Grocery Chains, Including Walmart, Are Closing Stores, Starting July 16
Customers are slated to lose several locations in the coming weeks.
If you feel like your grocery budget isn't getting you as far as it used to, you're not alone. Food prices are 6.7 percent higher this year than they were in 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). With that in mind, you may feel more of an urge to shop around these days to make sure you're getting the best bang for your buck. But depending on where you live, your shopping options could soon get a bit smaller. Several grocery chains, including Walmart, are closing stores this month. Read on to find out more about these upcoming closures.
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Walmart has already closed several stores this year.
Since February, Walmart has been steadily shutting down "underperforming" stores across the U.S. So far, the Walmart closures have included three locations in Chicago: one in Lincolnwood that closed on Feb. 17, and two others in Homewood and Plainfield that were slated to shutter by March 10.
From February through May, customers also lost Walmart stores in Arkansas, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as one in Washington, D.C.
The most recent closure just took place last month on June 2, when Walmart closed a Neighborhood Market in Overland Park, Kansas.
The retailer is closing another location soon.
Walmart will be shuttering another Neighborhood Market store soon—this time in Richmond, Virginia, Richmond BizSense reported.
In a statement to Best Life, Walmart spokesperson Felicia McCranie confirmed that the company has made the "difficult decision" to permanently close its Brook Road location on July 28.
According to McCranie, a thorough review process revealed that this store does not meet the company's "financial expectations." As a result, Walmart has chosen to shut down the "underperforming" location.
"We are grateful to the customers who have given us the privilege of serving them at our Brook Road Neighborhood Market location," she said. "We look forward to serving them at our other stores in the surrounding communities including our Brook Road Supercenter just two miles away and on walmart.com."
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But Lidl has a closure planned even sooner.
Walmart is not the only grocer chain making cuts. Lidl is planning to close a location in North Augusta, South Carolina, in the coming weeks, The Augusta Chronicle reported. Spokesman Chandler Spivey told the newspaper that the company will shutter its East Martintown Road store on July 16.
The decision for the Lidl closure in North Augusta also seems to be for the same reason Walmart is closing its Richmond store: financial performance.
"This was an underperforming location, and we made the strategic decision to close this location so we can focus on the locations that are closer and more convenient to more of our customers and where we are seeing significant growth," Spivey told The Augusta Chronicle.
Best Life reached out to Lidl for more information on the upcoming closure, and we will update this story with their response.
Another grocery chain is also shuttering a store in July.
Alongside Walmart and Lidl, a much smaller grocery chain is also getting ready to close one location. Fishers Foods, a locally-owned grocer in Stark County, Ohio, is about to shrink by a third. The company has decided to close its store in Canton, Ohio, The Repository reported.
According to the newspaper, the Fishers Foods store at 4403 Cleveland Avenue Northwest is slated to shutter on July 16—leaving just two remaining stores for the grocery chain, in Jackson Township and Perry Township.
Best Life reached out to Fishers Foods for more information on this closure, and we will update this story with their response.
Meanwhile, customers seem to be disappointed by the announcement but not surprised, as the town had already lost another Fishers Foods on Cleveland Ave in Jan. 2022, and two other stores back in Jan. 2018, according to The Repository.
"I felt like it was coming," Aliyah Priest, a customer who lives close to the Fishers Foods store, told the newspaper.
