Discount retailer closing last location in the US after 135 years - but not before customers rush to snatch up heavily discounted inventory

A once giant discount retailer is set to close its last full-size store, but not before slashing prices on its remaining stock. 

Kmart has operated for 135 years, selling products ranging from from clothes and appliances to hardware and electronics.  It had 2,323 stores at its peak in 1994.

The chain's last big box location in Bridgehampton on New York's Long Island will close its doors on October 20. 

Until then shoppers can enjoy up to 40 percent off in the liquidation sale.

The only other Kmart left in the US is one in Miami, but that is small and operates more as a convenience store only selling essential items. 

Kmart's decline has been slow but steady, brought about by years of falling sales, changes in shopping habits and the looming shadow of Walmart.

It filed for bankruptcy twice since the turn of the century, as its global profit margins fell from $49 billion in 2005 to just $3.26 billion in 2020. 

The Bridgehampton store, which has been in business for 25 years, is located in the Kimco Realty shopping center. 

Kmart has gradually been closing its stores since it merged with Sears in 2005 under the direction of hedge-fund CEO Eddie Lampert. 

Sears Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018, and then sold 202 stores to Transform Holdco, with the rest liquidated.

More shuttered rapidly after that.

When, in April 2022, Kmart shut its New Jersey store in Avenel -  a middle-class suburb 15 miles south of New York City - it was down to just three locations.  

As well as the Bridgehampton store shutting this week and the small Miami shop, there was another in Westwood in New Jersey that closed for good on February 2 this year. 

Kmart was founded by Sebastian Spering Kresge as the SS Krege Company in 1899 in the Detroit suburb of Garden City, as a dime store where shoppers could find daily needs such as housewares, clothes and toys.

Kresge retired as president in 1925, and the company was handed over to Henry Cunningham.

It was in 1962 that the company was transformed into Kmart, seeking to dominate the discount retail sector with low prices on national brands - a feat it succeeded at.

In its heyday, Kmart sold product lines endorsed by celebrities Martha Stewart and Jaclyn Smith, sponsored NASCAR auto races and was mentioned in movies including Rain Man and Beetlejuice.

Department stores have struggled to adapt to the changing consumer landscape.

Problems such as massive debt and inefficient operations were compounded by the  pandemic, speeding up the decline of several retailers that struggled to maintain their customers and their changing preferences, CB Insights reported.  

With people electing to shop online because of the convenience of having a product delivered to their doorstep, it became harder for companies to compete for customers. 

Stores like Sears, Kmart, Borders Books and Music, Toys R Us, Sports Authority, Lord & Taylor and Bed Bath & Beyond all struggled to adjust.

Kmart's store in Hyannis, Massachusetts closed in 2021. It continues to operate outside the United States in the US Virgin Island and Guam.

The announcement comes weeks after discount home goods retailer Big Lots filed for bankruptcy, raising questions over the future of its 1,400 stores.

A total of 21 big US retailers and restaurant chains filed for bankruptcy in the first half of this year - the most since the pandemic wrecked havoc on businesses in 2020, S&P said in a July report.