In a long-anticipated move, Kmart will close its College Square store in Newark in November.
The company released a list of 46 stores that will close that includes the northern Delaware store. The store had survived previous waves of closings by the troubled chain that is also closing many Sears stores.
Sears closed its long-running Prices Corner store earlier this year, with the Dover Mall store to follow.
The Dover Sears closing, which had earlier been announced for August. will leave a big hole in the mall. A Dover Kmart closed earlier.
So far, Sears and Kmart stores that have survived so far are in Bear, Pike Creek, the Rehoboth Beach area and north Wilmington. The Rehoboth store has been downsized with another retailer taking the remaining space.
Sears Holdings acquired Kmart, but quickly ran into problems, despite adding popular Sears brands such as Kenmore and Craftsman tools to its offerings.
Recently, giant home improvement chain Lowe’s added Craftsman tools to its inventory as Sears Holdings looked for added sales.
Sears responded by announcing a relaunch of the Craftsman brand and noting that its stores still had the largest selection.
In the meantime, the College Square closing could clear the way for an acceleration an overhaul of the aging College Square Shopping Center.
It was well known that leases for Kmart stores included restrictions on potential competitors that could go into shopping center sites.
Plans were announced earlier for more of a “lifestyle center” concept that would include apartments geared at non-students.
Work has been underway on new facades for the north end of the center. The south side of the center housing the Kmart has many vacancies.
Newark residents have indicated they would like to see stores from Target and from discount niche grocer Trader Joe’s and popular supermarket Wegmans.
The center currently houses an Acme Market, after parent company Albertsons acquired former Pathmark stores in the region.
It remains to be seen on whether College Square would have the population concentration and income levels sought by popular retailers that are fighting online behemoth Amazon and to some extent Walmart.
Walmart has struggled to add to its retail presence in northern Delaware with a proposed store near the New Castle Airport falling victim to opposition from unions and others, as well as questions about a site near the aviation facility.
