Claim:
Walmart announced plans to close stores and lock their doors starting on Nov. 1, 2025, and that the locations would allow only online orders for pickup in their parking lots beginning on that date.
Rating:
A rumor that circulated online in late October 2025 claimed retail giant Walmart had announced plans to close stores and lock their doors starting on Nov. 1, 2025, and that the locations would allow only online orders for pickup in their parking lots beginning on that date.
Snopes received reader emails and searches asking whether this rumor was true. For example, one reader emailed, “Is Walmart closing stores for in-store shopping Nov 1st?” Other readers asked whether Walmart planned to close stores “to avoid looting,” referencing uncertainty regarding the availability of federal food benefits during the ongoing U.S. government shutdown. One reader specifically referenced the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which helps around one in eight Americans buy groceries.
On social media, TikTok user @uncutrealness posted (archived) a video promoting this claim on Oct. 22. The video’s onscreen caption referenced SNAP, reading, “Walmart said y’all can SNAP from the parking lot this time.” In the video, the user claimed, in part, “Walmart said the doors will be locked. Ain’t nobody coming in the store but the employees. Place your order online. Do your shopping before Nov. 1st, because you won’t be coming up in here with that mess.”
In another popular post, on Oct. 24, Instagram and TikTok user @kavellkavon shared (archived) a video (archived) and referenced a threat allegedly made by people who would lose benefits, involving them banding together to take “everything they need”:
Walmart said they’re thinking about closing their doors on Nov. 1 to where you can only order your food and your groceries online. The “brokies” made a threat towards Walmart, and said that if the government shuts off food, SNAP, they’re going straight to the Walmart to get everything they need. And, now every Walmart has a police officer on standby and they’re thinking about not opening the doors until the situation has passed.
The video, posted on two platforms, collectively received more than 1 million views.
Users shared this rumor on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived), Reddit (archived), Threads (archived), TikTok (archived), X (archived) and YouTube (archived).
In short, Walmart did not announce it planned to close stores and lock their doors on Nov. 1. Walmart spokesperson Joe Pennington told Snopes by phone that the chain will be open for business on that date.
We sent private messages to @uncutrealness and @kavellkavon to ask where they sourced their information and will update this story if we receive further details.
Digging into the rumor
The rumor that Walmart announced they would close stores on Nov. 1 possibly originated from a combination of the aforementioned social media posts, vague article headlines and the promotion of inauthentic news report videos generated with artificial-intelligence tools.
For example, on Oct. 18, The Sun tabloid published an article with the headline, “FULL BLACKOUT: Walmart to close all 4,606 stores for total of 48 hours in coming weeks.” The article began with a similar statement, then revealed Walmart simply planned to close on Thanksgiving and Christmas. (About two weeks earlier, The Sun published a similarly vague headline for Olive Garden, also about the holidays.)
The El Diario publication also published a similarly vague headline about the holiday closures: “Walmart stores across the country are about to go completely dark for two full days – The company has confirmed that two separate 24-hour nationwide shutdowns are scheduled.”
For further reading, we previously investigated a rumor claiming that, following the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Walmart announced plans to close stores in red states (those that backed President Donald Trump) by 2025, as part of a “shift” to blue states (those that backed former Vice President Kamala Harris).
