The Mysterious Case of the Missing Kmart Locations

Taking a break from the Warren Mall, (Part two will be up later during the week.) I give you a rather interesting mystery. Kmart has 'erased' over 100 stores this week from their website. Stores missing are all over the country, so this post could affect you as well. Before I continue, I just want to set one thing straight, just because the stores are no longer listed, it doesn't mean they are closing for sure. These 'vanishing' stores could be glitch on the website's part or it could mean business. With Sears Holdings, you can never tell for sure. Earlier this year, a store in Maryland was taken off the website and within a month or two it announced it was closing, so keep your eyes out for any news. The thing that concerns me is that over 100 stores disappeared and that could easily mean another round of mass closings around the country. Doing some research, I've uncovered the following stores to be 'missing' from the Twin Tiers blog coverage area.

Du Bois, PA
Dickson City (Scranton), PA
Shomakin Dam, PA
Cheektowaga, NY
Jamestown/Lakewood, NY
Victor, NY
Watertown, NY

'K's in orange are the locations missing, while the red 'K's locations are shown on the website store locator as of this blog post.

Some of these I've visited in the past, some I have (or at least had if these stores don't close) plans to visit. There are more in closings in PA, but they are outside my coverage area. I didn't come across any other missing NY locations, but I was really only looking through my blog coverage area. 

For all three PA locations, it probably comes down to the fact that they don't seem to much business (at least when I visited these three they weren't very busy and Dickson City isn't really visible from the main road because it sits on a hill. Both Du Bois and Shomakin Dam were the pretty average Kmart. Not very busy, older store and no special departments other than a pharmacy.

The NY stores would likely close for real estate reasons, especially Victor. Victor sits right across the road from a major upscale mall near Rochester. I can't exactly pinpoint reasons for Watertown or Cheektowaga because I have not been to these two stores. I would guess real estate as they are both near major regional malls as well, though the Watertown mall isn't as major as the other two malls. I would assume Jamestown would be a combination of both a lack of business and real estate, as it sits on the major retail strip for the city, but it doesn't seem nearly as busy as other locations I've stepped foot in.

If all these 'missing' locations do end up closing, we are inching ever so closer to the point where you may no longer see Kmart and Sears.... which isn't much of a surprise.