JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Gone are the days when you could make a middle-of-the-night trip to Walmart for bananas, toilet paper or any other essentials.
The mega retail chain went from operating 24 hours a day to closing at 11 p.m. during the COVID-19 pandemic. But recently, posts on social media have been circulating, claiming the store will soon return to being open 24 hours a day.
THE QUESTION
Is Walmart returning to 24-hour operations at all of its United States locations?
THE SOURCES
- Joe Pennington, Director, Walmart Global Press Office
- Walmart's online corporate news and information page
- Walmart's social media pages
- Dacona Smith, former chief operating officer for Walmart
THE ANSWER
This claim is false.
WHAT WE FOUND
The posts circulating on X and Facebook show a photo of a Walmart store edited onto what appears to be a social media post from Walmart saying "We think it's been long enough," with the hashtags #BackTo24 and #June3rd.
The post appears to have a date stamp of May 28 at 12 a.m.
First Coast News reached out to Walmart's corporate media relations team. Joe Pennington, director of Walmart's global press office, responded that "There are no current plans to return our stores to 24 hours of operations."
Before receiving the reply, First Coast News also checked the online corporate news and information page for Walmart, which is where the company shares news releases about upcoming promotions, community events and other newsworthy content.
There is no news release posted there indicating a return to 24-hour operation in the U.S.
On March 14, 2020, Walmart's then-chief operating officer Dacona Smith announced in a news release that the store would be adjusting its hours.
"Walmart stores and Neighborhood Markets will be open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. until further notice. This will help ensure associates are able to stock the products our customers are looking for and to perform cleaning and sanitizing. Stores currently operating under more reduced hours (for example they regularly close at 10 p.m. or open at 7 a.m.) will keep their current hours of operation," Smith wrote.
The release referred to the changes as temporary, but so far, the store has not given an update of when it could return to being open round the clock.