Walmart to close Midway store in St. Paul. Slow sales cited as factor
https://www.twincities.com/2019/08/28/walmart-to-close-midway-store-in-st-paul-slow-sales-cited-as-factor/
By Bob Shaw | bshaw@pioneerpress.com | Pioneer Press
August 28, 2019 at 3:54 pm
By Bob Shaw | bshaw@pioneerpress.com | Pioneer Press
PUBLISHED: August 28, 2019 at 3:54 pm | UPDATED: August 28, 2019 at 8:20 pm
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St. Paul’s only Walmart will be closing Sept. 20, the company announced Wednesday.
The University Avenue store is in the Midway Marketplace shopping center, near Allianz Field.
“After a careful and thoughtful review process, we have made the difficult decision to close the Walmart Supercenter at 1450 University Ave. W in Saint Paul,” the Arkansas-based retailer said in a statement. “The decision is based on several factors including the store’s overall performance.”
The store’s pharmacy will remain open through Sept. 13, the company said. Customers will get help in transferring their prescriptions to other pharmacies, it added.
Signs posted on the retailer’s doors said that MoneyCenter transactions including check cashing will end Aug. 30.
Charlotte Hunter, a resident of Cathedral Hill, said the absence of the major discount retailer from the Green Line would be a blow for many low-to-moderate income St. Paul residents like her daughter.
The interior of the Walmart store in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood is shown in August 2019. The company announced that the store would close Sept. 13. (Frederick Melo / Pioneer Press)
“I think it impacts a lot of people, especially people who don’t have cars — young single mothers who don’t have cars and need diapers,” Hunter said.
Some saw the store’s lack of a full grocery department as a weakness that may have contributed to its demise. Rumors have circulated for some time that the store might relocate to the site of St. Paul’s old Sears store on Rice Street, potentially with full grocery service.
The store’s 333 workers will be encouraged to seek positions at other Walmart stores, the company said. Employees who don’t move to other Walmart locations will be paid through Nov. 8, and subsequently get severance pay.
The store’s closing “is in no way a reflection of their hard work serving our customers,” the press release said.
Many of the workers and customers at Walmart on Wednesday were East African immigrants or the children of immigrants, and several expressed disappointment at the news.
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“It impacts me because I’m a neighbor,” said Getachew Erago, 52, a longtime resident of Lexington Parkway. “There is no other Walmart around.”
Trina Berry, another customer, said the retail landscape has changed around Allianz Field, the Minnesota United soccer stadium, which opened at the former site of a Rainbow Foods grocery store this year.
“Since they’ve built that, there has been a lot of stuff closing,” said Berry, a resident of St. Paul’s East Side.
The Midway Marketplace was recently purchased in March by Kraus-Anderson Realty, the development division of the Minneapolis-based construction firm.
In addition to the Sears on Rice Street, recent major retail closures include the Herberger’s store in the Midway Marketplace, and the Rainbow Foods grocery that was torn down in the Midway Shopping Center to the west to make room for the 19,400-seat Minnesota United stadium.
On the flip side, the Target mega-store in the Midway Marketplace has recently undergone some interior improvements, including the addition of a liquor store and delivered-to-your car services in the parking lot. This is believed to be one of the chain’s busiest stores.
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Bob Shaw
Bob is a 40-year veteran (yes, he is grizzled) who edited one Pulitzer Prize winner and wrote two that were nominated. He has also worked in Des Moines, Colorado Springs and Palo Alto. He writes about the suburbs, the environment, housing, religion -- anything but politics. Secret pleasures: Kayaking on the Mississippi on the way to work, doughnuts brought in by someone else. Best office prank: Piling more papers onto Fred Melo’s already trash-covered desk.
FloodedParkingLotStPaulMidwayAug10th19
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