Local Kmarts survive closures

Local residents don't have to worry about missing out on "Blue Light Specials."\nThe two Bloomington Kmart stores were not among the 326 stores -- including 12 in Indiana -- that will be closed as part of the store's Chapter 11 reorganization.\nThe eastside store depends on students for much of its business, according to an employee.\n"We do a lot more business the first week of classes," said Jim Vogel, who has worked at the store for two years. "The last week we've been selling a lot of office equipment. After Christmas time, when students are gone, there is a lull."\nBloomington resident Tammy Fitzpatrick said the eastside store is also more convenient.\n"This side of town doesn't have a a lot of discount stores," Fitzpatrick said. "Wal-Mart is way on the other side of town. I'd rather swing over here to pick things up." \nThe westside store may not be as convenient for students, but it has a base of shoppers as well.\n"The other store gets traffic through 37," Vogel said.\nIf the bankruptcy court approves the store closings, Troy, Mich.-based Kmart will have about 1,500 stores, a third less than when it declared bankruptcy Jan. 22, 2002.\nA year ago Kmart closed seven other Indiana stores, so the announcement was not shocking to most shoppers and employees. Which stores would make the cut this time, however, was not easy to guess.\n"The people here expected more stores to close," Vogel said. "We didn't know how they were going to determine what stores were closing." \nKmart did not say how many Indiana jobs might be cut, but the March 2002 closings cost about 540 jobs in the state and 22,000 nationwide. Some of the stores in Indiana that will be closed employ as many as 100 workers.\nAnalysts said that Kmart, which once dominated the discount marketplace, suffered as competitors like Wal-Mart and Target divided the market into niches of their own.\n"They want to have a store like Wal-Mart because they believe that's the only way for them to succeed," said Arun K. Jain, marketing professor at the University at Buffalo School of Management. "They have to adopt a more selective strategy…Everybody's going after these mega stores.\n"Wal-Mart and Target are going to rip them up," he said.\nThe Associated Press contributed to this story.