Kmart announces more store closings

The Christmas season may be more worrisome than merry for Kmart employees who have to wait until mid-January to see if their store will be among the second round of closings announced earlier this week.

Kmart CEO Jim Adamson told the Detroit Free Press about the beleaguered retailer's cost-cutting closings on Tuesday, describing them as "painful." While he didn't say how many closings there would be, analysts say the number could be as high as 300, the Free Press said.

Unlike the Kmart in Sikeston, Mo., the Cape Girardeau store survived the first round of 283 store closings this year in which 22,000 workers lost their jobs without severance pay or benefits.

But the local store's manager, John Willems, said he had been told nothing about whether or not the Kmart at 11 S. Kingshighway would be among those closed by the company that filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January.

"I have no idea," said Willems, who was also the manager of the Sikeston store when it closed. "You guys usually know before we do."

Willems declined further comment, except to refer a reporter to the Kmart's headquarters in Troy, Mich. Calls to that office were not returned Thursday.

Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce president and CEO John Mehner said he didn't think the local store would close.

"I would be very surprised if it does," he said. "We're a regional center and a regional draw. I would think that's the kind of place people would want to have their locations."

Impact considered

Seventy-two employees worked at the Sikeston store until it closed following a liquidation process in June. That closing has had an impact on the city, said Bill Green, the director of Sikeston's Department of Economic Development.

"Undoubtedly, it has cost us some shoppers from outlying areas that come to Sikeston to do their retail shopping," Green said. "Shopping hasn't ground to a halt, but obviously if we had our choice we would love to have a viable Kmart store back in the mix."

Green said he believes most of the employees let go have found work. He also said that sales receipts are up despite the Kmart closing, but still aren't as high as they would like.

"You can't help but wonder how much better it would have been if Kmart hadn't closed," he said. "We're proof that nobody can assume they're insulated."

Adamson, also Kmart's chairman, promised that the company would do a better job handling this round of layoffs.

"We'd like to do it thoroughly and with far better care in terms of how we treat our people than we did the first time," he told the Free Press.

If predictions are correct, Kmart will have shrunk by nearly a third before it climbs out of a messy, expensive bankruptcy next summer -- going from more than 2,100 stores to as few as 1,500.

That would make Kmart, with sales of $36 billion in 2001, still larger than Target, which operates 1,107 discount stores, but dwarfed further by Wal-Mart Inc., which now has 3,300 stores including Sam's Clubs.

smoyers@semissourian.com

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