North Augusta Kmart closing (Martinez, Washington: sale, real estate, leases)

[Airforceguy]

With the closing of the North Augusta store, there will only be one Kmart left in Metro Augusta. The one on Gordon Highway. Now that this store is closing it will help speed the redevelopment of this shopping center...

Kmart owner Sears Holdings Corp. confirmed Tuesday the North Augusta Plaza store at 310 E. Martintown Road will be shuttered following a liquidation sale that is scheduled to begin March 10. A company employee told The Augusta Chronicle on Monday the store’s final day of operation was May 22.
“Store closures are part of a series of actions we’re taking to reduce on-going expenses, adjust our asset base, and accelerate the transformation of our business model,” company spokesman Howard Riefs said in a statement issued Tuesday.
Riefs said the store, which opened in 1993, has 61 mostly part-time employees. Some employees will be eligible for severance and have opportunities to apply for open positions at other Sears and Kmart stores, he said.
The Augusta area’s last remaining Kmart store is next to the Southgate shopping center at 1647 Gordon Highway. The Martinez Kmart at 3830 Washington Road closed in 2012; the space is now occupied by Carolina Pottery. The company’s Sears store at Augusta Mall is one of that property’s anchor tenants.
Though Sears Holdings would not elaborate on the reason for the closure, it appears related to a plan by the property’s owner to redevelop the shopping center. North Augusta Plaza owner Slate Asset Management LP last year received approval from North Augusta’s seven-member planning commission to replace the 110,000-square foot Kmart with at least four new retailers. The site plan rendering submitted showed PetSmart, Ross Dress for Less, Marshalls and Rack Room Shoes as possible tenants.
Phone and email messages left with the Toronto-based real estate company were not immediately returned Tuesday.

North Augusta Kmart closing | The Augusta Chronicle

[GRU_Minion]

All I can think to say is what took so long? I've set foot in there maybe twice in the past year, and most times I never saw more than 10-15 people, including the workers. It hasn't been kept up very well for a while, and their prices are more like Target than Walmart, but without the quality products and atmosphere.

[Carolina Knight]

I am not surprised to see Kmart #4865 (North Augusta Plaza, 310 East Martintown Road, North Augusta, South Carolina 29841-4261) close. Speculation of its closing has existed for a year, and the property owner has tenants lined up for redevelopment.

How much longer will Kmart #4135 remain open? The future of Sears Holdings is uncertain as Sears and Kmart stores close continuously.

[GRU_Minion]

Originally Posted by Carolina Knight

Speculation of its closing has existed for a year, and the property owner has tenants lined up for redevelopment.

I'm not so sure they actually have tenants lined up as much as they were showing examples of what they could do with it a year ago. Back then Kmart said more than once they had no plans to close the store, yet the developer was already showing drawings of proposed stores there. It makes me wonder if it was some sort of strategy of theirs to try and get Kmart to renew early or else they'd move something else in that they already had lined up (allegedly).

[Carolina Knight]

Kmart #4865 may have been a low performing store that was doing well enough not to close at that time. Unfortunately, Kmart's low performing stores with expiring leases have closed or are in the process of closing.