Accustomed to opening rather than closing stores, retail giant Walmart plans to shutter a Neighborhood Market in Aurora near the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus on June 7.
Walmart said it informed the 141 employees at its 10400 E Colfax Ave. location of the closure on Friday. On Monday, it filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification letter with the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.
“All associates at this facility who do not otherwise secure employment with the company following a paid job search period will separate employment effective Aug. 9,” Greg Tunstill, a market manager with Walmart said in his letter to the state.
Employees don’t have recall or bumping rights. But they can apply for open positions at other Walmart stores and Sam’s Clubs locations during a 90-day paid job search period, he said. If they don’t find a new position within that period, eligible workers can receive severance pay.
“We are grateful to the customers who have given us the privilege of serving them at our Walmart store at … We look forward to continuing to serve them at one of our eight other Walmart stores in the area, including a Neighborhood Market and a Supercenter within 5 miles of this location, on Walmart.com and through delivery to their home or business,” said Kelsey Bohl, director of corporate communications for the company in an emailed statement.
Walmart, which has more than 5,000 stores in the U.S., said the Aurora location didn’t meet financial expectations, adding that the closure didn’t reflect on the hard work and customer service of employees at the store.
But reviewers on Yelp gave the store, which opened in 2015, only 2.5 stars. And a review of Google ratings of grocery stores ranked that Walmart location as the sixth worst in the country last year, according to Westword. Colorado had four of the 10 worst-rated grocery stores in the nation, according to the survey.
The East Colfax corridor in Denver and Aurora has been gentrifying and long-time residents are facing displacement pressures from rising rents and home prices. It also has been historically underserved from a retail perspective, although two King Soopers stores are near the Walmart location that is closing.
Walmart Neighborhood Markets are typically around one-fifth the size of Walmart Supercenters.
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