Pondering the Last Kmart …

TC gets misty-eyed recalling his Kmart experiences as “blue light” goes out for good in the Hamptons. Read on! —the editor

I may have an Irish Wake this weekend. It has been a long decline, but other than an abbreviated hard goods store, the last full line Kmart store in the United States will close the weekend of October 17.

This location in the Hamptons of New York, of all places, had been the last stand out. The Miami location is still open, but they managed to sublet the majority of the space to At Home, and retained the Garden Center as the Kmart store. I am not quite sure why they even bothered, but I suspect it is a lease issue with both, since most real estate Kmart owned, via its Sears Holdings and current Transformco companies, were transferred to another company Seartage, which were all owned by the infamous venture capitalist, Eddie Lambert.

Since I moved to Las Vegas, I was a big fan of Kmart. We had some really nice locations, including a Super Kmart Center in Henderson that had a full grocery store. Unfortunately, the writing was on the wall back then, with the merger of Sears and Kmart. The economies of scale didn’t play out as planned. Concept stores (Sears Grand store in Summerlin, and off mall Sears store in Henderson) never resonated with shoppers.

Last Gasp in Vegas…

Kmart’s last gasp in Vegas was a few years ago in North Las Vegas in an area lacking of Walmart or Target. The sister store Sears left its consolidated location at Meadows Mall and old school store at the Boulevard Mall before COVID. The sad thing is they were not missed. Except I was not one to give up the ghost.

What I Liked About Them…

Kmart had a decent Big and Tall section in its heyday. I lived for some athletic wear that worked for me, namely some wicking slacks and jersey weight slacks. I still have a few, yet with less than one US based store, they are very out of production.

They had a very effective marketing plan called Shop Your Way that yours truly, used to work. Points towards purchases. It has flaws, but I lucked out that the customer service staff fixed errors. The slow demise of both Sears and Kmart led me to find some deals, including a Mr Coffee maker for my friends in Florida that they enjoyed, until it finally crapped out 2 years ago. Paid $20 for what Target would charge $80, in a store that was more aesthetically attractive.

Sears Last Stand…

As I wave goodbye to Kmart, I find some comfort knowing that Sears is hanging on. Who am I kidding?

Sadly, there is only 10 or so Sears locations left in the country… But hey, there IS one near my editors’ home in California. That store has 80,000 of merchandise stretched in a 230,000 square foot store. A time warp, with a misdirected exit, it was a slow death I haven’t seen since Woolworth pulled the plug on the classic variety stores in the 1990’s. I sure miss the lunch counters!

That’s a Wrap…

So with great sadness, a relic of late has gasped its final breath. RIP Kmart and its Blue Light special too.

Thanks for reading and pondering with me. —TC