WalMart/Sam's Club to close under performing stores

[bridgit]

In a written statement, regional general manager and vice president of Sam's Club Paul Stone said: "Over the years, we have worked to improve this club's financial performance. Despite our efforts, the club continued to lose money, and we have decided to close it." The company, which owns the 136,000-square-foot building and leases the land it's on, has no immediate plans for the property, according Kory Lundberg, a company spokesman.

Sam's Club was an anchor in the 663,000-square-foot lifestyle center, The Promenade at Natomas, that opened several years ago near the intersection of Interstate 80 and Truxel Road. Another anchor, Linens 'N Things closed in 2008, leaving Target, Barnes & Noble, Old Navy and other retailers.

The shopping center was the last major one to open in Natomas and might have come too late to the table, said Garrick Brown, research director at the Sacramento office of Colliers International real estate.

"It was banking on a lot of housing that didn't happen," he said

http://it.tmcnet.com/news/2010/01/24/4587224.htm

Sam's Club closing 10 stores, 1,500 jobs to be lost

* 1,500 jobs to be lost through store closures

* Will have added 6 clubs, done 52 remodels this fiscal yr

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Sam's Club, the warehouse club division of Wal-Mart Stores Inc, said on Monday that its is closing 10 money-losing stores and that 1,500 jobs would be lost.

"In reviewing our current business performance, we have made the difficult decision to close 10 Clubs," said Sam's Club Chief Executive Officer Brian Cornell in a note to employees. "Despite the outstanding efforts of our Associates, these Clubs continued to lose money, and we have decided to close them."

The No. 2 U.S. warehouse club operator said it was working to find positions at other Sam's Club or U.S. Walmart stores for employees losing jobs. The company did not specify in the note when the stores would be closed.
Cornell, the former chief executive of Michaels Stores Inc, took the helm at Sam's Club on April 3. At Wal-Mart's meeting for analysts in October, Cornell said that Sam's Club was shifting its focus from opening new clubs to remodeling existing ones as it
works to increase sales.

He said the retailer was testing a new store layout, adding more food and drugs to its shelves, and streamlining operations to reduce labor hours in its clubs by 6 percent to 8 percent over the next five years

http://ready2beat.com/current-news/general-news/sam-s-club-closing-ten-store-1500-jobs/linkout

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. uh oh

[fasttense]

2. I guess the 2nd RepubliCON Great Depression didn't work out so well

for RepubliCONS who do business with the middle class.

[MadMaddie]

3. So here we go again folks

http://walmartwatch.com/blog/archives/wal_mart_destroyed_my_town_and_then_left/

Walmart comes into small regions and destroys all of the local small businesses and then when they deem a store to be underperforming they shut the doors and leave the communities crushed.

Small communities need to beware that Walmart will eventually leave....

[no_hypocrisy]

4. + 1

[blondeatlast]

6. I'm willing to bet that one will be the tiny burg of Coolidge, Arizona.

there will be nothing left for three communities when it does because WM doomed the community. That big ugly building sits right across--and I do mean right across--from an ancient native site.

The irony is painful.

[bridgit]

10. Yup, this corporate person-hood asking for all the tax breaks and easements stuff...

And all their "Our study indicates you don't have enough Sam's Club here. We're going to be your anchor to your prosperity" nonsense has a huge-ass downside if they have no longterm responsibility to stick around *and* perform in accordance with their own proffer - they just drop sail and take off

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

5. Wal-Mart opened a couple of supercenters in Rio. I make a point of NEVER setting foot into them.

Their prices could be half of the next cheapest competitor and I still wouldn't go there.

As it is, they aren't even the cheapest place here.

[timeforpeace]

7. Natural selection in the business world? Life and death in the profit game?

[1]

8. our boycott is working!

[live love laugh]

18. Yayyy Costco. nt

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. Good

WalMart is destroying the American economy. These workers are better off at local retailers which may have a chance to stay in business without a nearby WalMart or Sams.

[MadBadger]

11. They need to upgrade their store because it pales in comparison to Costco

We have a Sam's Club 2 minutes down the street but will often go to the Costco 20 minutes away because its just better.

[Bitwit1234]

12. I think they were stupid to build some of the stores were they did.

In a small town in Maryland they had a WalMart. A few years after the built it they came up with a Sam's Club. OF COURSE THEY WERE NOT ADJOINING.

But they were so close they shared the same parking lot. So no wonder that a lot of their stores are unperforming. Who ever put them so close to each other must not have know the first thing about marketing.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

13. The Sam's Club their closing in Irvine is in a really stupid location

It isn't convenient for anyone, with the possible exception of any squatters on the old Tustin blimp base.

[bridgit]

14. It's a gluttonous business model even if it reminds me of Lewis Black: End of the Universe

http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/78757/detail/

[Geek_Girl]

15. Sam's Club sucks

I use to work for a Sams for a couple of months. I thought it was a pretty horrible store with a horrible selection. That was a few years back. But my guess is they haven't changed much.

[howaboutme]

16. But isn't losing a Wal Mart job

like winning the lottery? Are there any worse jobs?

But in reality it isn't if that is only job that you have available which is the basis of the new Amerika. The new Bernanke, Goldman, Wall Street CEO Corporate run Amerikan traitors who pay worthless financial hucksters 500x what they are actually worth with our taxes to screw the country, it is a major shame.

[bridgit]

17. heh, I hear you, and you're right it's a major shame overall