Walmart is shuttering two fulfillment centers as the retail giant further restructures its supply chain.

The company is closing an e-commerce fulfillment center in the Chicago suburb of Matteson, Ill., impacting 111 employees, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice filed March 27. The closure comes as Walmart relocates operations at the warehouse to its 1.1-million-square-foot “next-gen” fulfillment center in Chicago-area Joliet, Ill.

Employees were informed of the closure of the 150,000-square-foot “ORD” facility in February and will have an opportunity to transfer to other facilities nearby or nationwide.

Additionally, Walmart is closing a Sam’s Club fulfillment center in Worcester, Mass., according to a March 29 WARN notice. Ninety employees will be impacted by the 138,000-square-foot site’s closure.

Both facilities used to be Sam’s Club stores before being shuttered in 2018. One year later they were revived and converted to fulfillment centers for online orders.

Layoffs at both facilities are expected to begin May 29. A Walmart spokesperson says all impacted employees will be able to work at another location.

Affected employees may be eligible for a $7,500 transfer bonus and relocation assistance, along with on-the-job training “using advanced fulfillment technology,” a Walmart spokesperson said. Those who don’t request a move are eligible for severance pay.

“We’ll continue working one-on-one with each individual to help them find the best path forward,” the spokesperson said.

The closures reflect Walmart’s shifting supply chain strategy, which has resulted in faster delivery along with a profitable e-commerce operation. The shifts to automation have enabled the retail giant to manage inventory more tightly and keep fulfillment costs down.

Walmart has been retrofitting dozens of distribution centers with robotics and automation technologies in recent years, with a target completion date of 2030. According to the company, supply chain investments are expected to peak in 2026 and 2027.

In Walmart U.S., approximately 60 percent of stores are receiving some freight from automated distribution centers, with roughly 50 percent of e-commerce fulfillment center volume being automated.

The closures also come as the company goes bigger elsewhere in its fulfillment network. In February, Walmart acquired a 1.2-million-square-foot warehouse in East Hartford, Conn. for $212.6 million. And back in October 2025, the Bentonville behemoth was confirmed to be pouring $300 million into the construction of another 1.2-million-square-foot fulfillment center in Kings Mountain, N.C.

Those are on top of Walmart’s previous plans to open its fifth “next-gen” fulfillment center in Stockton, Calif. by the end of 2026.

Saks to lay off 600 in Pennsylvania DC closures

Walmart hasn’t been the only retailer exiting some of its industrial real estate portfolio, with struggling luxury fashion seller Saks Global set to close two distribution centers in Pennsylvania over the next two months.

The Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus parent, which unveiled Thursday it secured $500 million in financing to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy, said in two WARN notices filed Feb. 10 and March 3 that it would shutter the facilities. The buildings supported Saks’ online operations.

Layoffs at a Wilkes Barre site will begin April 11 and continue through the end of the month, impacting 155 employees. Another 435 employees are expected to be laid off from a facility in Pottsville from May 3 through May 31.

The luxury company filed for Chapter 11 in a Texas bankruptcy court in January.

ShipMonk shutters California warehouse, cutting 124 jobs

Warehouse closures are also expected at a logistics company that stores and fulfills goods for retailers.

Third-party logistics (3PL) provider ShipMonk, is closing a facility in San Bernardino, Calif., the company said in a WARN notice filed with the state on March 24. As a result, the company will cut 124 jobs, with the layoffs scheduled to take effect June 30.

That facility is one of 12 fulfillment centers for the 3PL in the U.S., Canada and Europe, and one of three near the U.S. West Coast. The other two are located on the company’s Las Vegas campus, which was opened last year and covers 800,000 square feet of ground.

The closing site operates 332,000 square feet of warehouse space with 42 dock doors, 82,000 storage locations and 14,420 pallet locations.

ShipMonk opened another campus last year in Pittston, Pa., complementing an existing facility with a second warehouse to offer 650,000 square feet of storage space.

Both the Las Vegas and Pennsylvania campuses were designed to host the lion’s share of fulfillment activity on the West and East Coasts, each taking in 300,000 worth of orders per month on average with the capacity to scale up to 1 million orders during the peak holiday season.

The company closed a 93,800-square-foot fulfillment center in Bay Shore, N.Y. last May, laying off 67 employees in the process.