Residents Are Upset About Kmart Store Closing And Leaving Town

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)- The city of Columbus will soon see another large retailer pack up and leave town.

On this Mid-August day, the parking lot at Kmart is packed and shoppers are constantly going in and out of the store.

However, while the store is busy today, the scene will be completely different in November when the store closes its doors.

“Kmart was the store,” said David Moody, who’s lived in Columbus his entire life. “I’m sorry to hear them go because it’s a great place and I’m just going to be sorry to see them leave.”

“It hurt my feelings because we got too many businesses closing around Columbus,” said April Green, a longtime Columbus resident. “If they take all of the businesses, where we going to have to shop.”

Green said she was a regular customer at Kmart, but with one of her favorite stores closing, she’s devastated because it now leaves her with one less place to shop.

“I love Kmart,” she expressed. “They were like the only one, because Walmart only do their layaway during the holidays, but you can still go to Kmart and put up a layaway anytime during the year.”

Kmart now joins the list of large retailers who have called it quits in the Friendly City.

This year alone, the Sears Home Store, and Rite Aid have all closed up shop.

“It’s really no surprise we saw that the Columbus store would be shutting down,” said Mark Castleberry, owner of Castle Properties.

Castleberry is a developer in Columbus and said Kmart’s departure has nothing to do with the Friendly City or its city leaders.

“It’s no statement about sales or retail here in Columbus,” said Castleberry. “It’s a corporate issue that they’re shutting down stores for whatever reasons that they are, and it happened to be Columbus’s time.

While one store is on it’s way out of town, city leaders are already trying to hire a retail consultant to recruit more businesses.

Castberry believes with Kmart leaving, it’ll open up a prime location for the city to land a new and healthier business.

“It’s proximity to the Air Force Base, it’s proximity to a lot of residences, it’s easy to get to and such,” Castleberry described. “Now again, it might take a year for it to cycle or something along that line, but in the end I think it’ll be better.”

The company has already closed more than 100 stores this year alone.

All store locations have already been notified about the closings.

Another 46 Sears and Kmart stores nationwide are expected to close.