AFP - The American distribution giant Wal-Mart announced on Friday 27 March the closure of a laboratory which makes spectacles in Ohio, causing the loss of 650 jobs.

Store-front of a Wal-Mart in the USA - Photo : AFP

“This decision, along with enlargements and improvements in our other optics sites will allow Wal-Mart to reduce costs”, claimed Volker Heimeshoff, one of the people responsible for this activity, in a press release.

At the same time he stated that a hundred jobs would be created at laboratories in Indiana and Arkansas.

The supermarket chain highlighted that their glasses and contact lenses were also made on a site in Dallas, in partnership with Essilor and Carl Zeiss. According to Mr. Heimeshoff, this will “continue to grow”.

Wal-Mart has been one of the groups that has been most resistant to the current economic crisis throughout its American territory. In February its sales in the USA increased by 5.1% for regular sales excluding petrol.

However, profits had decreased by 7% in the three months leading up to January, and other restructuring measures have already been taken, such as the elimination of 700-800 jobs at its headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas.