Attention, Kmart Shoppers: You’re About to Become a Thing of the Past

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that there was a time when Walmart was n’t ubiquitous. As a child of the ‘ 70s and ‘ 80s, we had plenty of other choices that are n’t available now.

I recently learned that my relatives, who lived in the town where we lived the first few years of our lives, owned a business called Zayre. When we moved to another city, there was a five-and-dime keep called TG&amp, Y in a neighboring community where my mother and her aunt often shopped. We even had Harper’s Discount Store as a regional buying opportunity.

But the golden standard — or the blue-light unique common — was Kmart. That was the business where everything was located! Going to Kmart as a person was almost an adventure. Initial locations for our Kmart included the center of town, where everyone would grab a bargain.

When you were at Kmart, you always knew when the next statement of” Attention, Kmart Shoppers” may warn you to the next blue-light specific, designed to draw your attention to a specific section where even more special offers awaited. Kmart had food, clothes, and technology, all at costs that were difficult to overcome.

I can also hear the song over the PA system at the business. Where your penny makes you more money, according to Kmart.

Walmart came to town in 1983 or ‘ 84, and it provided competition that Kmart could n’t keep up with. Soon after that, Kmart moved to a new shopping location closer to the interstate, but it did n’t stay that way. That place ended abruptly a few years back.

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Only like Zayre, TG&amp, Y, and Harpers, Kmart is about to become a thing of the past. The final full-size Kmart location in the United States will shut down on October 20. When the store in Bridgehampton, N. Y., closes, Kmart will only have a small location in Miami that is n’t a full-sized store, as well as a few locations in the U. S. Virgin Islands and Guam.

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” Struggling to contend with Walmart’s lower costs and Target’s trendier products, Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early 2002 — becoming the largest U. S. shop to take that step — and announced it had close more than 250 retailers”, reports the Associated Press.

It’s a long way from grace for a chain that once had more than 2, 000 stores. The Kmart brand debuted in 1962 and dominated retail for years, with roots dating back to the 19th century and the S. S. Kresge Co. However, the rise of Amazon changed the way people shop for some of the staples that stores like Kmart used to provide, not just Walmart and Target, which spell doom for Kmart.

Kmart and Sears merged in 2005, but the merger did n’t provide the two struggling supermarkets with the support they needed. Instead, it increased the pair’s demise. The combined company declared bankruptcy in 2018.

” At the time of the 2005 merger Kmart had about 1, 400 stores and Sears nearly 900 full-line U. S. stores”, reports CNN, which later adds,” When the retailer emerged from bankruptcy it still had 231 Sears and 191 Kmart stores, but those were also almost all doomed. Only a small number of Sears stores are still open today.

We ca n’t go back in time and make any of the speculative decisions that Kmart could have made to alter its fortunes. And now a memorable brand name for Boomers, Gen Xers, and older Millennials is falling by the wayside. There are no legitimate Kmart locations on the mainland, which is a sad ending to a long story because the Miami location is essentially just a convenience store.

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