A once-giant discount retailer is about to close its last full-size store, but not before slashing prices on its remaining stock.
Kmart has been in business for 135 years and sells products ranging from clothing and appliances to hardware and electronics. At its peak in 1994, it had 2,323 stores.
The chain’s last major location in Bridgehampton, Long Island, New York, will close its doors on October 20.
Until then, shoppers can enjoy up to 40 percent off during the clearance sale.
The only other Kmart left in the U.S. is one in Miami, but it’s small and operates more like a convenience store that only sells essential items.
The Kmart in Bridgehampton, New York will close its doors on October 20
Kmart’s decline has been slow but steady, brought on by years of declining sales, changing shopping habits and the looming shadow of Walmart.
It has filed for bankruptcy twice since the turn of the century, and its global profit margins have fallen from $49 billion in 2005 to just $3.26 billion in 2020.
The Bridgehampton store, which has been in business for 25 years, is located in the Kimco Realty shopping center.
Kmart has been gradually closing stores since it merged with Sears in 2005 under hedge fund chief executive Eddie Lampert.
Sears Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018 and later sold 202 stores to Transform Holdco, while the rest were liquidated.
After that, they closed more quickly.
When Kmart closed its New Jersey store in Avenel, a middle-class suburb 15 miles south of New York City, in April 2022, only three locations remained.
In addition to the Bridgehampton store that closed this week and the small Miami store, there was another one in Westwood, New Jersey that closed permanently on February 2 of this year.
Kmart was founded by Sebastian Spering Kresge as the S.S. Krege Company in 1899 in the Detroit suburb of Garden City as a secondhand goods store where shoppers could find everyday necessities such as household goods, clothing, and toys.
Kresge retired as president in 1925 and the company was taken over by Henry Cunningham.
It was in 1962 that the company transformed itself into Kmart, seeking to dominate the discount retail sector with low prices on national brands, a feat it accomplished.
In its heyday, Kmart sold product lines endorsed by celebrities like Martha Stewart and Jaclyn Smith, sponsored NASCAR races and was featured in films like Rain Man and Beetlejuice.
Department stores have struggled to adapt to the changing consumer landscape.
Problems such as massive debt and inefficient operations were exacerbated by theThe pandemic accelerated the decline of several retailers struggling to retain customers and their changing preferences. CB Perspectives reported.
As people choose to shop online for the convenience of having their product delivered to their doorstep, it has become more difficult for businesses to compete for customers.
Mannequins are among the display items and fixtures that will be sold at the Kmart in Avenel, New Jersey, in April 2022. When the New Jersey store closed its doors on April 16, 2022, it left just three U.S. locations for the former retail powerhouse.
A smaller Kmart store in Miami remains open, but operates more like a convenience store.
Stores like Sears, Kmart, Borders Books and Music, Toys R Us, Sports Authority, Lord & Taylor and Bed Bath & Beyond struggled to adapt.
Kmart’s Hyannis, Massachusetts, store closed in 2021. It continues to operate outside the United States in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam.
The announcement comes weeks after discount home goods retailer Big Lots filed for bankruptcy, raising questions about the future of its 1,400 stores.
A total of 21 major U.S. retailers and restaurant chains filed for bankruptcy in the first half of this year, the most since the pandemic wreaked havoc on businesses in 2020, S&P said in a July report.