Walmart is shutting down 4 shops in Chicago as they bleed cash.
The shops closing Sunday are all through town, from the Lakeview neighborhood within the north to Little Village within the west and shops in Kenwood and Chatham on the south aspect. The location in Chatham additionally housed a clinic and Walmart Academy the place workers acquired career-based coaching.
“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,” Walmart mentioned in a press launch.
The firm mentioned its remaining 4 shops within the metropolis face comparable challenges however the closures will give them a greater probability of staying open.
Local residents are already feeling the sting of Walmart‘s departure.
“I think it’s terrible,” Chatham buyer Norma Gregory instructed native ABC affiliate WLS-TV. “Target left, now Walmart is gone; we don’t have anything in our community anymore.”
Mayor Lori Lightfoot mentioned in a press release to WGN-TV that the corporate “unceremoniously abandoning these neighborhoods will create barriers to basic needs for thousands of residents.”
Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson mentioned in his personal assertion to WLS that Walmart‘s exit “will leave a void in the communities they serve, particularly stores located in communities that have historically lacked options for grocery stores and pharmacies.”
Crime wasn’t talked about in Walmart‘s press launch, however the metropolis is witnessing a forty five% enhance in crime in 2023. While murders are down (-17%) in contrast with 2022, theft (15%), housebreaking (6%) and theft (22%) are up this 12 months.
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