What to Know
- Kmart is getting ready to close its last store in New Jersey come October. Once that happens, there will be just two stores left in the U.S.
- The store in Westwood opened in 1982, and at the time was one of thousands of Kmart locations across the country
- After the New Jersey location closes this fall, the only two remaining Kmart stores will be in Miami, Florida, and in the Suffolk County town of Bridgehampton, on Long Island.
The blue light will soon go dark in New Jersey.
Kmart is getting ready to close its last store in the Garden State come October. Once that happens, there will be just two stores left in the U.S.
The store in Westwood opened in 1982, and at the time was one of thousands of Kmart locations across the country. In the 1990s, when the famed "blue light special" advertisements were running on television, 95% of Americans lived within 15 minutes of a Kmart.
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But now, the shelves inside the Bergen County store are sparse if not entirely empty.
"It seems like everyone is ordering online and I'm as guilty as the next person. But we are losing the ability to go in and see products and try on things and actually take your kids to a toy store," said shopper Elizabeth Garris.
Kmart's troubles are not new. The chain went from being the 15th-largest corporation in the world in the 1990s to declaring bankruptcy in 2002. Walmart's lower prices and Target's fashionable brands first drew customers away, and more recently, online shopping has hastened their decline.
Even the edgy, buzzworthy "ship my pants" ad campaign couldn't save KMart and through the 2010s, as hundreds of stores closed every year, joining a string of other failed retailers.
"Lord and Taylor, gone. Bed Bath and Beyond, gone. Kmart, gone. It's not good," said a Kmart shopper named Harriet, who added that losing those stores means losing more than just good deals. "They take something away from the fabric of your memories and your life. You were here, these stores were here, you could meet friends here, it was social, and now it's more isolating because everything is online."
After the New Jersey location closes this fall, the only two remaining Kmart stores will be in Miami, Florida, and in Bridgehampton, in Suffolk County, Long Island.
