KIMBALL, W.Va. — There were a lot of shoppers at the Walmart in Kimball Thursday afternoon just a few hours before the retail giant shut its doors for good in the McDowell County community.
Walmart announced earlier this month its plans to close dozens of underperforming stores. The store in Kimball was the only one in West Virginia.
The closing is a tough blow to the community and county as a whole, McDowell County Commissioner Cecil Patterson said.
“We’re just desperate,” Patterson said. “Just to lose the lobs is devastating to this economy and to this county especially.”
The company said in a previous statement it hoped to relocate employees to a nearby store, but Patterson said the store is the only Walmart in the county.
“Our next closest Walmart would be about an hour and 10 minutes, on average, from McDowell County either way,” he said. “We have a couple other stores. We have a Goodsons supermarket and the Save-A-Lots and there’s a couple Mom & Pop’s, but nothing of the one-stop shop like a Walmart.”
Not only will employees have to find another location to work, but Patterson said those who shop at the store will have to go elsewhere. He said a lot of people depend on the Kimball store.
“The older people, they need a ride to the store, they have to hire somebody or get a neighbor to take them. Walmart is so convenient because they can fill their prescriptions, get their groceries. Whatever they need is there,” he said.
The county commission is looking into the possibility of purchasing the property.
Thursday’s shoppers were purchasing items that were part of the going-out-of-business sale