Last full-size Kmart store in US set to close in October

Kmart, one of America’s most iconic department store chains, is closing its last full-size store in the US this fall.

The store, located in the posh hamlet of Bridgehampton, NY — one of just two remaining in a chain that once spanned more than 2,000 stores before the rise of Walmart and Amazon — will close its doors for good on Oct. 20, an employee confirmed to WJAR.

The real estate investment trust, Kimco Realty Corp, which owns the shopping center that houses the Bridgehampton location, also confirmed the store would be closing, according to Newsday.

Soon after its 1996 opening, the Bridgehampton Kmart became the retailer’s proudest and most productive location as well-heeled shoppers flocked to the store alongside the ritzy area’s working class population.

The store’s local clients had included Martha Stewart, who joined forces with the retailer by licensing her “Martha Stewart Everyday Line” of home goods in the late 1990s. But analysts noted the Kmart store also did well because the nearest Walmart and Target stores were located in Riverhead, LI, more than 20 miles away.

Kmart’s Martha Stewart partnership died years ago. In recent seasons, the Bridgehampton Kmart, which spans nearly 90,000 square feet, has become known mainly for empty shelves and lack of customers.

Eddie Lampert, the billionaire hedge fund manager who was at one point compared to Warren Buffett for his investment acumen, bought up Kmart’s debt and took control of the company in 2003 – guiding it out of bankruptcy and engineering its merger with Sears.

Lampert was initially hailed as a financial genius and shares in the newly created Sears Holdings surged. But Lampert’s aggressive cost cuts failed to return Kmart and Sears to profitability as they suffered from poor customer service, outdated facilities and lack of inventory.

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.

Kmart’s origins date back to 1899 when Sebastian Spering Kresge founded his first store, a modest five-and-dime, in Detroit, according to Transformco, the investment holding company that currently owns Kmart.

Kresge quickly expanded his reach over the next decade under the name the S.S. Kresge Company and, by 1912, had 85 stores around the US.

The first official Kmart opened in Garden City, Michigan, in 1962. That same year, 17 additional stores opened around the US.

Only four years later, in 1966, 162 Kmart stores were located in towns and cities nationwide and quickly began to form one of the country’s largest discount retailers.

In 1977, S.S. Kresge Company officially changed its name to K Mart Corporation. By the 1990s, Kmart had 2,300 stores around the US, with 350,000 employees.

However, K Mart Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2002 and merged with Sears Holdings in 2005.

Sears Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018.

The Illinois-based investment holding company Transform Holdco LLC, also known as Transformco, has owned Kmart and Sears since acquiring Sears Holdings assets in 2019.