Walmart Shutters Four Chicago Stores After 'Million-Dollar Losses'

Walmart is to shutter four stores in Chicago that "lose tens of millions of dollars a year."

The outlets in southern and western parts of the city will close "by Sunday, April 16," the retailer said on Tuesday. Losses at Walmart's stores in Chicago have almost doubled over the past five years, the company added.

The news comes amid a debate about crime in prominent Democratic-run cities. Earlier this week Whole Foods Market announced that it was closing a store in San Francisco because it could not "ensure the safety" of staff on the premises.

Crime has surged in Chicago in recent years, with the number of homicides hitting a 25-year high in 2021 according to the city's police department. The crime rate was a key issue during the city's mayoral election, won by progressive Brandon Johnson on April 4.

Chicago's outgoing mayor, Lori Lightfoot, expressed dismay at Walmart's decision.

"I'm incredibly disappointed that Walmart, a strong partner in the past, has announced the closing of several locations throughout the south and west sides of the city," she said. "Unceremoniously abandoning these neighborhoods will create barriers to basic needs for thousands of residents."

Lightfoot urged the retailer to make sure the closed stores were "repurposed with significant community engagement so they can find a new use to serve their neighborhoods."

The stores that will close are at 2551 W. Cermak Road, 2844 N. Broadway Street, 4720 S. Cottage Grove Avenue and 8431 S. Stewart Avenue. Pharmacies at the locations will remain open for an extra 30 days.

The four stores were temporarily closed for several weeks in 2020, due to unrest following the murder of George Floyd by a police officer.

Walmart said in its press release announcing the permanent closures: "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."

The retailer added that it had "invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the city," but this had not "materially improved the fundamental business challenges our stores are facing."

Employees at the closing stores will be "eligible to transfer to another Walmart location," it said. There are four other Walmart stores in the city.

One of the closing stores is in Chatham, south Chicago. Local activist Nedra Sims Fears, who runs the Greater Chatham Initiative, told The Chicago Tribune that Walmart's decision was "deeply disappointing."

She added: "It's just going to be a significant loss, and we're sorry that they didn't work with the community to figure out how to have a business model that worked."

Speaking to Newsweek, a Walmart spokesperson said the decision to close the four Chicago stores is not linked to the city's crimewave.

They said: "Theft and crime were not leading causes for this decision. The simplest explanation is 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 the last five years."

Update 4/13/23, 3:10 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with comment from Walmart.