Kmart to close four Nashville area stores
Nashville Business Journal
Retail giant Kmart Corp. (NYSE: KM) will close seven locations in Tennessee, including four in the Nashville area, sources tell the Atlanta Business Chronicle, a sister paper of the Nashville Business Journal.
Local stores that will be closed by the Troy, Mich.-based retailer include the one at 3710 Old Hickory Blvd. in Nashville, 333 N. Lowry St. in Smyrna, 2106 Memorial Blvd. in Springfield and 825 Nashville Pike in Gallatin.
Across the state, Kmart is also closing stores in McMinnville, Bristol and Harriman.
However, the company will still maintain about a dozen stores in the Nashville area.
Barry Barrineau, who manages the Old Hickory Kmart, says the retailer has not decided on the stores it will close.
"I think that list you've got is inaccurate," says Barry Barrineau, Old Hickory store manager. "It hasn't been approved by the courts yet."
Barrineau referred further comments to company headquarters, where no one was available for comment.
Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Jan. 22 after struggling for years against more powerful and successful rivals Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) and Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT). Troubles mounted in recent months as Kmart's credit rating was repeatedly downgraded and it issued lower-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings. On Jan. 21, major supplier Fleming Cos. stopped shipping goods to Kmart after the retailer stopped making payments, a move some credit as tipping Kmart over the bankruptcy edge.
Analysts have been openly speculating how many stores Kmart will shutter, with estimates everywhere between 200 and 600 stores nationwide. Kmart officials were reported as saying they would announce store closings by the end of the first quarter of 2002.
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