Walmart, one of the largest retail chains in the world, is shutting down four stores in Chicago due to massive losses.
The stores, located in Lakeview, Little Village, Kenwood, and Chatham, will close their doors permanently on Sunday.
The company explained that these stores have been unprofitable since they opened 17 years ago, and their losses have nearly doubled in the last five years. Walmart said in a press release, “these stores lose tens of millions of dollars a year.”
While the remaining four stores in Chicago face similar challenges, the closures will give them a better chance of staying open.The closures have already started to affect local residents.
The Chatham community is feeling the sting of Walmart’s departure. “Target left, now Walmart is gone; we don’t have anything in our community anymore,” said a local customer, Norma Gregory, in an interview with WLS-TV, the local ABC affiliate.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot expressed disappointment and concern over Walmart’s decision, stating that “unceremoniously abandoning these neighborhoods will create barriers to basic needs for thousands of residents.”
Similarly, Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson said 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.
”It is important to note that Walmart’s press release did not mention crime as a reason for the closures, but Chicago has seen a significant increase in crime in 2023.
According to data from the Chicago Police Department, there has been a 45% increase in crime this year, with robbery, burglary, and theft up, while murders are down.
The closure of these Walmart stores is a reminder of the challenges faced by retailers in low-income communities. With Walmart leaving these neighborhoods, residents will have fewer options for basic needs and may have to travel longer distances to access grocery stores and pharmacies.
The situation also highlights the need for policymakers to address the economic issues that lead to store closures and to find ways to ensure that essential services remain accessible to all communities.
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In spite of Mayor Lightfoot’s disappointment that Walmart is abandoning neighborhoods, it is not the company’s job to support and uphold neighborhoods, but to provide services and goods on which they make a profit. No intelligently run company will keep stores that consistently lose money open. If these stores were so essential to these areas, why didn’t they have enough sales to warrant staying open?