The last Kmart on the U.S. mainland is quietly tucked away in a suburban Miami shopping center, overshadowed by bustling chain stores like Marshalls, Hobby Lobby, PetSmart, and Dollar Tree. While these stores attract a steady flow of customers, the once iconic Kmart only sees the occasional shopper stopping by out of curiosity or nostalgia.
Juan de la Madriz, an architect, visited the shopping center to buy dog food at PetSmart and stumbled upon Kmart. He ended up purchasing a stuffed dog and a wooden toy workbench for his grandson, reflecting on the store’s potential closure and the shift towards online shopping. The Miami Kmart is now the last operating store in the continental U.S. after the closure of the last full-size Kmart in Long Island, New York.
Transformco, the company that owns Kmart and Sears, has not disclosed its plans for the Miami location, leaving its future uncertain. Despite its decline, the Miami Kmart stands out for its immaculate appearance and well-organized merchandise, resembling a mom-and-pop retailer rather than a struggling chain store. The store’s small size, previously a garden section, now houses a variety of products from appliances to clothing and toys.
The decline of Kmart, once a retail giant with thousands of stores nationwide, can be traced back to misguided management decisions and fierce competition from Walmart and Target. The company’s bankruptcy in 2002 and subsequent acquisition by Transformco in 2019 marked the end of an era, with only a handful of Kmarts remaining in the U.S. The nostalgia surrounding Kmart does not translate into sales, as seen by the sparse foot traffic in the Miami store.
Despite its nostalgic appeal, Kmart struggles to attract customers in a retail landscape dominated by e-commerce and modern chain stores. While some visitors like Fernandez and Sequin reminisce about their childhood memories at Kmart, they leave empty-handed or with minimal purchases. The clean and organized environment of the Miami Kmart is a far cry from its cluttered past, but it may not be enough to save the struggling retailer from its inevitable demise.
