https://www.chillicothegazette.com/story/news/2018/08/02/chillicothe-kmart-store-closing/878621002/
CHILLICOTHE - Signs affixed to each of the entrance doors at the Chillicothe Kmart store Wednesday informed customers that no new layaway contracts would be entered into at this time.
There's good reason for that. The Chillicothe Kmart store is closing later this year.
A corporate representative of Kmart who asked to be identified only as a Kmart spokesperson for attribution confirmed for the Gazette Wednesday afternoon that associates of the local Kmart were informed Tuesday of a mid-November closure "as part of our ongoing efforts to streamline the company's operations and focus on our best stores."
Liquidation sales are expected to begin as early as Aug. 16, the spokesperson said.
According to property records on the Ross County Auditor's website, the 25.6-acre parcel of land off North Bridge Street that houses the Kmart store and its sizable parking lot was recorded Monday as being sold to Rural King Realty LLC. for $4.7 million.
Rural King, an Illinois-based farm and home department store, operates nearby store locations in Waverly and Circleville. While an unnamed individual at the company's corporate headquarters initially told the Gazette Wednesday that there were no plans presently to open a store in Chillicothe, when made aware of the fact that the sale of the property was available on the auditor's website, the call was transferred to the voice mail of someone else within the organization. As of the present time, the message left for that person has not been returned.
Sears Holdings, the parent company for both the Sears and Kmart brands, has been in the process of cutting stores deemed unproductive or underproductive as it deals with increasing online competition and the decline of shopping malls where many of its stores are located. The company's Sears store in the Chillicothe Mall was shuttered in the spring of 2017 in one round of closures.
At the beginning of July, Sears Holdings announced its latest round of 78 Sears and Kmart closures, and the Chillicothe store did not appear on that list. In March of 2016, following an announcement that the Lancaster Kmart would be closing, a company spokesperson had called speculation about the closure of the Chillicothe store at that time "a bad rumor." The spokesperson said the company evaluates its portfolio of stores each year and makes decisions on the future of individual stores based on performance and whether leases on facilities are expiring.
The Chillicothe Kmart store was constructed in 1994. At one point, it conducted business as a 24-hour Super Kmart operation that also include a full slate of grocery items, but in 2015 switched to the chain's K-Fresh concept, reducing store hours and scaling back its grocery offerings to more basic items. Its deli, bakery and butcher areas that had lined the walls of the Super Kmart grocery were walled off to create additional space for stocking inventory.
The Kmart spokesperson could not say how many employees would be impacted by the store closure, but said that eligible associates would receive severance and be offered the opportunity to apply for open positions at other Kmart or Sears stores.
The spokesperson did not respond to a question about what the closure will mean for the Little Caesar's pizza restaurant located inside the building.