Walmart to Waive Rent for Property Partners for April

The various small businesses that operate inside Walmart and Sam’s Club stores, including hair and nail salons, optometrists and restaurants, will get some relief for April as Walmart announced it was waiving rents for the month during the COVID-19 pandemic.

President and CEO of Walmart US John Furner, and President and CEO of Sam’s Club Katy McLay issued a statement this week for the more than 10,000 leased spaces in stores throughout the country, “It’s our hope that this rent relief will help these businesses financially weather the current situation and take care of their employees. We’ll continue to monitor the need for additional support past April. We’re also working with many of our partners to encourage their impacted employees to apply for the 150,000 temporary jobs we plan to fill in the coming months.”

In the same announcement, Walmart also indicated it was changing its supply chain financing program to meet the needs of suppliers who have maxed out capital as they adjust their business models during the pandemic.

“We’re improving the program: by adding dedicated resources to speed up the on-boarding process, eliminating an eligibility requirement and adding JPMorgan Chase as a partner (they join existing partners Citibank and Wells Fargo). More than two-thirds of our 18,000 suppliers are small and medium sized businesses who could benefit from this newly enhanced program. We encourage them to look into it through our Supplier Academy system.”