LAWRENCE COUNTY Kmart shoppers react to news of closing

Big Kmart is the second anchor store to close in the Field Club Commons Plaza.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Debra Vitale stops in the Big Kmart store in the Field Club Commons Plaza on Wilmington Road at least once a week.
But a trip to the store Friday was an emotional one.
"I'm very upset. My mother and I would come here every Saturday. My mother passed away last year, but all the employees knew her. We were here every week," said Vitale, of New Castle, who greeted employees with tears in her eyes as she walked around the store after learning it is one of 284 Kmart stores closing nationwide.
The Wilmington Road location is the only Kmart store in the Shenango and Mahoning valleys closing as part of the company's restructuring under Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Kmart is cutting about 22,000 positions, and the stores to be closed include 271 Kmart discount stores and 12 Kmart Supercenters, and one Kmart store in Puerto Rico. Kmart has 2,114 stores.
Percentage of force: The job cuts amount to just under 9 percent of Kmart's work force of about 250,000.
Kmart's 55 employees at the Wilmington Road store will be encouraged to apply at nearby Kmart stores after that location closes sometime this summer, but none will be guaranteed jobs, said Laura Mahle, Kmart spokeswoman.
Some may be given bonuses if they stay through the entire liquidation, she said.
Officials expect to start reducing prices at the Wilmington Road store sometime after a March 20 bankruptcy hearing, Mahle said.
All closings announced Friday were in locations that had a poor financial performance, she said. There are no plans to close any other stores, but the company will continue to evaluate all locations for profitability, she said.
There is a second Big Kmart in Lawrence County in the Lawrence Village Plaza on Ellwood Road in Shenango Township.
Reactions: Most shoppers going into the Wilmington Road store Friday afternoon said they weren't happy about the news to close the store.
"I'm here just about every day. [Closing the store] will be an inconvenience. I'd rather they close the other one [in Lawrence County]," said Fred Nocera of Neshannock Township. He has been shopping at the Wilmington Road Kmart since it opened in March 1978.
"I've always been treated well here and that's why I keep coming back," Nocera added. He said he will likely still shop at the other Kmart store, but not as frequently.
Jean Morrow of Hickory Township was indifferent to the closing.
"It doesn't bother me too much. There's one the other way," Morrow said of the Lawrence Village Plaza Kmart.
Second major loss: Closing the Kmart on Wilmington Road will be the second big loss for Field Club Commons Plaza in less than a year. Phar-Mor closed its location, which was the other anchor store in theplaza, last fall.
North Lawrence Partners, the group that owns the plaza, could not be reached Friday for comment on the impact the closing will have on the 50,000-square-foot property.
Shoppers, however, said they will miss the store.
"It's a mistake" closing the Wilmington Road store, said Robert Hartsuff of Pulaski Township. "I think there's more business on this end of town."
"That other plaza is way out there" Hartsuff said, referring to Lawrence Village Plaza.
Vitale said she will probably shop at the Big Kmart in the Lawrence Village Plaza but will miss shopping at the Wilmington Road store, which is nearest to her home.
"This was much more convenient," she said.