A surprise announcement was made by Walmart today to permanently close 51 centers across Texas and the United States. Nobody ever wants to see a business that is shrinking their number of locations and therefore cutting options for their neighborhoods and communities, but sometimes circumstances force companies to make very difficult decisions like shutting their doors.

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Sometimes stores, especially franchises and chains will go through several locations closing even while they are in the midst of a large growth period. Sometimes you have to prune a few branches in order to get the most production.

The news is a bit surprising though because just recently it had been announced Walmart planned to expand their health centers from the 51 that were in operation and now being closed.

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Walmart Now Closing All Of These Texas Centers Permanently

The Walmart Health Centers were especially beneficial for those smaller communities that did not have a nearby regional clinic, hospital, or urgent care. Often in rural towns, the Walmart Supercenter is the only retail place to find many household essentials and food staples.

Walmart announced they understand that closing the health centers will have a large affect on several customers, but after 5 years they simply cannot move forward with them any longer. They do plan to take what was learned in providing health care to their guests, and continue to apply it to better serving their pharmacy and vision center customers.

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