Wal-mart store closings discussion
On Friday, Wal-mart announced they are closing 269 stores  
http://news.walmart.com/news-archive/2016/01/15/walmart-continues-sharpened-focus-on-portfolio-management  

I made a map of the locations here  
https://batchgeo.com/map/50bcbdc6575ce126d7cce11f2def253b  

Breakdown by store type:  
Express - 102 - all in small rural markets  
Neighborhood Market - 23  
Sam's Club - 4  
Supercenter - 12  
Wal-mart 6  

With the bulk of the closings affecting small towns, I think this is noteworthy for the potential 'main street' impacts in areas that are likely already struggling. Is this a statement on the lack of money in small town America? 

[{"id": "cz45asj", "text": "I tried to look at the one in Derma Missouri but there isn't a store where it says there is. Just a field. Weird. ", "replies": [{"id": "cz480t2", "text": "&gt; look at the one in Derma Missouri but there \n\nhttps://www.google.com/maps/place/519+Veterans+Blvd,+Derma,+MS+38839/@33.8553197,-89.2838473,3a,75y,4.04h,74.31t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sGrYlpPcqqqDtEHPxO1D38Q!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DGrYlpPcqqqDtEHPxO1D38Q%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D11.96863%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656!4m2!3m1!1s0x8880fcf6095a304f:0xd93a365807640446  \n\nMS = Mississippi, but the image is from August 2013, so it's likely that it was built after that.  \n\nI didn't check the street views, only put together the overall map.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cz4jr0i", "text": "Some of these are newer stores. Walmart felt the pressure from Wall Street to expand. ", "replies": [{"id": "cz56ntj", "text": "Pretty much all of the express stores are new. \n", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cz4v847", "text": "I live near the one in Oakland that closed down this past Sunday. There is a big sign right underneath the Wal-Mart sign that says \"Closed\". The other Wal-Mart that closed in the Bay Area is in San Jose. People think that this Wal-Mart closed down because of the $12.something minimum wage that is enacted in Oakland at the moment.\n\nThe store was in Hegenberger, which is the area right next to the Airport. The store was the anchor that In-N-Out, Wingstop, Panda Express, T-Mobile, The Raiders Store, Starbucks, and a bunch of other stores were a part of. The area just improved the shuttle/bart thing so that businessmen could go from the airport to the hotels, or the bart station for free or very little money. The area is actually pretty nice, a lot of businesses and hotels in the area and it was very much up and coming and getting more stable. Now, people are concerned that the crime rate in the area is going to go up again because so many people lost their jobs out of nowhere and there is a huge parking lot ripe for \"activities\" now.\n\nThe next closest Wal-Mart at Davis Street in San Leandro definitely made nowhere near what this one did, has a shitty parking lot that is going to be overloaded with cars now. Literally a step down in every way but it is open because the minimum wage there is still like $8 or $9 or something.\n\nI'm kind of pissed the Oakland one closed down, even though it is just business. The area doesn't feel the same at all.", "replies": [{"id": "cz56naj", "text": "wow, I didn't even think about the minimum wage issue. They definitely buried that in with the talk about closing the large number of Express stores.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cz6wmcv", "text": "Thank you for sharing the work you put together, pretty interesting information here. \n\nAny thoughts on what they plan to do with the closed stores? ", "replies": [{"id": "cz6x39i", "text": "No clue. My guess is that these are owned by indiviudal developers and then leased by Wal-mart. I'm guess whoever financed the Express stores has pooped their pants. ", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]