SAN DIEGO — Walmart is providing more insight behind its decision to close two San Diego County stores.
The Walmart locations at 2121 Imperial Ave. in San Diego and at 605 Fletcher Parkway in El Cajon will shut down on Feb. 9.
At the Walmart Neighborhood Market in Sherman Heights, people expressed shock over the closure saying it's always busy, so they can't understand why the stores is closing after nearly 11 years in business.
"This is like the whole neighborhood's store. I don't know what we're supposed to do," said Candace Gardiner.
Inside, signs have been posted announcing the store's last day. There are also several empty shelves, including in the meat section, where everything is 25% off. Other parts of the store are also on sale. Once it shuts down, customers will have to travel further to shop. Many worry about that, as well as the added price they'll have to pay.
"All these smaller stores are really expensive. They're like liquor, slash, some groceries. So, I don't know where they're gonna go. Maybe Albertsons Downtown? No parking, really hard to get to," said one customer.
"This was so convenient. It was so convenient and Albertsons is like an arm and a leg for what theirs is for a leg," said Gardiner.
It's the same sentiment in El Cajon, where the Walmart at Parkway Plaza is also shutting down. The entire store is 25% off.
CBS 8 talked to people taking advantage of those deals while they still can.
"I really don't like it. It's like a family store to us, so now we gotta find another Walmart on the other side of town," said one customer.
Walmart responds
CBS 8 reached out to Walmart to ask why the two stores are shutting down.
A spokesperson told CBS 8,
“This decision was not made lightly and was reached only after a careful and thoughtful review process. We have nearly 5,000 stores across the U.S. and unfortunately some do not meet our financial expectations. While our underlying business is strong, these stores haven’t performed as well as we hoped, and we were unable to reach mutual lease renewals with the property managers. There is no single cause for why a store closes and our decision is based on several factors, including historic and current financial performance, and is in line with the threshold that guides our strategy to close underperforming locations.”
The spokesperson went on to commend the stores’ employees, saying they are all eligible for transfer, as well as acknowledge customers, saying:
"We are grateful to the customers who have given us the privilege of serving them at our San Diego and El Cajon stores. We look forward to continuing to serve them at any of our many locations across the area, on walmart.com and through delivery to their home or business."
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