As it turns out, Walmart is facing challenges bigger than anyone thought. A second round of store closings was just announced, and the company is saying that half of its stores in one major U.S. city will be permanently shut down because they are losing tens of millions of dollars every year. Many locations are underperforming right now as shoppers complain about double-digit price increases at Walmart and turn to other retailers for “greater” value. The big-box retail chain is also in a complicated financial condition, missing investors’ earnings expectations and reporting growing cash flow problems. The situation has become so alarming that one industry CEO is warning about a flood of bankruptcies in the sector in 2023 as America’s biggest retailers cope with an increasing amount of distress.
Shoppers are noticing that prices at the big-box retailer have continued to rise in 2023 despite inflation numbers cooling down. For several quarters now, Walmart is losing sales and losing shoppers. As previously reported by GOBankingRates, a study from the value investing site ValueWalk found that Walmart grocery prices climbed by 21.5% over the past 12 months.
According to Walmart CFO John David Rainey, shoppers will have to prepare themselves for another year of price increases. In an interview with Reuters, the executive said the world’s biggest retailer might still have to raise prices to deal with higher costs. “We’re assuming that this year is going to be somewhat anomalous… [We’re] still feeling the effects of higher prices,” Rainey said.
However, this may further squeeze the company’s bottom line as more and more customers turn to discount stores. The outlook for Walmart in 2023 has suffered a drastic shift. In January, executives seemed to believe in the retailer’s ability to recoup its 2022 losses and report strong sales growth this year. But those views were shaken, and this week, the big-box store chain just announced another round of closings, citing poor financial performance at several locations.
The stores affected this time are located in DC, Georgia, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. The retailer confirmed it will lay off thousands of store employees and hundreds of hundreds of workers at five fulfillment centers across the US.
More worryingly, Walmart is permanently shuttering half of its stores in the city of Chicago. “The simplest explanation is that collectively our Chicago stores have not been profitable since we opened the first one nearly 17 years ago – these stores lose tens of millions of dollars a year, and their annual losses nearly doubled in just the last five years,” it revealed.
Walmart’s troubles should alarm everyone in the industry. According to CNBC, due to its massive size and substantial market share, Walmart is considered a barometer for the nation’s economy as a whole. So any trends we’re seeing in Walmart will likely be reflected in your local grocery store as well.
Everything is falling apart faster than anyone predicted, and even the biggest chains are struggling to survive in such a difficult environment. If the biggest retailer in the world is coping with this many challenges, smaller companies will likely experience even more serious problems this year. The retail apocalypse spares no one, and the next chapters of this crisis will chill many people to the core.
Article cross-posted from The Epic Economist.
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Die!
Then what?
Your article fails to mention part of the reason for stores closing in urban areas is the huge losses from theft by feral adults/teenagers.
most Walmart stores are in middle class neighborhoods or in or near lower income (welfare) neighborhoods with large numbers of 13%-ers. The rash of theft is abetted by the no-bail laws and ignoring or dismissing theft charges by Soros owned DA’s. I’m not surprised they are shutting down in blue check cities.
I haven’t worked into a walmart for years. I support local businesses whenever I can
What ‘food stores’ are “local?”
So instead of finding better deals to keep their prices down they are steaming ahead with the idea of raising prices further. Should be no surprise they’re going to close their stores. People go to Walmart for good deals. Do away with them and there’s no reason to shop there.
“However, this may further squeeze the company’s bottom line as more and more customers turn to discount stores.”
I thought Walmart WAS a discount store…
Actions (stealing) has consequences.
Out of control theft.
One stop shopping will be increasingly popular due to fuel cost. I drive fifty miles to the closest town. If Walmart had a better hardware department I’d never go anywhere else.
Walmart is a dirtbag magnet. As a former Walmart manager I couldn’t stand all the pukes who who only came in to cause trouble, steal stuff, cheat the customer service desk, or invent an injury for a payout. Now on top of all that we have dirtbag “nonprofits” telling people they’re justified in looting and ransacking, and people are happy to accept the invitation. Glad I got out of that mess.
You are correct. It is theft and security issues as to why Walmart is closing stores in urban areas. Any Walmart off of an interstate that is within 10 minutes of a downtown area is a target for theft.
High prices aren’t the only problem and Walmart isn’t the only chain having issues.
The ridiculous wages being paid to unskilled workers in the big box stores has led to increased prices, yes, but also terrible customer service. They can’t afford to have enough workers on duty to assist customers so you can’t find help. Walmart has special counters for various departments such as Sporting Goods and Jewelry, but they are no longer ever manned by any workers. When you need help you have to go to the front of the store, request it, and then wait and wait and wait in the hopes that someone will eventually show up.
This also has transferred to cashiers. They have the self-checkout lanes now so they can have one worker monitoring a dozen registers, but at any given time several, sometimes as many as half, are broken, and they’re not laid out in an efficient manner so people with a cartload of goods to buy take forever to check out which leads to long lines.
Because they are now relying on self-checkout, they rarely have more than one regular register open and often have none.
The shelves are often disorganized messes because they don’t have enough staff to keep things neat and tidy and there are commonly pallets of goods blocking the isles because they don’t have enough people to keep the stores running and the restockers get called away in the middle of their task to perform other jobs.
I obviously only speak for myself, but I rarely shop in big box stores any more. It’s just become too painful an experience. Like most people these days, I do most of my buying online. When I need to buy something I’m not comfortable ordering online, I try to find it in a small specialty store or family run outfit. I Usually end up paying more, but it’s worth it to get decent customer service.
If they don’t change their ways and soon, I see many of the big box retailers going under in the next decade or so.