| Beleaguered discount retailer Kmart, the number three discount retailer in the U.S. behind Wal-Mart and Target, announced it will close 72 stores. There was no word on whether or not the two Kitsap County stores will be impacted.
The company also said that earnings for the entire fiscal year will be negatively impacted. For the company’s new CEO, this is the first step in a long path towards righting the retailer.
Shoppers at those Kmart stores should have no trouble finding “Blue Light Specials” between now and November when the closures are expected to be completed. Inventory in those stores will be marked down to clearance and liquidation prices in order to move it. Get your severely on-sale Martha Stewart bed linens now!
This is the first big step towards improved financial performance taken by Kmart’s new chairman and CEO Charles Conaway, who came to the company recently from CVS. Conaway faces the daunting task of turning around a huge, under-performing retailer in a very competitive environment.
Around 5,000 employees will be affected, though Kmart’s suggesting that they apply for jobs at other existing stores. The closures represent 3.3 percent of Kmart’s total number of stores. The company will shut down 66 traditional Kmarts and 6 of the all-night mega-variety Super Kmarts. | 
