Walmart concluded that, for the time being at least, it no longer needs e-commerce-only stores because the company has added pickup and delivery operations to thousands of full-service locations in the years since the Bentonville store opened in 2014, the spokesperson said.
The retailer has applied what it gleaned about people’s online shopping needs and preferences from the pilot to its overall e-commerce operations, leading the company to make what the spokesperson called a “difficult decision” to shutter the store in Bentonville along with its counterpart in Lincolnwood, which opened in 2019, according to the spokesperson. Both locations will close by Feb. 17, and Walmart “will continue to innovate in our pickup and delivery services to best serve our customers,” the spokesperson said in an email.
