Kmart in Kill Devil Hills soon to be last one standing in North Carolina

Kmart in Kill Devil Hills [Kari Pugh photo]

With the arrival of 2020 comes the news that by the end of February, the Kmart store in Kill Devil Hills will be the only one remaining in all of North Carolina.

The News and Observer reported Monday that signs recently went up announcing the closing of the last store in Raleigh on Six Forks Road.

While KMart’s website still lists locations in Clemmons and Waynesville, local media report both of stores closed before Christmas.

That means the Outer Banks’ Kmart will be the only one left in North Carolina. The next closest store on South Military Highway in Chesapeake, Va. was closing last month.

Transformco, which acquired both Kmart and Sears out of bankruptcy in 2019, announced in November it was going to shutter another 45 Kmart locations and 51 Sears stores across the country.

Over 3,500 Kmart and Sears stores have been shutdown, costing about 250,000 jobs, over the last 15 years.

The retailers have been struggling since the turn of the century due to competition from Walmart and Target, the evolution of online shopping and decline of foot traffic, as well as lack of innovation in stores.

Sears Holdings, the previous parent company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2018 and emerged last February 2019 through a last-minute deal arranged by the company’s longtime chairman, CEO and investor, Eddie Lampert, and his hedge fund ESL Investments, according to USA Today.

Company officials have not commented on their future plans for the Kill Devil Hills location.

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About Sam Walker 1512 Articles
Sam Walker was news director for OBXToday.com, Beach 104, 99.1 The Sound, Big 94.5 WCMS and Z 92.3 from August 2011 to March 2022.