When the Kmart in Avenel, New Jersey, closes its doors on April 16, it will leave just a handful of remaining U.S. locations for the former retail powerhouse.
The number of Kmarts once in the thousands will be down to three in the continental U.S. and a handful of stores elsewhere, in a retail world dominated by Walmart, Target and Amazon.
Once the Kmart in Avenel, New Jersey, shutters, the number of Kmarts in the U.S. once well over 2,000 – will be down to three last holdouts. In its heyday, Kmart sold product lines endorsed by celebrities Martha Stewart and Jaclyn Smith, sponsored NASCAR auto races and was mentioned in movies like "Beetlejuice."
The familiar sights and sounds are still there: the scuffed and faded floor tiles, the relentless beige-on-beige color scheme, the toddlers clothes and refrigerators and pretty much everything in between.