Dogged by continuing financial problems, nationwide discount
retailer K-Mart announced Tuesday that it would close 326 stores –
including the one in Morgan Hill – across the country and lay off
37,000 people.
Dogged by continuing financial problems, nationwide discount retailer K-Mart announced Tuesday that it would close 326 stores – including the one in Morgan Hill – across the country and lay off 37,000 people.
The Morgan Hill store at East Dunne Avenue and Highway 101 in the Lawrence Oaks Center employs approximately 90 full and part-time workers.
Mayor Dennis Kennedy said that the impact of K-Mart leaving might not be as bad as it seemed on Tuesday.
“In the short term the city would lose some jobs and revenue but,” he said, “K-Mart has agreed to work with the city on a gradual transition to closing the store.”
There might, however, be what Kennedy calls a silver lining to the situation.
“That is a prime location – one of the best commercial sites in all of South Santa Clara County,” Kennedy said. “We have a couple of prospects who would be stronger economically than K-Mart has been. They would provide even more jobs, revenue and opportunities for citizens to shop.”
The building is owned by Chemical Trust Co. of California.
The Morgan Hill store missed a similar round of closures last March when K-Mart closed 282 stores, laid off 22,000 employees and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
On Wednesday employees at the store said the store would be closing on March 26 but an assistant manager denied that they had been given an exact date.
The company also said it expects to emerge from bankruptcy in April, earlier than previously scheduled.
Only two other K-Marts in the Bay Area are on the closure list – in San José on Story Road and in Oakland on Fruitvale, K-mart supercenters.
For area residents who intend to continue to shop at K-mart, the closest stores will be in Hollister and in south San Jose at 890 Blossom Hill Road.
The Morgan Hill store is a Big-K, which does not sell many groceries and has shorter hours.
K-Mart does have a devoted following in Morgan Hill.
“They have everything I need,” said Jen Roggia, who said she completely outfitted her new apartment from the store. “It’s better than Costco,” she said.
Mrs. Ria Stinson, 73, has been shopping at K-Mart for 40 years and was upset to hear of her store’s closing.
“I’ve been a good customer,” she said. “I do most of my shopping, other than groceries, at K-Mart. It is a good, clean store with good prices and good service. And they provide an electric cart for the handicapped.”
She has written a letter to Julian Day, the K-Mart CEO, asking him to spare the Morgan Hill store. Being handicapped, she said, makes it difficult to get to other K-Mart stores.
“I don’t much care for Wal-Mart and Target doesn’t provide anything for the handicapped,” she said. Mrs. Stinson urged other shoppers who are as dismayed as she is to write to the company.
