BRIDGEHAMPTON, N.Y. — Attention Kmart shoppers: One of America’s iconic retail chains is closing its last full-size mainland U.S. store. The Bridgehampton, New York location is scheduled to shut its doors for good on October 20, marking the end of an era for the company once famous for its “Blue Light Specials.”
At its peak, Kmart boasted over 2,000 locations, but after years of struggling to compete with Walmart’s low prices and Target’s trendy offerings, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2002. In the following years, it shuttered hundreds of stores.
Today, only a small Kmart store in Miami and a few locations in U.S. territories like Guam and the Virgin Islands remain. The store closures underscore the challenges of the 2008 recession and the rise of e-commerce, which eventually led Sears, Kmart’s parent company, to file for bankruptcy in 2018.