Harps Acquiring 9 Former Walmart Express Stores

Harps Food Stores is purchasing nine Walmart Express stores that closed earlier this year, according to published reports. The company isn’t providing any details on the deal until it’s finalized, which is expected to occur by the end of this month.

In January, Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. closed 269 stores, including the 102 it operated under the Express format, as part of a major retooling of its entire store base of 11,000-plus locations.

Six of the former Express stores are in Arkansas, in the towns of Gravette, Gentry, Cedarville, Charleston, Mansfield and Prairie Grove, and three are in Missouri, in the towns of Anderson, Seligman and Noel.

Springdale, Ark.-based Harps currently operates about 80 stores in Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.