BATON ROUGE – The Sam’s Club location in Baton Rouge closed abruptly today as Walmart prepares to shutter 63 Sam’s Clubs nationwide.

The Sam’s Club in the Cortana Mall closed today with no warning, according to Baton Rouge ABC affiliate WBRZ.

Approximately 150 employees at the store are now without work, according to the station.

Nationwide, a total of 63 stores have either already closed their doors or will soon do so, according to Business Insider.

The decision to shutter the stores comes on the heels of Walmart, Sam’s Club’s parent company, announcing an across the board pay raise for minimum wage employees.

The official Sam’s Club Twitter account offered the following answer to repeated questions from concerned shoppers and employees:

“After a thorough review of our existing portfolio, we’ve decided to close a series of clubs and better align our locations with our strategy. Closing clubs is never easy and we’re committed to working with impacted members and associates through this transition.”

Among the dozens of other expected closures, Illinois will be particularly hard hit, with six locations set to close, followed by four in New York, and three in Washington.

A store locator on the Sam’s Club site still lists the Cortana location in Baton Rouge, one location in nearby Denham Springs, and one open store each in Covington, Slidell, Kenner, Metairie, and on the West Bank.

No further store closings in Louisiana have been reported.