LUMBERTON, NC (WBTW) – Kmart employees in Lumberton will soon be looking for a new job.
The retailer is among 68 Kmarts and 10 Sears stores closing across the country.
It’s the last call for Kmart’s popular blue light specials
‘“I use to work here so it kind of hit home,” said Andrea Chavis, former Kmart employee.
This as Kmart claims to close its doors this summer.
“I’m mainly concerned for the employees honestly, it hurts my heart,” added Chavis.
Shoppers like Marie Thomas have always relied on Kmart for certain purchases, but now she must find a new shopping home.
“I’m sad about it. I don’t want it to close. They have good sales and cheap beer,” mentioned Thomas.
Residents who shop there often who didn’t know about the store closing say their shocked about it and doesn’t like seeing a national chain go down, especially in their hometown.
“These people need their jobs to take care of their families. Walmart isn’t closing and they have multiple chains,” said Kmart shopper Yamicii Delk.
“The decision to close stores is a difficult but necessary step as we take aggressive actions to strengthen our company, fund our transformation and restore Sears Holdings to profitability. We’re focusing on our best members, our best categories and our best stores as we work to accelerate our transformation,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sears Holding Edward S. Lampert.
The Kmart store in Lumberton is one of five north Carolina locations on the list. One family says they are such loyal customers that they’ll continue shopping at KMART and are prepared to drive to Fayetteville to do so.
“It would basically make Walmart a monopoly at that time especially in Lumberton North Carolina because there are not a lot of places like supercenters to shop at anymore,” said Chavis.
According to a Sears Holding press release workers being laid off at the closed stores will have a chance to apply at those that remain open.
Sears Holdings expects the store closures to generate a meaningful level of cash from the liquidation of store inventory and from the sale or sublease of some of the related real estate. Together with the over $1.2 billion in debt financing that Sears Holdings announced it had raised earlier this month to provide capital to execute its transformation and to meet its financial obligations, the company believes it has taken important steps toward its primary 2016 objective to restore profitability.
The closing Kmart and Sears stores will start their liquidation sales next month.