Bunkie, LA. When Wal-Mart decided to shut down its store in Bunkie, Louisiana, the town asked Wal-Mart to keep the store open, but failing that, they suggested that Wal-Mart give them the store. In fact, the Mayor of Bunkie was planning on picketing the store to protest its closing. According to The Town Talk newspaper, the company is apparently going to give the store away. Why not? They’ve got more than 300 “dark stores” available. Two Wal-Mart discount stores, one of them in Bunkie — were dumped when the company decided to open a Wal-Mart superstore in Marksville. The two empty stores will shut down March 17th. By donating the 43,770 s.f. Bunkie building, Wal-Mart will not have to pay its property taxes. The Mayor told the media that Wal-Mart has “never given property away before. That’s what he told us. This is a first.” When asked if their tax bill was a reason for giving away the building, a Wal-Mart spokesman said, “I cannot quantify any part of the decision.” The Mayor added, “We didn’t want Wal-Mart to do like they’ve done in the past, close the store, board up the building and let nobody else move in.” The town hopes to divide the building into small portions, and lease it to several tenants.
The Mayor’s comments about Wal-Mart shutting the building down “and let nobody else move in” comes from the letter of intent that Wal-Mart asks any interested party to complete, which requires the commitment that the empty building will not be used for a discount store, warehouse club, or pharmacy. For more stories about Wal-Mart’s hundreds of empty stores, search this database by “dead stores” or “empty stores.”
