Walmart Closing 2 San Diego Area Stores Due To Underperformance

SAN DIEGO, CA — Walmart will close two San Diego area stores, the company announced Wednesday.

The retail giant decided not to renew its leases for two "underperforming" locations in El Cajon and San Diego.

"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," a statement from the company said.

The stores that will be shuttered include San Diego's first Walmart Neighborhood Market at 2121 Imperial Ave. in the city's Sherman Heights neighborhood. The store opened in 2013.

The Walmart store at 605 Fletcher Parkway in El Cajon will also close its doors. The two-level store is located in the Parkway Plaza shopping mall.

Walmart plans to close both stores on Feb. 9, according to the company.

"We are grateful to the customers who have given us the privilege of serving them at our San Diego and El Cajon stores," Walmart spokesperson Brian Little said. "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."

Walmart has nearly 5,000 stores nationwide and 300 stores, including Sam's Clubs, in the state. There are more than a dozen stores and clubs in the San Diego area.

Currently, the closing El Cajon store has 232 employees, and the closing San Diego store has 125 employees. Employees at both stores are eligible to be transferred to other Walmarts in the area, according to the company.

There are no other closures planned in the San Diego area, Little told Patch.

"There are no additional closures planned in this region, right now," Little said. "These are never easy decisions, but actively managing our portfolio is essential to maintaining a healthy business. This is done on a case-by-case basis and only after a careful and thorough review."