A shopper pushes her cart to the car after shopping at the Big Kmart in Anniston. The store has been at its north Anniston location across from Blue Mountain Road for some 40 years. (Anniston Star photo by Shannon Tucker)
A manager at the local store, one of Anniston’s oldest big-box retailers, confirmed that it would be closing, but directed all other questions, including the specific date of closure, to the company’s corporate media relations department.
Efforts to reach media relations representatives with Sears Holdings, the parent company of Kmart, were unsuccessful Tuesday.
The Anniston Kmart opened its doors in 1973 in an 84,000-square-foot space on McClellan Boulevard.
Nancy King Dennis, director of public relations for the Alabama Retail Association, said she did not know about circumstances regarding the closure, but said stores typically shut down when they are under-performing.
Dennis said that unlike retailers like Wal-Mart, Kmart has been choosing its operating markets carefully.
Dennis, who lives in Montgomery, said her city also lost its Kmart years ago.
According to a press release issued by Sears Holdings, Kmart’s total domestic comparable store sales for the nine-week period ending Dec. 29 fell 3.8 percent. For the year-to-date period ending on Dec. 29, the retailer’s sales fell 3.7 percent.
The news of the Anniston Kmart’s closure comes as Sears Holdings officials announced CEO Louis J. D’Ambrosio will leave the company on Feb. 2. D’Ambrosio, who left due to family health matters, will be replaced by the company’s chairman of the board of directors, Edward S. Lampert.
Assistant Metro Editor Daniel Gaddy: 256-235-3560. On Twitter @DGaddy_star.
