Loyal K-Mart customers mourn Austintown store's closing

AUSTINTOWN

The Kmart store here has been a staple place to shop for as long as its customers can remember, but that will end come late January.

Sears Holdings on Thursday released its latest list of stores to close, 45 Kmart and 18 Sears locations, including the Austintown Kmart at 4475 Mahoning Ave.

“It used to be that Kmart was the place to go at Christmas time for toys for the kids,” said Robert White of Austintown after leaving Kmart on Friday when the store was promoting a “Holiday Blowout” sale. “That’s no longer the case. It’s just an unfortunate story. We see it happening more and more.”

The Austintown Kmart will close nearly two years after the Boardman and Warren locations closed. Locally, there are still Howland, Hermitage, Pa., New Castle, Pa., and East Liverpool locations.

White has been a Kmart shopper for 25 years. The store, he says, offers a variety of products at decent prices.

“I feel competition is necessary, and Walmart will just be even bigger of a monopoly,” White said. “Kmart has a long history of being a retailer, and it’s sad to see it go away.”

Competition from other stores and online shopping outlets are what customers believe led to Kmart’s demise locally and nationally.

“You look at this parking lot and you go to Walmart and look at their parking lot,” said Alan Greathouse of Niles after shopping at Kmart on Friday. “It’s a nice store, and it’s been around forever. I’d hate to see it close.”

A liquidation sale at Kmart could start as early as Thursday.

The 63 Kmart and Sears stores closing in January are in addition to the about 250 other store closings previously announced this year, the Associated Press reported.

The company plans to continue to right-size its footprint nationwide.

Read more about the matter in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.