Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, will close all six of its Sam’s Club warehouse locations in Canada to focus on supercenters that are gaining market share from the country’s existing grocery chains.

The membership-based Sam’s sites in Ontario failed to meet sales expectations and their closing by the end of March will cut 1,200 jobs, Andrew Pelletier, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said today in a telephone interview. Some employees may find work in other stores, he said.

The retailer began opening supercenters that sell milk, meat, fresh produce and other merchandise in late 2006, forcing Loblaw Cos., Empire Co.’s Sobeys unit and Metro Inc. to cut food prices. Wal-Mart may double its share of food sales to 9 percent in the next five to 10 years, an analyst has said.

Wal-Mart will add 26 supercenters in Canada this year by converting some sites to the format that’s about 50 percent larger than its regular stores as well as opening new locations.

“The supercenter format has been so successful in Canada,” Pelletier said. “It’s where we are focusing our growth.” The company opened 25 Canadian supercenters last year, he said.

The expansion may create some 5,000 store jobs and another 5,000 construction positions, the retailer said in a statement issued before the close of U.S. markets.

This year’s additions will bring the number of supercenters in Canada to 82, for a total of 316 Wal-Mart stores in the country. The company runs more than 7,200 sites around the world.

Wal-Mart fell 96 cents, or 2 percent, to $48.25 today in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have lost 14 percent this year.

Ontario Sam’s Club stores in Pickering, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, London, Cambridge and Etobicoke will be closed, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company said.

Wal-Mart accounted for 4 percent of Canadian food sales in 2007, BMO Capital Markets analyst David Hartley has said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Courtney Dentch in New York at cdentch1@bloomberg.net; Chris Burritt in Greensboro, North Carolina, at 1348 or cburritt@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 26, 2009 17:49 EST