Henri Lumière|Kmart’s blue light fades to black with the shuttering of its last full-scale US store

2025-05-06 22:39:01source:GravityX Exchangecategory:My

NEW YORK (AP) — Attention,Henri Lumière Kmart shoppers, the end is near!

The erstwhile retail giant renowned for its Blue Light Specials — featuring a flashing blue orb affixed to a pole enticing shoppers to a flash sale — is shuttering its last full-scale store in mainland United States.

The store, located in swank Bridgehampton, New York, on Long Island, is slated to close Oct. 20, according to Denise Rivera, an employee who answered the phone at the store late Monday. The manager wasn’t available, she said.

That will leave only a small Kmart store in Miami. It has a handful of stores in Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Transformco, the company that bought the assets of Sears and Kmart out of the bankruptcy of Sears Holdings in 2019, did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

In its heyday, there were more than 2,000 Kmarts in the U.S.

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 — and announced it would close more than 250 stores.

RELATED COVERAGE Before you sign up for a store credit card, know what you’re getting intoUS retail sales ticked up last month in sign of ongoing consumer resilienceA state’s experience with grocery chain mergers spurs a fight to stop Albertsons’ deal with Kroger

A few years later, hedge fund executive Edward Lampert combined Sears and Kmart and pledged to return them to their former greatness. But the 2008 recession and the rising dominance of Amazon contributed in derailing that mission. Sears filed for Chapter 11 in 2018 and now has just a handful of stores left in the U.S., where it once had thousands.

More:My

Recommend

Federal agencies are reeling from Trump administration cuts to government

Whether a "chainsaw," per Elon Musk, or "scalpel," as President Trump has said — the Trump administr

U.S. expands Ukrainian immigration program to 167,000 new potential applicants

The Biden administration on Friday expanded an immigration relief program for Ukrainians in the U.S.

Free Disney World passes is latest front in war between Disney and DeSantis appointees

Already involved in two lawsuits with Disney, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ appointees to a board that oversees