Employees Eugene Young and LaSalle Body stock the shelves for the opening of the Walmart Express in West Chatham a year ago. (Antonio Perez/Tribune / July 20, 2012)
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The Walmart Express in West Chatham will close July 27, the Bentonville, Ark-based company announced Friday.
The smaller format store that opened last summer and sells primarily groceries was losing customers to the larger Walmart Supercenter that opened in January and is roughly 100 yards away.
Express stores average about 15,000-square-feet. The larger Supercenters are roughly 185,000-square-feet and sell general merchandise in addition to groceries.
The West Chatham Walmart Express employed 24 Walmart associates who have been offered jobs in the company, with most "walking across the parking lot" to work at the Supercenter, according to spokesman Steven Restivo.
Walmart's vision was to have the two stores complement each other, Restivo said, but increasingly customers were shopping at the Supercenter. "Customers appreciate having the one-stop shop environment at the SuperCenter," he said. "Over time we found that their unusually close proximity resulted in customers making a clear choice."
The shuttering is not a reflection on Walmart's Express store format, which is in pilot-phase, according to Restivo. Walmart is trying-out its smaller Express format with 11 stores (including West Chatham) operating in three Chicago neighborhoods, northwest Arkansas and North Carolina, according to Restivo.
"We expect to test, learn and refine these stores over time," he said. Customer traffic at the Wrigleyville and River North Walmart Express stores has grown every month and "customer experience scores are high," said Restivo.
Walmart operates six stores in Chicago.
Customers who ordered items to be delivered at the West Chatham store after July 27 will be able to retrieve them at the Supercenter, at 8331 S. Stewart Ave., Restivo said.
The smaller format store that opened last summer and sells primarily groceries was losing customers to the larger Walmart Supercenter that opened in January and is roughly 100 yards away.
Express stores average about 15,000-square-feet. The larger Supercenters are roughly 185,000-square-feet and sell general merchandise in addition to groceries.
The West Chatham Walmart Express employed 24 Walmart associates who have been offered jobs in the company, with most "walking across the parking lot" to work at the Supercenter, according to spokesman Steven Restivo.
Walmart's vision was to have the two stores complement each other, Restivo said, but increasingly customers were shopping at the Supercenter. "Customers appreciate having the one-stop shop environment at the SuperCenter," he said. "Over time we found that their unusually close proximity resulted in customers making a clear choice."
The shuttering is not a reflection on Walmart's Express store format, which is in pilot-phase, according to Restivo. Walmart is trying-out its smaller Express format with 11 stores (including West Chatham) operating in three Chicago neighborhoods, northwest Arkansas and North Carolina, according to Restivo.
"We expect to test, learn and refine these stores over time," he said. Customer traffic at the Wrigleyville and River North Walmart Express stores has grown every month and "customer experience scores are high," said Restivo.
Walmart operates six stores in Chicago.
Customers who ordered items to be delivered at the West Chatham store after July 27 will be able to retrieve them at the Supercenter, at 8331 S. Stewart Ave., Restivo said.
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