Walmart Is Closing This Store After a Fire—and Other Locations Have Been Hit
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Millions of us across the U.S. rely on Walmart’s stores for our shopping needs. That makes it extra frustrating to arrive at your local Walmart only to be met with closed doors. This mega-retailer has shuttered stores throughout the country—both permanently, as shoppers in several states saw this last spring, and temporarily, like when hundreds of locations in the southeast were closed during Hurricane Ian. Now, Walmart is closing one store after a fire—and it’s not the only location to have been hit. Read on to find out more about the fires impacting Walmart.
READ THIS NEXT: Walmart Is Banning Shoppers From Doing This in 4 States, as of Next Year .
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Walmart has long touted safety as a “top priority” in its stores, especially amid recent dangers like the COVID pandemic and increased gun violence in the U.S. The company has a Health & Safety compliance group whose main objective is to assist in in its “commitment to provide a comfortable and safe shopping experience for its customers and members and a healthy, safe workplace for associates and suppliers.”
Walmart has specifically recognized that fire safety is one of its “top health and safety priorities.” In the mid-2010s, the retailer led fire safety reviews in various retail markets after a deadly 2012 blaze killed 112 workers in a Bangladesh factory making and supplying clothes for Walmart. These reviews helped to “establish new processes and controls, improve store infrastructure, and evaluate future fire monitoring plans,” according to Walmart.
“The company also initiated fire safety reviews in other markets to check the status of the company’s fire safety compliance and response readiness,” Walmart noted.
But now, the retailer is dealing with a surprising fire threat, including the closure of another store thanks to a recent blaze.
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A Walmart in Alabama has closed its doors to the public following a recent fire, The Selma Sun reported on Nov. 6.
According to the newspaper, the Selma Fire Department was called to the retailer’s store on Highland Avenue that evening due to a fire that was apparently started in the craft section of the store. No injuries were reported, but Walmart has temporarily shuttered the location due to smoke and water from the store’s fire sprinklers.
As of midday Nov. 7, the Selma Walmart is still listed as “ currently closed ” on the company’s Store Status tracker.
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The Selma Sun reports that this is actually the second time this Walmart location has been shuttered in six weeks because of a fire. According to a previous report from the newspaper, Selma’s Walmart was temporarily closed in early October after a small fire broke out in the back section of the store on Sept. 30. The location remained unopened to the public for two days, but as with the most recent fire, a Walmart representative told The Selma Sun that “there were no injuries” as a result of the first blaze.
While the Selma location has been hit twice, it’s not the only Walmart store to have experienced a fire this year. According to the company’s Store Status tracker, its store in Peachtree City, Georgia, is still closed as of Nov. 7. This Walmart location was initially shuttered on Aug. 24 after a fire erupted, causing significant damage to the store’s interior and roof, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.
Other local news reports indicate that recent fires have taken place at Walmart stores in Webster, New York ; Colorado Springs, Colorado ; and Barnwell, South Carolina .
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There may be a concerning trend connecting these Walmart fires. Selma police believe the first fire at the store in September was the result of teenagers carrying out a TikTok challenge, Dallas County Commissioner Vivian Rogers told The Selma Sun .
According to the newspaper, a deputy with the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that the first blaze was put out in the paper goods aisle, speculating that it was set to fulfill a trend for the social media app. The most recent Selma Walmart fire was started in the craft section of the store, which is near the paper goods aisle. Officials have not yet given insight into the potential cause of the latest fire.
There have been rumors that other Walmart fires in various cities, including Peachtree City, were connected to a TikTok challenge. According to The Citizen , most include a concerning similarity : The fires were set in the paper goods section of the stores. However, while Peachtree City police said they are aware of a recent TikTok trend involving Walmart fires, there is no information to suggest that this fire was part of a challenge, CBS46 reported. A 14-year-old girl was sentenced after admitting to starting the fire in the paper goods aisle, according to Fox 5 Atlanta.
Best Life reached out to Walmart about the recent fires and potential social media connection, but has not yet heard back.
Walmart Is Banning Shoppers From Doing This in 4 States, as of Next Year
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The shopping experience at Walmart is nothing if not consistent. The megaretailer has changed with the times to keep giving customers what they want, from a convenient shopping experience to maintaining their low prices despite soaring inflation. Typically, this involves adding features or perks that endear fans to the store even more. But even as the world’s second-largest retailer, some changes are inevitable for the company—including ones that could affect the shopping experience. Read on to see what Walmart is banning shoppers from doing in four states as of next year.
READ THIS NEXT: Walmart Shoppers Can Now Buy This “Award-Winning” Product in Stores .
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There’s no question that the pace of change in the retail industry has quickened in recent years. But unlike some other once-iconic stores that have all but disappeared , Walmart has managed to keep customers coming back by embracing new technology and fine-tuning its customer experience.
In July, the store unveiled a new augmented reality (AR) feature built into its app that allows customers to see how a piece of furniture or décor will look in their home before they decide to buy it. The company also announced it had updated its website to optimize the experience for Spanish speakers shopping on its website. And the retailer also kicked off a partnership with streaming platform Roku that allows customers to shop for items using their TVs.
Devoted Walmart customers have also likely found more reasons to return to the store lately. Earlier this summer, the retailer announced that it was updating its Walmart+ subscription service, allowing members to bundle their package with InHome Delivery for an extra $40 annually. The service provides customers with the convenience of having the items they ordered brought straight to their doorstep, garage, or fridge. But despite these recent additions, there’s one thing Walmart shoppers in some areas won’t see in stores for much longer.
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Originally, signage had announced that the changes would take effect beginning Sept. 15. However, those notices have since been removed from the store, with representatives telling KRDO that the new policy will go into effect at a later date in the coming months.
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News of the major change comes after the state government passed Colorado House Bill 1162 last year, KRDO reports. Even though the new legislation will ban stores and restaurants from giving out single-use plastics such as shopping bags beginning in 2024, the company said it would be getting a head start on the changes—and has even instituted similar policies in other states.
“Walmart has been exploring alternatives to single-use carryout bags from our stores since 2021 while prioritizing our customers’ convenience and product safety, including through the Beyond the Bag Consortium. In the U.S., we have transitioned from plastic bags in Vermont, Maine, and New Jersey, and, starting early 2023, we expect to eliminate single-use carryout bags in Colorado as well—with reusable bags available for purchase at multiple prices,” a corporate spokesperson for Walmart told KRDO in a statement.
“For in-store and curbside delivery, we will continue to encourage our customers to bring their own bags and/or purchase reusable bags and will be switching to reusable paper bags for delivery. Walmart remains committed to identifying solutions that are scalable, convenient, and sustainable,” the representative explained.
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Despite how convenient they may seem, plastic bags have become a major ecological issue , with less than 10 percent of those put into use ending up recycled, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As a result, state and municipal governments around the U.S. have begun to institute their own local ordinances similar to Colorado’s that limit or outright ban retailers and other businesses from furnishing plastic bags. As of February 2021, eight states had enacted bans on single-use plastic bags , including California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New York, Oregon, and Vermont, per the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). Other areas, such as Montgomery County, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., have also required businesses to charge a five or 10-cent fee per bag used by a customer.
But it’s not just plastic bags: Walmart’s latest decision aligns with the company’s commitment to becoming a zero waste operation in the U.S. in Canada by 2025. After announcing the initiative last year, the retailer says it aims to switch to “100 percent recyclable, reusable, or industrially compostable packaging” for its own brands by 2025 while also “aiming to label 100 percent of that packaging with recycling instructions to educate our customers and eliminate non-recyclable packaging by the same time frame.”
