Another iconic brand in the United States is going the way of the dinosaurs. The last full-sized Kmart store in the U.S., located in Bridgehampton, New York, will close its doors for good in October.
No more blue light specials in home goods.
The FOX Business Network reports:
Last full-size Kmart in US to closeThe last full-size Kmart store in the continental United States is set to close in October, leaving only one downsized location remaining, reports say.The department store chain, which once operated around 2,300 locations in the early 1990s, will shutter the full-size store in Bridgehampton, New York, on Oct. 20, Newsday is reporting, citing an employee there.That means a smaller Kmart store in Miami will become the last one remaining in the U.S. Kmart, which is now owned by Transformco, also has three stores in the U.S. Virgin Islands.Transformco did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment from FOX Business, but a spokesperson for Kimco Realty Corp. – which owns the shopping centers where both Kmarts are located in New York and Florida – told Newsday that the Bridgehampton store will indeed be closing.The Kmart location in Bridgehampton has been open for 25 years, according to Newsday.Transformco says on its website that the first Kmart discount department store opened in 1962 in Garden City, Michigan.The company filed for bankruptcy in 2002 before merging with Sears years later, then filed for bankruptcy again in 2018.
The New York Post reports that there are still a few small stores left:
A smaller Kmart in Miami, Florida, will remain open, after the chain closed a store in Westwood, NJ late last year. The company had shuttered its third-to-last location in Avenel, NJ in April 2022.The remaining Miami location pales in comparison to the storefronts the big-box chain used to operate in its heyday. The Florida shop is closer in size to a CVS or other convenience store, according to an August report by the Miami Herald.However, Kmart has several stores outside the 50 states that will remain open in the US Virgin Islands and Guam, WJAR reported.
Here’s a video report from ABC 7 in New York:
Anyone else old enough to remember the Kmart stores that also had a cafeteria?
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