Walmart Is Closing Over 60 Sam’s Club Stores in an Effort to Amp Up Its Ecommerce Strategy

The sudden closings don't surprise industry experts

We’re only 11 days into 2018 but Walmart is making it clear that this year, it’s waging a bigger war with Amazon.

In a press release, Walmart stated that it 63 Sam’s Club stores around the country will close. Twelve of those stores will instead become “ecommerce fulfillment centers,” with the first one in Memphis, Tennessee. The company’s reasoning? “[These ecommerce fulfillment centers] will speed delivery of online orders.”

The company also stated that it “will provide support and resources to those associates who are affected, including the bonus announced today and 60 days of pay, as well as severance to those eligible.”

Before the press release, the company’s only statement came via a Sam’s Club tweet:

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