What’s next for Three Star Mall?: Merchants predict Kmart’s departure will hurt
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“Our company is working as hard as they can to have somebody else in here before Kmart leaves,” said Three Star Mall employee Susie Griffith. “But we don’t know who they’ve contacted. They’ve not told us anything.”
Ershig Properties of Henderson, Ky. owns Three Star Mall and employees there are in charge of property negotiations. Calls to Ershig last week and this week have not been returned.
As for the atmosphere around the mall from other store owners and managers, most agree the loss of Kmart will hurt business.
“I’ve got a lot of regulars here so I don’t think it will kill me, but it won’t help either,” said J’s Restaurant owner Jean-Claude Petit. “It will cut down drastically on mall traffic if a store that size stays vacant for long. And that’s what I pay for in my rent. I pay for the mall traffic.”
Kmart, with 60,842 square feet, is by far the largest store in the mall. JCPenney is second with 34,202 square feet, while Goody’s is third with 21,949.
The Kmart store was renovated and converted into a Big Kmart within the last two years, and local store officials indicated it did turn a profit. But that couldn’t keep McMinnville’s store from being one of the five Kmarts in Tennessee and one of the 284 nationwide chosen to be closed. Kmart said Friday the stores will be closed by the end of June.
With Kmart anchoring one end of the Three Star Mall, JCPenney and Goody’s are a draw at the other end. Managers from both those stores were disappointed at Kmart’s announced departure.
“It takes away one more reason for people to come to the mall,” said JCPenney manager Jamie Dowdy. “It’s not going to help.”
Added Goody’s manager Susan Hutcheson, “I think it’s a big mistake for Kmart to leave McMinnville. It’s going to affect everybody out here. Kmart brought a lot of people to the mall, but hopefully it worked both ways and we brought a lot of people for them too.”
Brittany Porter, an assistant manager at the Sound Shop, admitted she was concerned about Kmart leaving, but also said it could end up helping the store.
“We’re worried about it,” said Porter. “But it could also end up helping us. Kmart sells a lot of the CDs we sell, and a lot of times they charge less. So we’ll just have to see how it turns out.”
Employees at Hibbett Sports estimated around half of their customers are also Kmart customers.
“I’d say 45 or 50 percent of the people who come in here have Kmart bags,” said Hibbett employee Jimmy Walker. “A lot of our customers stop in for impulse buys. They’re already in the mall, they walk by and see something they want, and they impulse shop.”
Walker and Hibbett manager Sheree Evans are both former Kmart employees. Evans said she likes the convenience of having Kmart in the mall because it’s easy to pick up one or two items she may need.
Conaway resigns
(AP) — Kmart Corp.’s former CEO Chuck Conaway will receive at least $4.5 million as part of his severance package. Conaway resigned as CEO Saturday. Under the company’s severance policy, Conaway is entitled to three times his base salary, which is about $1.5 million a year. Kmart also will forgive a $5 million loan it gave Conaway.