Pinellas Park Walmart To Close, Failing To Meet Financial Expectations

PINELLAS PARK, FL — The Walmart Neighborhood Market store in Pinellas Park is shuttering its doors later this year, officials announced. A firm closing date for the location at 6900 U.S. Highway 19 North hasn't been released.

The decision comes after a review process of Walmart's more than 5,000 stores nationwide, some of which have not met financial expectations. Although the company said its underlying business is strong, the Pinellas Park store was among those that haven't "performed as well as we'd hoped," Walmart said.

Officials said there is no one cause for the store closure and said the decision is based on historic and current financial performance that is in line with the threshold that guide's the company's strategy to close underperforming stores.

Walmart said it would close a handful of stores in six states and Washington, D.C., this year, citing poor financial performance.

The retail giant said the decision was made after a review process that determined the impacted stores failed to meet financial expectations.

Eight stores in Washington DC, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, Oregon and Wisconsin will close by the end of the year, along with two experimental “Pickup” locations in Illinois and Arkansas.

Employees at shuttered locations are eligible to transfer to nearby stores, Walmart said.

“We are grateful to the customers who have given us the privilege of serving them,” Walmart spokesperson Felicia McCranie wrote in a statement to USA Today. "We look forward to serving them at our other stores in the surrounding communities and on walmart.com.”