The retail world has been in a state of change for years, even before the COVID-19 pandemic affected shopping. In many cases, many shops that were once household names across the U.S. have been shrinking and shifting for nearly a decade as tastes change and more people take their purchases online. Now, one iconic retailer is planning on closing all but six of its remaining stores before the end of the year. Read on to see which beloved big box is nearly bygone.
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Kmart is closing all but six of its remaining stores by the end of 2021.
ShutterstockOnce an iconic superstore with locations worldwide, Kmart is continuing to wind down its operations by closing most of its remaining locations and leaving just six stores in the continental U.S. open by the end of the year, CNN Business reports. Notably, the 122-year-old company, which was purchased out of bankruptcy by Sears in 2005, will see its last location in its home state of Michigan shutter before the end of November.
Experts call the drawn out shutterings a "slow-motion liquidation" for the company.
ShutterstockThe iconic retailer's shrinking footprint is a far cry from the presence it once held. When the company first filed for bankruptcy in 2002, more than 2,100 Kmart stores were operating before shrinking to about 1,400 when Sears purchased it three years later. The newly merged company, known as Sears Holdings, would hit its next rough patch when it declared bankruptcy in 2018 and began closing down stores in what is known as a "slow-motion liquidation," CNN Business reports.
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One expert says it's only a matter of time before Kmart closes its last store.
ShutterstockIn a statement to USA Today in September, current parent company Transformco said that its "go-forward store strategy for Sears and Kmart is to operate a diversified portfolio consisting of a small number of larger, premier stores with a larger number of small-format stores." The company says this includes the more than 300 Hometown Stores currently open, which are "primarily operated by independent dealers or franchisees of an affiliate of Transformco."
However, other experts point out that the days of standalone Kmart stores are likely numbered. "Obviously, they are all going to be gone shortly," Mark Cohen, director of retail studies at Columbia University, told CNN. "This movie has ended, and we're watching the credits roll endlessly."
California will soon lose its last Kmart, but they will remain open in some U.S. territories.
iStockAccording to the company's website, six of the 16 locations in the continental U.S. currently listed as open have recently shuttered for good. Employees contacted at another four locations told CNN that they expect to close in the coming weeks leading up to the holidays—including the once-ubiquitous chain's Grass Valley, California location, which is both the state's and West Coast's last.
"It was a very bustling store back in the day, and it really dramatically shifted into something very different over the years," Ben Aguilar, mayor of Grass Valley, told The Union.
But while the shops will all but vanish soon, certain locations will remain open outside of the continental U.S. According to CNN, six Kmarts are still open across Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam for the time being.
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