Despite barely averting bankruptcy during the COVID-19 outbreak, a classic supermarket business has closed one of its three surviving US locations.
Kmart has closed one of its three stores left standing in the contingent US, despite avoiding bankruptcy during the Covid-19 pandemic. (Source: Getty Image/The U.S. Sun)
Another Kmart Store Closes this Year
The final Kmart in New Jersey will close for real on September 30, as the brand’s future seems bleaker. It’s in Westwood, which is only 40 miles from Middlesex County, where another Kmart closed last year. Only two stores remain in the United States, in Miami, Florida, and Bridgehampton, New York. Six more are still standing in the US Virgin Islands and Guam. As staff searches for other jobs in Westwood, an “everything must go” sign has been plastered on the door.
Kmart notified the state Department of Labor through a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification that it will lay off 27 employees by October 29. The supermarket brand has weathered decades of decline, but the future does not look promising with the so-called retail apocalypse currently raging across the country. Kmart was famous for its blue light special, which had customers rushing around enthusiastically looking for bargains.
The promotion included in-store discounts that would appear at random after an announcement of “attention Kmart shoppers” and the flashing of a siren. The hour-long offer and memorable call to arms became as synonymous with the company as Budweiser’s “Whassup?!” and Wendy’s “Where’s the beef?”
Kmart Store Unable to Compete with Other Leading Retail Stores
However, after 1991, Kmart abandoned the special discounts to save money, only to reinstate them after the company declared bankruptcy in 2002. The company was unable to compete with Walmart’s strong position and Target’s stylish appeal, resulting in enormous closures throughout the years. Sears Holdings owns Kmart, which declared bankruptcy in 2018 and narrowly avoided liquidation in 2019.
Following this, they were sold to longstanding investor Eddie Lampert, who has kept the firm running under the name Transformco. According to USA Today in 2022, Sears and Kmart had lost over 3,500 locations and destroyed around 250,000 workers during the last 15 years. According to executives, they want to run a diverse portfolio that includes a modest number of storefronts as well as an online presence.
Kmart is hardly the only retailer that has suffered in recent years. Belk shuttered its store in Selma, Alabama, earlier this month. In 2021, the southern-based department store business avoided a near-bankruptcy petition.
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