the filthy reach republicans are the ones behind Walmart. Like always republicant voting against their own interest and blaming democrats. Glad you’re paying for supporting your corporate 1% Murica. Keep praying.
I dislike seeing any large chain store move into a community with the purpose of putting mom & pop stores out of business, however, they are only part of the equation. The people of those towns hold the ultimate responsibility of where they spend their dollars. Did they support their hometown business, (who reinvests their money in the community) or abandon them when a new, bright-shiny, save-a-nickle place came to town? You can’t stop patronizing a business and expect them to stay in business until you decided to start shopping there again. (In this case, when the Walmart left).Towns should also do as much (tax incentives, etc.) to keep the locally owned businesses already in existence as they do to bring in large chain stores. If towns want more revenue from taxes, help your locals grow their businesses. Owning a small business can be a struggle on many fronts, and I know my business would not exist without the daily backing from my community. Anytime a customer complains that a long-time business has closed their doors, the first thing I ask them is: “When is the last time you shopped there?” Everyone has to do their part to see that local businesses stay in business.
It is also the fault of the cities for allowing them to come in . Hopefully this is a lesson learned for all of the US .
I am so glad that a developer who wanted to build a Wal-Mart in our town backed out. I HATE Wal-Mart with a passion and I think Sam is rolling over in his grave.
Amazing.. everyone is blaming anyone but themselves. Heres a hint for you.. if you wanted your local mom and pop stores to continue.. you needed to do more than pray.. you actually had to just keep shopping in them.
People chose low quality, horrible service, and slightly cheaper prices.. over their long time home grown businesses.
This isn’t Obama’s fault, its not your city’s fault. Its the fault of those that chose to stop shopping at these places they ‘say’ they value.. but abandoned at the drop of a hat.
Too bad the people of these towns flocked to Walmart rather than their own homegrown stores owned by their own people. I say they are getting what they deserve. They turned their backs on the mom and pop that provided for them for years to save a nickel here and I dime there. They decided their money should go out of town to a large corporation rather than supporting the people of their own community.
well folks, hate to tell you this but as a former owner of an independant grocery store that ended up closing after 45 years buut the citizens and town counsel of Oriental didn’t want this to happen then support your nieghbors and shop in their businesses and keep walmart out. what did they think was going to happen? do they realy think the CEO of Walmart or the Walton family gives a rats ass shit about them? this is walmart’s MO, every book i ever read aboout walmart will tell you so. Sam Walton himself had an expression, “stomp the comp” they go into little towns like that, force all the small businesses out by selling sweat shop made chinesse crap, then consolidate into a “super center walmart.” all for the promise of a few hundren dirt paying jobs that no one can survive on much less support a family. but that guy flupping burgers isn’t worth 15 bucks an hour but his CEO is worth 27 thousand an hour. THINK PEOPLE. FUCK WALMART, SHOP LOCAL.