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    • The Last Flicker of Kmart’s “Blue Light Specials” in Miami
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    The Last Flicker of Kmart’s “Blue Light Specials” in Miami

    Umito Posted on

    By TERRY SPENCER

    MIAMI (AP) — The last Kmart on the U.S. mainland sits on the west end of a bustling shopping center in suburban Miami that’s quiet and largely ignored.

    All around, thriving chain stores are attracting steady streams of customers to areas where the old warehouse chain was once a major player: Marshalls, Hobby Lobby, PetSmart and Dollar Tree.

    But at this outpost of a business once famous for its “Blue Light Specials,” only an occasional shopper comes, mostly out of curiosity or nostalgia, then leaves after purchasing little or nothing.

    “I hadn’t seen Kmart in so long,” said Juan de la Madriz, who came to the mall on a weekday to buy dog ​​food at PetSmart. The architect spotted the Kmart and wondered if he could find a gift for his newborn grandson. He came out 10 minutes later after spending $23 on a stuffed dog and a wooden workbench.

    “It will be sad if it closes,” he said of the store, “but everything is on the computer now.”

    A customer leaves the only remaining Kmart store in the continental United States
    A customer leaves the only remaining Kmart store in the continental United States, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

    The last life-size Kmart in all 50 states closed Sunday on Long Island, New York, making the Miami store — now a fraction of its previous size — the last in operation in the continental United States. At its peak 30 years ago, Kmart operated about 2,500 locations. Today, four more remain: three in the U.S. Virgin Islands and one in Guam. There is also a website.

    Transformco, the Illinois-based holding company that owns Kmart and what remains of another former retail giant, Sears, did not respond to emailed requests for comment or allow the store manager to talk. The company’s plans for the Miami location are unknown, but there is no indication it will close anytime soon.

    The last outpost

    If the Miami Kmart were a brand-new mom-and-pop retailer, a shopper might think it could eventually thrive on advertising and a little luck. Kmarts has long had a reputation for being cluttered and untidy, but this store is spotless and the merchandise is stacked and displayed precisely.

    The size of a CVS or Walgreens pharmacy, the branch occupies what was its garden section during the era of its big box stores. A few years ago, an At Home department store took over the rest of the space.

    In 2002, Kmart declared bankruptcy as Walmart and Target ate up its market share. Its website never took off, allowing Amazon to beat it in the e-commerce space. There were executive pay scandals, a purchase by a hedge fund manager that exposed him, and a disastrous acquisition of Sears in 2005.

    Mark Cohen, former CEO of Sears Canada and former director of retail studies at Columbia University’s graduate school of business, said Kmart would have thrived without the top executives who bankrupted it. It could have been Walmart.

    “At its peak, it sold products that people continue to buy in large quantities today,” Cohen said. “Kmart failed because it was run by incompetent managers.”

    Transformco bought Kmart and Sears after another bankruptcy in 2019 for $5 billion – according to its critics, mainly for the stores’ real estate. There were 202 Kmarts left.

    Over the past five years, the company continued to close Kmarts until all that remained in the United States was Miami Store #3074.

    Nostalgia doesn’t translate into sales

    The day de la Madriz came to buy his grandson’s gift, only a few customers came in and out of the store every hour.

    Students Joey Fernandez and Wilfredo Huayhua spent five minutes inside before leaving empty-handed. They knew about the chain’s near demise, spotted the store while in the mall, and went in to reminisce. It seemed small, they said, compared to the Kmarts they remembered.

    Juan de la Madriz leaves the only Kmart store in the continental United States with toys for his newborn grandson
    Juan de la Madriz walks out of the only remaining Kmart store in the continental United States with toys for his newborn grandson, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

    “We were disappointed — I spent a lot of my childhood at Kmart,” Fernandez, 18, said. Still, he might be back – the store has good prices on the facial cleanser he uses.

    Professor Oliver Sequin was walking into Marshalls when he spotted the Kmart. This, too, triggered nostalgia, but also reminded him that he needed band-aids for his 5-year-old son. That’s all he bought.

    “I remember when Kmarts were bigger,” Sequin said. “But, to be honest, I prefer this one. It’s clean and organized, not like before.

    Originally published:

    Umito
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