From edgy ads to blue light specials, Kmart has been offering customers deals since the 1960s. Now, former retail giant is closing its only full-size store in the mainland U.S., located on Long Island. When it closes in a few weeks, there will only be one small Kmart left, in Miami. NBC New York’s Pei-Sze Cheng reports.
Attention, Kmart shoppers: the store is now closing -- for good!
The one-time retail giant known for its blue light specials is shuttering its last full-scale store in the mainland United States.
For years, the store has operated in the posh town of Bridgehampton. But with its closure, Kmart's legacy lives on in a small store down in Miami.
Since news broke last month of the Long Island location closure, shoppers have flocked to the store to take advantage of slashed prices.
"I'm not surprised, it's always this empty," Juliette Fayh, of East Hampton, had told NBC New York. "This is actually the most crowded I've seen it."
While thousands of Kmart stores have closed over the decades, the Bridgehampton store has managed to hang on. Shoppers say that's due to lack of competition in the area.
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"Otherwise you go to Riverhead and local stores are expensive. It's tough on working families," Fayh added.
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In the 1990s, when the famed "blue light special" advertisements were running on television, 95% of Americans lived within 15 minutes of a Kmart.
The chain went from being the 15th-largest corporation in the world in the 1990s to declaring bankruptcy in 2002. Walmart's lower prices and Target's fashionable brands first drew customers away, and more recently, online shopping has hastened their decline.
The Long Island closure comes exactly one year after the last Kmart closed its doors for good. Over in New Jersey, the Westwood store closed last October after more than 40 years in business.
The last mainland store is crammed inside the garden center of what used to be a much larger Kmart in Miami, according to The New York Times. Beyond that, there remain a few stores on Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
"It's kind of a bummer that all the stores are going out of business around here," Audrey Niewenhous, of Sag Harbor, said.
After opening 25 years ago in 1999, the Bridgehampton Kmart will close its door for the final time on Sunday.
