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Lost in translation: Wal-Mart Stores Inc stumbles hard in Brazil, can’t beat local wholesalers

Wal-Mart has closed over 60 locations in Brazil over the last year.

CAMPO GRANDE, Brazil – When Wal-Mart Stores Inc. first expanded into Brazil’s midwestern farm-belt city of Campo Grande seven years ago, the economy was booming and executives were eager to open stores even just in sub-prime locations on one-way streets venturing out of town.

It didn’t last. At the end of December, the U.S. retailer closed both of its Maxxi brand cash-and-carry stores in Campo Grande included in a restructuring that shuttered 60 locations across Brazil, including some Supercenters. Shoppers said the stores could not compete on assortment, price or location.

“It was never clear who Maxxi was for. It wasn’t cheap enough for the poor. But there wasn’t any appeal for the middle class,” said Ordecy Gossler, 40, a public accountant filling his cart with cleaning utility caddy and toilet tissue at Atacad?o, a rival chain run by France’s Carrefour.

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