Attention, Kmart shoppers! It was a clarion call heard by decades of dedicated bargain hunters. They followed a flashing light to amazing deals. In 2022, only three full-time Kmart stores remained in the continental United States. Soon there will be none.
The former retail giant was known for its Blue Light Specials featuring a flashing blue orb. From around the store, shoppers scurried to find the light—and the not-to-be-missed, temporary sales.
Now the brand has announced it will shutter its final full-scale store in mainland United States this fall.
That last large Kmart was in swanky Bridgehampton, New York, on Long Island.
High-profile event planner Martin Potoczny says the Hamptons area restricts most big box and corporate stores. He explained to his Instagram followers, “This location has been grandfathered in for decades.” (“Grandfathering” refers to allowing for something to occur or exist because it did so prior to a rule against it taking effect.)
The Bridgehampton location will close officially on October 20, according to store employee Denise Rivera.
In the company’s heyday in the 1990s, there were more than 2,400 Kmarts in the United States. But Kmart struggled to compete with Walmart’s low prices and Target’s on-trend merchandise.
Officials filed for bankruptcy protection in early 2002. At the time, Kmart was the largest U.S. retailer to take that step.
Investor Edward Lampert tried a comeback. He combined two former retail powerhouses—Sears and Kmart—in hopes of restoring their shine. But recession and the rise of online shopping disrupted Lampert’s plans. Today, Sears retains only a handful of stores in the United States, where it once had thousands.
In 2019, the Transformco company bought the assets of both Sears and Kmart.
The Bridgehampton store closing leaves just a small, convenience-store-sized Kmart in Miami, Florida, as the last Kmart standing on the U.S. mainland. Anyone wanting to shop under the big K will need to travel to Guam or the U.S. Virgin Islands where a few stores still exist.
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. — Ecclesiastes 3:1
