News

Kmart to Shutter Last Store in Home State

The retailer will have just six continental U.S. stores remaining by the end of 2021

Published

2 years ago

November 10, 2021

VMSD Staff

Kmart to Shutter Last Store in Home State — Belleville, IL – Credit: Philip Rozenski, iStock

Belleville, IL – Credit: Philip Rozenski, iStock

Kmart will close its last remaining store in Michigan, the state where the retailer launched in 1899, CNN reports.

It’s one of several impending closures that will leave Kmart with just six continental U.S. stores by the end of 2021. The retailer has another six locations spread across Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Kmart, the article explains, had 1400 stores when it was purchased out of bankruptcy by Sears in 2005. The combined company, Sears Holdings, filed for bankruptcy in 2018 and has since been shuttering stores of both brands in what retail experts have called a “slow-motion liquidation.”

“Obviously they are all going to be gone shortly,” Mark Cohen, Director of Retail Studies at Columbia University, told the outlet. “This movie has ended, and we’re watching the credits roll endlessly.”

Read more at CNN.

VMSD Staff

Drawing on more than 125 years of history serving the retail design market, VMSD magazine provides retail professionals with the most up-to-date, innovative retail design ideas and industry news through its industry-leading magazine, website, social media channels and bulletins.

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