In Downtown Miami Shopping Center, Kmart Shakes Last 'Blue Light Special'

MIAMI (AP) – The last Kmart on the U.S. mainland sits on the western edge of a busy suburban Miami shopping center, quiet and largely overlooked.

Surrounding it are thriving chain stores attracting a steady stream of customers in sectors where the former box-store chain was once a major player: Marshalls, Hobby Lobby, PetSmart and Dollar Tree.

But at this all-but-last outpost of a company once famous for its “blue light special,” only the occasional shopper comes in, mostly out of curiosity or nostalgia, then leaves after buying little or nothing.

“I haven't seen a Kmart in so long,” said Juan de la Madrid, who came into the shopping center on a recent weekday to buy dog ​​food at PetSmart. The architect visited Kmart and wondered if he could find a gift for his newborn grandson. He exited 10 minutes later with $23 spent on a stuffed dog and a wooden toy workbench.

“It would be sad if it closed,” he said of the store, “but now everything is computerized.”

Last full size Kmart On Sunday in New York's Long Island closed in 50 states, making the Miami store — now a fraction of its former size — the last operating in the continental U.S. More than 30 years ago, Kmart operated about 2,500 locations. Today, four more remain: three in the US Virgin Islands and one in Guam. There is also a website.

Transformco, the Illinois-based holding company that owns Kmart and another former retail behemoth, Sears, did not respond to email requests for comment or allow store managers to speak. The company's plans for the Miami location are unknown — but there's no indication it will close anytime soon.

last outpost

If Miami Kmart were a brand-new mom-and-pop retailer, a shopper might think it could thrive through advertising and a little luck. Kmarts have long had a reputation for chaos and clutter, but this store is immaculate and the merchandise is precisely stacked and displayed.

About the size of a CVS or Walgreens drugstore, the branch occupied part of the Garden in its big-box days. A few years ago, an At Home department store occupied the remaining space.

“Get it all! Must stay. Wish fors. Friendly face,” reads the sign next to the door.

Halloween and Christmas decorations line the entrance, next to 30 shopping carts that no one is using. A robotic voice says “Welcome,” as does a cheerful employee, one of three in store. A lone customer is checking out Halloween candy.

Straight ahead are several dishwashers, refrigerators, washing machines and dryers: the appliance department. In the main room of the store, there is a large section of toiletries and diapers, a few hardware essentials and some cleaning and pet supplies. The toy section has several rows of dolls, action figures, games and squirt guns. Sun dresses, summer tops and sweatshirts form part of the short wardrobe. Oh, and there are snacks.

Also still present: a recorded voice blaring a once-familiar message over a loudspeaker

“Attention Kmart shoppers,” it says, announcing that almost all items are on sale.

If it was only customers to listen, as it was before.

A rapid growth and a slow death

Kmart was founded in 1962 by retailer SS Kresge Co. in Michigan. was founded by and grew rapidly, reaching 2,000 stores in 20 years. The company sold almost everything from clothing to jewelry, TVs to dog food, toys to sports goods. By the mid-1980s, it was the country's second-largest retailer after Sears and had stores in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Kmart's downfall was rooted in the decade when management bought a stake in Waldenbooks, Border Books, Builders Square, The Sports Authority and OfficeMax, thinking the company needed diversification. They were wrong. In the late 1990s, the company sold off those retailers yet still needed $5 billion in refinancing—the equivalent of $9 billion today.

In 2002, Kmart declared bankruptcy as Walmart and Target ate away at its market share. Its website never shut down, allowing Amazon to lose it in the e-commerce space. There were executive pay scandals, a buyout by a hedge fund manager who emptied it, 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, says Kmart would have thrived had it not been for top executives who ran it into the ground. It could be Walmart.

“It sold things in its heyday that people continue to buy in large quantities today,” Cohen said. “Commert went down the drain because it was led by incompetent managers.”

Transformco bought Kmart and Sears out of another bankruptcy in 2019 for $5 billion — mostly for store real estate, its critics say. 202 Kmarts remained.

In the last five years, Firm Kmarts has been closed All that's left in the states is Miami store #3074.

Nostalgia doesn't translate into sales

On the day de la Madriz came to buy his grandson's gifts, only a few customers entered the store every hour.

College students Joey Fernandez and Wilfredo Huahua spent five minutes inside before leaving empty-handed. They knew of the chain's near death, saw the store while in the shopping center and visited the memorial. It seemed small, they said, compared to the Kmarts they remembered.

“We were devastated — I spent a lot of my childhood there,” said Fernandez, 18. Still, she might be back — the facial cleanser she uses has a good price at the store.

Teacher Oliver was entering Sequin Marshalls when he saw the Kmart. It also triggered nostalgia, but reminded her that her 5-year-old son needed Band-Aids. All these he bought.

“I remember when Kmarts was big,” Sequin said. “But, to be honest, I like it better. It's clean and organized, like they weren't.”