If you live in the Mamou area, the convenience of having a Walmart nearby will soon be taken away, and many residents say they are not happy with the decision.

“They are blowing up Facebook about it,” said Pamela Fontenot.

Friday morning America’s largest retailer announced it will close 269 stores worldwide. 154 of them are in the U.S.

“It’s Walmart you know? People go there for everything, it’s just convenient,” said Kimberly Noel.

Eight stores are closing in Louisiana total, with the closest to Lafayette being in Mamou, and Lake Arthur.

“We are very upset,” said Pamela Fontenot.

Kimberly Noel lives less than ten minutes from the Mamou Walmart.

She says closing the store will affect people in this area, “Think about the people that are here locally that don’t have transportation, and to have to travel ten, fifteen minutes, it’s going to be really bad,”

Pamela Fontenot says her daughter has been working at the Walmart pharmacy since the store opened, just over a year ago, “She’s tried Eunice, but they don’t need anybody and Ville Platte don’t need anybody. So she’s just got to be on the look-out for a job,”

Fontenot isn’t the only one concerned about people being out of work.

“It opened up a lot of job opportunities for young adults to have jobs, you know part-time jobs over here, so it’s going to affect a lot,” said Keno Yancy.

Walmart officials say they decided to close smaller stores, like the one in Mamou, because they were no longer profitable.

The Mamou Walmart will close on January, 28th.