Walmart is closing a Norristown-area location, affecting 150 employees

Walmart is closing one of its Norristown-area locations, affecting 150 employees, according to a notice filed last week with state officials.

The store, at 53 W. Germantown Pike in East Norriton Township, will close to the public on Oct. 25, according to the company’s Sept. 25 notice to the state’s Department of Labor and Industry.

Employees also were notified about the closure on Sept. 25.

Walmart spokesperson Phillip Keene declined to share specific details of the closing except to say that “operating cost was a factor” in the company’s decision not to renew its lease.

Though the notice says 150 people will be “terminated" effective Dec. 6, Keene said the company plans to reassign employees who want to stay with Walmart to other stores. There are about 30 other Walmart stores within 25 miles of the closing store, according to the company’s website, including one on South Trooper Road in West Norriton Township and one in King of Prussia.

The store closing was previously reported by the Norristown Times Herald. The 99,000-square-foot store opened in July 2002, according to Walmart.

There are 3,568 Walmart Supercenters nationally, as of April 30, according to its website. In Pennsylvania, there were 116 of those stores, 21 discount stores and 24 Sam’s Clubs as of Aug. 6.

There were more than 50,800 Walmart employees in the state with an hourly wage of $13.98 for regular, full-time hourly workers in discount stores, supercenters, and neighborhood markets, as of July 31, the website states.