Before there was Walmart, there was Kmart. But, a published report says the last full-size Kmart store in the U.S. is closing, marking the end of an era.
Newsday quotes an employee of the store, located in Bridgehampton, N.Y., as saying the store will close its doors in October. One remaining small Kmart will continue to operate in Miami.
According to the Newsday report, the Bridgehampton store had been operating for 25 years.
Before Sam Walton, Kmart pioneered the concept of the big box discount retailer, opening its first store in 1962. At its peak in the early 1990s, it operated more than 2,300 stores.
Kmart’s roots were firmly planted in the 19th-century dime store world. The company was founded by S.S. Kresge, a salesman who sold products to Frank Winfield Woolworth, head of a chain of variety stores that bore his name.
The beginning
Legend has it that Kresge invested $6,700 of his savings to become a partner in a Memphis, Tenn., dime store. When a second store was opened in Detroit, the stores became the first of the S.S. Kresge chain of dime stores.
By 1912, S.S.Kresge operated 85 U.S. stores. By 1940, there were 682 stores operating coast to coast.
The company planned to open a larger S.S. Kresge store on San Fernando, Calif., in late 1961 but late in the process branded the 27,000 square foot store as Kmart, opening on January 25, 1962. On March 1 of that year, the first full-size Kmart opened in Garden City, Mich.
Three months later, the first Walmart store opened its doors and the two discounters would compete for the next six decades before the Arkansas-based chain slowly overtook its older rival.