Say goodbye to Kmart for good if you live in Cincinnati or Northern Kentucky.
What was once one of America's most popular big box chains is closing another 100 stores by the end of the year, including its last two in the Cincinnati area.
Kmart's newest list of closing stores, as posted in USA Today, will include the Erlanger, Kentucky store on Dixie Highway, which until now had survived a decade of cutbacks.
The chain is also closing its Harrison, Ohio store, leaving the Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio area with no more Kmarts. In addition, the closing of its Somerset, Kentucky store this fall means the entire state of Kentucky will have no Kmarts left.
USA Today says the company will start liquidation sales by mid-September, and the stores will be closed by Christmas.
Company unable to adapt and compete
A decade ago the Cincinnati area had more than a dozen Sears and Kmart stores. But after a major round of closings in 2018, the only remaining Sears store is in Eastgate.
The closest other Sears or Kmarts after this fall will be in the Columbus area, though that market will be losing its store in Grove City, too.
Retail experts say Kmart was unable to adapt in recent years, as Walmart did, to battle the rise of Amazon. A report in CheatSheet.com says "no one really knew what the brand stood for."
At its peak in the 1980s, Kmart had over 2,000 stores. With these latest closings it will have fewer than 300.
This also means we probably won't be seeing any more creative Kmart TV ads, such as the "Shipped my Pants" ad (click to watch it) that created a viral sensation in 2013, and was named as one of the best TV commercial campaigns ever. But it couldn't save the chain.
As always, don't waste your money.
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