Oakland Walmart officially closes its doors
OAKLAND, Calif. (KTVU and AP) - The Oakland Walmart store is shut down for good, after closing its doors for the final time on Sunday night.
“Sorry ladies and gentlemen, the store is closed, we're now closed,” was the message broadcast from workers with blow horns outside the store near Hegenberger Road.
The store opened 10 years ago amid great fanfare and promises of inexpensive food, merchandise and hundreds of jobs for the community.
It was one of 269 stores around the United States that Walmart decided wasn’t pulling its weight.
When Walmart announced its list of closures it said that the stores were “underperforming.”
One customer told KTVU she was at the store at least once a week because it was economical and convenient. She says she and the community will miss it.
“Oakland is being left behind. And we're not all bad people. We're not all bad people, no matter what has happened. I enjoyed having a store of this magnitude so close to home,” she said.
The Walmart store on Monterey Highway in San Jose is also being shut down.
Some employees told KTVU off camera that losses from shoplifting could have been behind the decision to close the Oakland store.