Walmart is closing some stores in 2025 primarily due to several interrelated factors: economic pressures including inflation and rising costs, changing consumer shopping habits with a strong shift towards online shopping, and the need to optimize store performance by focusing on locations with stronger customer traffic. The impact of tariffs, especially high duties on Chinese imports, has increased prices on goods, affecting Walmart’s traditional low- price advantage and prompting the company to reduce its physical store footprint while expanding e-commerce and automation. Walmart has confirmed it will close a handful of underperforming stores across multiple states, although it continues to open new stores and renovate existing ones as part of a strategy to balance physical presence with online growth and improved delivery services. This strategic scaling down is also partly to mitigate the rising operational costs and maintain competitiveness in an evolving retail landscape.