Walmart announces Everett store on Highway 99 will close on April 21

EVERETT — The Walmart store on Highway 99 in Everett will close next month.

The retail giant said in a statement Tuesday that the location did not meet “financial expectations.”

Located along the west side of the highway, between 112th Street SW and Center Road, the 147,000-square-foot store opened in 2006.

The store employs 198 people. All are eligible to transfer to other Walmart locations, the company said.

Its last day of operation is April 21.

David Long, who was shopping there on Tuesday, said the closure is the fault of city officials who’ve failed to address the number of homeless people in the area.

“Blame it on the city council not taking care of homelessness,” Long said.

Others shrugged their shoulders and said they’d shop elsewhere. Everett resident Rafael Castillo said he plans to shop at a Walmart store closer to him.

A strip mall, located on the south end of the store’s parking lot, houses several businesses, including Malek Barber Shop, Smoke King, the Tepeaca restaurant and Oasis Nails and Spa.

Niket Thapa, the manager of Smoke King, was disappointed by news that the Walmart would be closing.

“That’s not a good thing for us,” Thapa said. “That’s where most of our customers come from,” he said of the store.

Thapa hoped the soon-to-be vacant building would be filled by a Target or other large retail outlet.

Walmart, which owns the property, said the facility will be re-evaluated for use at a later date.

The property is owned by the Walmart Real Estate Business Trust, according to the Snohomish County Assessor.

The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer will continue to operate the Walmart Supercenter at 1605 SE Everett Mall Way.

Walmart also operates stores and supercenters in Lynnwood, Marysville, Arlington, Monroe and Oak Harbor. Supercenters are usually larger than the company’s regular stores, averaging close to 190,000 square feet.

“We are grateful to the customers who have given us the privilege of serving them at our Everett location at 11400 Highway 99. We look forward to serving them at our other stores in the surrounding communities and on walmart.com,” Lauren Willis, Walmart’s Western U.S. communications director, said in a statement.

Walmart typically closes a handful of stores each year.

Earlier this year, the company said that it planned to close eight retail locations across the US this year, citing poor financial performance factors.

The retailer operates nearly 5,000 stores in the U.S., including 65 in Washington.

“Unfortunately some do not meet our financial expectations. While our underlying business is strong, these specific stores haven’t performed as well as we hoped,” the company said.

Janice Podsada: 425-339-3097; jpodsada@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @JanicePods.

Sophia Gates: 425-339-3035; sophia.gates@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @SophiaSGates.