Wal-Mart Still Has 11,200 Locations

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) will close 269 stores worldwide, which will affect approximately 16,000 people. That leaves Wal-Mart with only 11,200 locations that employ 2.2 million people, of which 1.4 million are in the United States. Along with those, Walmart.com is the second most visited retail site in America, trailing only Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN). Wal-Mart serves 260 million customers a week worldwide.

It is easy to get wrapped up in the Wal-Mart decision to close locations. The reasoning is likely that these stores underperform financially. And Wal-Mart said as much:

In October 2015, the company said an active review of the portfolio was underway to ensure assets were aligned with strategy. Today’s action follows a thorough review of Walmart’s nearly 11,600 worldwide stores that took into account a number of factors, including financial performance as well as strategic alignment with long-term plans. In total, the impacted stores represent less than 1 percent of both global square footage and revenue.

The fact that Wal-Mart did not close more locations barely deserved enough attention to matter, at least to the media.

The Wal-Mart story reflects how the media seizes on what are actually small pieces of news from large companies. The store closures are nothing akin to Volkswagen’s emissions scandal or the General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) ignition debacle. It would be hard to see that based on the level of coverage Wal-Mart has received. Unlike the other two, the Wal-Mart news will dissipate soon. It was not much of a story in the first place.
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The Wal-Mart store closure news does reflect a longer term problem for the world’s largest retailer, but it is no different from what Wall Street has known about all along. And it is also no different from those that other large brick-and-mortar retailers wrestle with.

Wal-Mart’s announcement was treated as a retreat by the press. However, lost at the bottom of its store closing press release:

Walmart will continue to invest in its future, with plans to open stores worldwide in the coming fiscal year. Domestically, Walmart intends to open 50 to 60 Supercenters and 85 to 95 Neighborhood Markets in Fiscal 2017, which begins Feb. 1. In the same period, Sam’s Club plans to open in seven to 10 new locations. Internationally, Walmart intends to open between 200 and 240 stores during the coming year.

Wal-Mart management also said workers who lost jobs because of the closures will be placed at other locations, if possible.

It’s really not bad news, or much news at all, but it made a great headline.