Walmart, which owns Sam's Club, told Business Insider on Thursday that they were closing 63 stores nationwide. While some locations were closed immediately, others would close in the coming weeks, while others would be converted to distribution centers.
Sarah Bentham / AP
The moves comes just hours after Walmart announced that it would raise the hourly wages of employees to $11 and offer one time bonuses up to $1,000.
Thousands of employees are expected to be affected by the closure. In Indiana alone, the shuttering of two stores will result in 416 employees losing their jobs, according to the Indianapolis Star.
At the daily White House press briefing, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was asked if the president's policies were responsible for the Walmart wage increase.
"Different companies will do different things," he said. "Some companies will invest capital. Some companies will return money to workers. Lots of things are going on in the economy. And we appreciate what Walmart is doing."
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders avoided a question about the sudden Sam's Club closures, but discussing her satisfaction with Walmart's wage increases.
"Walmart is the largest employer in the country, and to see them do and make that kind of effort to over a million workers is a big deal," Sanders said. "Something we are excited about. And I think further evidence that the tax reform and tax cut packages are having an impact that we had hoped."
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/2EyA5YO
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