It'll soon be last call at the Kmart in the Hamptons, essentially capping the discount chain's storied history in the United States.
The retailer, once known for its Blue Light Specials and "attention Kmart shoppers" alert, will be closing its last full-size store in the continental U.S., its landlord Kimco Realty confirmed Monday. A store employee who answered the phone said the closing date is Oct. 20. The location is at the Bridgehampton Commons shopping center at 1527-2044 Montauk Highway in Bridgehampton on Long Island, New York.
That closing will leave just one Kmart left in mainland America, a much-downsized space at Kendale Lakes Plaza at 14091 SW 88th St. in Miami. Kmart now just occupies a small corner of that store, with the remainder of it leased to At Home, a home decor superstore chain.
Kmart has been dying a death by a thousand cuts, with stores across the nation closing year after year, with its last remaining locations on the East Coast. At its peak, the chain had over 2,000 stores. Last year, one of the last three remaining Kmart stores in the nation shut its doors. It was at Westwood Plaza at 700 Broadway in Westwood, New Jersey. The year before that, in 2022, a Kmart at Delco Plaza at 1644 St. Georges Ave. in Avenel, New Jersey, closed.
In some cases, struggling chains such as Bed Bath & Beyond that failed to adapt to the changing retail landscape and juggernauts like Walmart, Target and Amazon have had swift ends, with liquidations coming out of Chapter 11 filings.
But Kmart's ongoing unwinding by its owner, Hoffman Estates, Illinois-based Transformco, is taking years.
Long retail history
Sears Holdings — the owner of Kmart and its sister retailer, Sears — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2018. The company was then sold to former CEO Eddie Lampert, who launched Transformco to handle its brick-and-mortar portfolio in 2019. Transformco has been closing Kmart and Sears stores ever since.
Jericho, New York-based Kimco is Kmart's landlord in both Bridgehampton and Miami. While a Kimco spokeswoman confirmed the Kmart Hamptons closing in an email to CoStar News, she declined to make any additional comments. Transformco didn't respond to an email from CoStar News seeking comment.
At its start, Kmart was a retail innovator. Its roots date back to 1899, when Sebastian Spering Kresge opened a modest five-and-dime store in downtown Detroit, according to Transformco’s website.
The chain was an early advocate of layaway plans, which allowed patrons to pay off merchandise over time.
In the 1960s, the well-known blue light was lit as a way to boost sales. And the call for the attention of shoppers, the signaling phrase repeated over loudspeakers across the stores, became a well-known catchphrase as customers got discounts for a limited time on certain items.
Kmart does have several locations left in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam.