The Kmart in Avenel, New Jersey, is closing its doors on April 16. Once it shutters, the number of Kmarts in the United States—once well over 2,000—will be down to three last holdouts. Some shoppers are bemoaning the demise of this American classic.
In the Avenel store, familiar sights and sounds are still there: faded floor tiles, big red Ks, the iconic “Attention, Kmart shoppers” recording. But instead of toddlers’ clothes, refrigerators, baseballs, dish soap, and everything in between, the shelves are bare.
In its heyday, Kmart was firmly entrenched in pop culture—selling product lines endorsed by celebrities like Martha Stewart, sponsoring NASCAR auto races, and snagging mentions in movies and popular songs.
Seeing businesses come and go can be sad. But it’s a good reminder of a lesson from Ecclesiastes: Work is vanity, or emptiness, unless one has the wisdom and fear of God. “What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the Sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the Earth remains forever.” (Ecclesiastes 1:3-4)
The chain was known for its “Blue Light Specials”—a blinking blue orb affixed to a pole that beckoned shoppers to a flash sale in progress. Part of Kmart’s success was due to its layaway programs, which allowed customers without credit to reserve items and pay for them in installments.
For a time, Kmart had a bit of everything: You could shop for school supplies, get your car tuned up, and grab a meal without leaving the premises.
“Everybody went to Kmart, whether you liked it or not,” says Michael Lisicky, an author who has written several books on U.S. retail history. “You had toys. You had sporting goods. You had candy. You had stationery. It was something for everybody. This was almost as much of a social visit as it was a shopping visit. You could spend hours here.”
Kmart’s decline is due to years of falling sales, changes in shopping habits, and the looming shadow of Walmart, which began its life within months of Kmart’s founding in 1962.
Struggling to compete with Walmart’s low prices and Target’s trendier offerings, Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early 2002. Executives closed more than 250 Kmart stores at that time.
A few years later, executive Edward Lampert combined Sears and Kmart and pledged to return them to their former greatness. But the recession and the rising dominance of Amazon derailed his goals. Sears filed for bankruptcy in 2018 and currently has a handful of stores left in the United States.
Kmarts continue to operate in Westwood, New Jersey; Bridgehampton, on New York’s Long Island, and Miami.
Twenty years ago, news of impending Kmart closures around the country prompted an outpouring of support from loyal shoppers. However, the closing of the Avenel location was met mostly with an air of resignation.
“It’s maybe a little nostalgic because I’ve lived my whole life in this area, but it’s just another retail store closing,” says Jim Schaber, a nearby resident, whose brother worked in the shoe department at Kmart for years.
The closing packed a little more of an emotional punch for Mike Jerdonek, a truck driver who recalled shopping at Kmart in Brooklyn and Queens in his younger days.
“When I was younger, I didn’t have any money, so it was a good place to shop because the prices were cheap. And to see it gone right now, it’s kind of sad,” he says. “It’s like history passing right in front of our eyes.”
(People walk into the Kmart in Avenel, New Jersey, on April 4, 2022. AP/Seth Wenig)
