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Bridgehampton is saying goodbye to Kmart on Oct. 20.
That’s when the retailer plans to close the door at its last full-size Kmart store left in America.
Last week, Greater Long Island ran an online poll asking locals what they would like to see replace the 89,935-square-foot building located at 2044 Montauk Highway in Bridgehampton Commons.
Here are the top three vote getters, by percentage:
3. Costco, 15 percent
2. Walmart, 16 percent
1. Target, 49 percent
There currently is no Target in the Hamptons. The closest is in Riverhead, about 23 miles away from the Bridgehampton shopping center.
There aren’t many big-box retailers in the Hamptons, and its by design.
In the early 2000s, Southampton Town introduced a zoning regulation that limits building sizes to a maximum of 15,000 square feet. However, this rule does not apply to Bridgehampton Commons, as it was built before the regulation took effect, according to Clare P. Shea, the assistant town planning director, in an interview with Newsday.
The Bridgehampton Kmart store opened in 1999, in a space vacated by Caldor.
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About Kmart’s closure
Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2002, then merged with Sears in 2005. Sears filed filed for bankruptcy in 2018, and was acquired by Kmart’s current parent company, Transform. The deal led to closure of scores of Kmarts, including longstanding ones in Farmingville in 2019 and Bohemia in 2020.
The once-dominant, big-box department store brand has only one other store operating in the 50 states, a smaller scaled store in Miami. The brand also has four stores in U.S. territories — three in the U.S. Virgin Islands and one in Guam.
Kmart was founded 125 years ago as Kresge’s. The first Kmart store opened in 1962. In its heyday during 1980′ and 1990’s, the iconic brand had more than 2,000 stores.
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Top: Top: The last full-size Kmart location in the U.S., located in Bridgehampton, Long Island, N.Y. (Credit: Google Maps)
