Kmart Nears Extinction After New Shutdown – NBC Los Angeles

Empty shelves and loudspeakers reminding of the precautions that must be taken to avoid contagion with COVID-19 are some of what remains at the Kmart in Avenel, New Jersey, which is preparing to close its doors permanently on April 16.

Once it closes, the number of Kmarts will be reduced to three in the continental United States and a handful of stores elsewhere, according to multiple reports, in a retail world now dominated by Walmart, Target and Amazon.

The demise of the store in the middle-class suburb 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of New York City is the death story of discount department stores.

“You’re always thinking about it because stores are closing everywhere, but it’s still sad,” said cashier Michelle Yavorsky, who said she has worked at the Avenel store for 2 1/2 years. “I will miss the place. A lot of people shopped here.”

In its heyday, Kmart sold product lines endorsed by celebrities Martha Stewart and Jaclyn Smith, sponsored NASCAR auto races and was featured in movies like “Rain Man” and “Beetlejuice.” He was mentioned in songs by artists such as Eminem, Beastie Boys, and Hall & Oates. In 2003, Eminem bought a 29-bedroom suburban Detroit mansion once owned by former Kmart chairman Chuck Conaway.

The chain cemented a place in American culture with its Blue Light Specials, a flickering blue screen that invited shoppers into an ongoing flash sale. Part of its success was due to the early adoption of split-product programs, which allowed customers with poor credit to reserve items and pay for them in installments.

For a time, Kmart had a little bit of everything: you could buy your kids’ school supplies, tune up your car, and eat without leaving the place.

“Kmart was part of America,” said Michael Lisicky, a Baltimore-based author who has written several books on America’s retail history. “Everyone went to Kmart, whether you liked it or not. They had everything. You had toys. You had sporting goods. You had sweets. You had stationery. It was something for everyone. It was almost making both a social visit and a shopping visit. You could spend hours here.”

Kmart’s decline has been slow but steady, fueled by years of declining sales, shifting shopping habits and the looming shadow of Walmart, which coincidentally came into existence 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, becoming the largest U.S. retailer to take that step, announcing it would close more of 250 stores.

A few years later, hedge fund executive Edward Lampert combined Sears and Kmart and vowed to return them to their former greatness, but the recession and Amazon’s growing dominance helped derail those goals. Sears filed for Chapter 11 in 2018 and currently has a handful of stores in the United States where it once had thousands.

Kmart continues to operate in Westwood, New Jersey; Bridgehampton, on Long Island, New York, and Miami.

It didn’t have to end this way, according to Mark Cohen, director of retail studies at Columbia University in New York and former CEO of Sears Canada. Trying to compete with Walmart on price was a foolish strategy, he said, and Lampert was criticized for not having a retail background and appearing more interested in stripping the two chains of assets for their cash value.

“It’s a study in greed, avarice and incompetence,” Cohen said. “Sears should never have gone; Kmart was in worse shape, but not fatally. And now they’re both gone.”

“Retailers sometimes fall by the wayside because they sell things that people don’t want to buy,” he continued. “In the case of Kmart, everything that they used to sell, people are buying, but they’re buying from Walmart and Target.”

Transformco, which owns Kmart and Sears, did not respond to an email seeking comment and a company phone number was not receiving messages.

Nationwide, some former Kmarts remain empty, while others have been replaced by other big box stores, gyms, self-storage facilities, and even churches. A former site in Colorado Springs, Colorado is now a popular movie theater.

Kmart employees in Avenel learned last month that the store would close.

Unlike 20 years ago, when news of impending Kmart closings across the country sparked an outpouring of support from loyal shoppers and a Detroit radio station even mounted a campaign to try to save a local store, the Closure of the Avenel location was met primarily with an air of resignation.

“Maybe it’s a little bit nostalgic because I’ve lived in this area my whole life, but it’s just another retail store closing,” said Jim Schaber, a resident of nearby Iselin, who said his brother worked in the shoe department of Kmart for years. “It’s just another sign that people are shopping online and not going to retail stores.”

The closure had a bit more emotional impact for Mike Jerdonek, a trucker who recalled shopping at Kmart in Brooklyn and Queens in his youth.

“It’s like the story is happening in front of our eyes,” he said as he sat in his car outside the Avenel store. “When he was younger he didn’t have any money, so it was a good place to shop because the prices were cheap. And to see that he’s gone right now, it’s kind of sad.”