Wal-Mart Canada to Close Sam’s Clubs Division, Will Focus on Supercenter Format

Toronto Wal-Mart Canada Corp. is closing its six Sam's Club stores, which employ about 1,200 people, the company said Thursday.

The six stores, all in Ontario, opened just five years ago and did not perform to Wal-Mart Canada's standards, president and CEO David Cheesewright said. Wal-Mart said closing the wholesale clubs will let it focus on its Supercenters in Canada.

The Walmart Supercenter format opened two and a half years ago, the company said, and it quickly became much more popular than the wholesale membership Sam's Club stores.

The company will try to minimize job losses by holding internal job fairs to help workers find jobs at existing stores. It plans to open 26 new Wal-Mart Supercenters in Canada this year and expand others.