Walmart Neighborhood Market grocery store in Des Plaines to close
A Walmart grocery store in Des Plaines will shut down by Aug. 6, the company announced Tuesday.
The decision to close the Walmart Neighborhood Market at 727 W. Golf Road was based on several factors, including historic and current financial performance, Walmart spokesman Brian Little said in an email.
The move "is in line with the threshold that guides our strategy to close underperforming locations," he said.
Des Plaines spokeswoman Jennie Vana called the store's pending closure disappointing.
"Anytime a local business closes its doors, it has a cascading impact on the employees, customers, the community and the local economy," Vana said. "But we recognize that businesses need to rightsize their workforces."
Located in the Des Plaines Market Place shopping center at Golf and Elmhurst roads, the nearly 39,000-square-foot store opened in 2014. Designed to compete with Jewel and other supermarket operations, it was the first Neighborhood Market store in the Northwest suburbs.
The store employs about 85 people. All are eligible for transfer to other Walmart stores, Little said.
Workers will be paid through Oct. 8 unless they transfer, Little said. After that date, eligible employees will receive severance pay.
"Our associates are the heartbeat of the company and our priority is to take care of them during this transition," Little said. "Our (human resources) teams will help identify transfer opportunities and assist associates through the transfer process."
The pharmacy staff will work with customers to transfer prescriptions elsewhere before the store closes, the email said.
As of April, 686 of Walmart's 4,743 U.S. stores were Neighborhood Market operations, investor data revealed. The vast majority are the much larger Supercenter stores.
The Des Plaines store's pending closure is an isolated situation, Little said.
"Actively managing our portfolio is essential to maintaining a healthy business," he said. "This is done on a case-by-case basis and only after a careful and thorough review."
Des Plaines officials will try to fill the storefront as quickly as possible, Vana said.