Published: October 21, 2008 11:52 am      

Clarksville Kmart will close

Company: Store is underperforming

Clarksville’s Kmart store will close its doors following the upcoming Christmas shopping season.

Company spokesperson Kim Freely said it is an isolated closing, noting that other area stores will stay open.

The store is being closed because of poor performance, Freely said. It was announced to employees last week.

The store’s 48 employees are encouraged to apply at other Kmart and Sears locations in the area, but there is no guaranteed transfer, she noted.

Kmart’s parent company, Sears Holdings Corp., is the nation’s fourth-largest retailer, according to its Web site. Annual revenues exceed $50 billion and the company has approximately 3,800 stores in the United States and Canada. It’s headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Ill.

Kmart opened at its current location, on Blackiston Mill Road, in 2000, after moving from its previous spot near the intersection of Eastern Boulevard and Lewis and Clark Parkway. That original location is now anchored by a Kroger grocery store.

In the Louisville Metro area, Kmart has about half a dozen stores, including one in New Albany along Grant Line Road and another along 10th Street in Jeffersonville.