Another retail mainstay nears end of the line

Kmart continues to hit the skids, emblematic of the massive shift in American shopping habits.

Another iconic name is fast disappearing from the business landscape.

It’s almost time to turn out the Blue Light Special – this time forever.

Yep, that most American of brand names, Kmart, continues to hit the skids, emblematic of the massive shift in American shopping habits.

The discount department store has announced another wave of store closings – and Pennsylvania is not going unscathed. Stores are closing in Berks, Delaware and Bucks counties, as well as other locations.

The stores have been at these locations for decades.

Clearance sales are expected to start within weeks, and the stores likely will close by the end of 2019.

The regional closings are part of a larger cutback by the company, which this week announced plans to shutter another 100 Sears and Kmart stores, just weeks after first giving notice of 26 stores that would close.

Kmart, which had been part of Sears Holding Company from 2005 to 2019, now is controlled by an outfit called Transform Holdco, also known as Transformco.

“After careful review, we have made the difficult but necessary decision to close the Kmart stores in Clifton Heights and Holmes, Pa.,” said Larry Costello, spokesman for Kmart’s parent corporation Transform Holdco LLC, in a statement.

“The liquidation sales are expected to begin in midSeptember and the stores are planned to close by mid-December. We encourage customers to continue shopping on Kmart.com for all their product needs.”

Back in February, former Sears CEO Eddie Lampert made a last-ditch effort to buy the Sears assets out of bankruptcy and salvage the legendary brands, including Kmart.

The latest wave of closings leaves Sears and Kmart with about 250 locations still open for business.

Kmart becomes the latest victim in the rapid transformation of the way America shops.

We increasingly do not go out to stores. Instead we use our phones to order things online and have them delivered direct to our door via services such as Amazon.

Not even the mighty Sears could salvage the Kmart brand. From 2005-2019 Kmart was a subsidiary of Sears Holding Co. But Sears has been rocked by the business downturn as well, shuttering dozens of stores of their own.

Sears got battered by big box stores, as well as the behemoth in retailing – Walmart. It joins the procession of familiar names that find themselves in a retailing death spiral.

Things are even worse for Kmart, which in addition to competing with Walmart and Target, has lost some of its low-end business to a proliferation of dollar stores such as Dollar General and Dollar Tree.

While Sears had the advantage of having its own brand names such as Kenmore and Craftsman, Kmart largely was depending on luring customers with better prices.

That became an increasingly steep hill to climb. Between 2010 and August 2018, Kmart closed more than 70% of its stores.

The Kmart name charged onto the scene back in 1962 in the Detroit area, and quickly spread across the nation. The store became known for its “blue light specials”

An announcement would be made over the store’s public address system, noting a special price cut on an item that would last for only the next 15 minutes.

Along the way, the growing chain acquired other familiar names such as Sports Authority, Office Max and the Borders book stores. It would eventually sell all three.

The company first filed for bankruptcy in 2002, when it still had more than 2,000 stores under its flags.

Now the end of the line has come for familiar store locations. For many, it means a loss of jobs. For municipal and school officials, the tax loss will mean a hole in many budgets.

And for all of us, it is just one more reminder of the rapidly changing business landscape.

Turn out the (blue) light, the party’s over.