Do you remember going to Kmart and experiencing the "blue light specials?" You could literally stand in the store and wait until an employee rolled up a cart with a pole that went up a few feet above the average human head, which was topped with a flashing blue light similar to a police car beacon on top of a patrol car.
As soon as the light was flipped on, you'd hear an employee over the speakers in the store announce the new sale item, aka "the blue light special." Shoppers would scurry over to the half-price sale on tighty-whities, shampoo or slippers—whatever the store wanted to get rid of that day. It would last about 15 to 30 minutes and then the cart would move somewhere else in the store.
Kmart closed on Parleys Way in 2005 and was turned into a Walmart. The one on 900 East at 4900 South was bulldozed two years ago and in its place is a huge apartment complex. Well, the last full-sized Kmart in the U.S. has now closed in Bridgehampton, NY. There are still a few stores in Asia and a tiny version of it in Kendall, FL, but the retailer is basically kaput.
This isn't surprising, as the company failed to trend after Target entered the market with their groovy offerings. And they couldn't compete with Walmart's low prices. Plus, in the past decade, Amazon and its free home delivery to members has decimated brick-and-mortar options for big box retail shopping. More people are working from home and shopping online, rents for retail spaces are high, and it's hard to find workers in low-paying, blue-collar jobs.
Bed, Bath & Beyond disappeared from malls in 2023, when they closed the last of 900 stores nationwide. This year, Business Insider reports Walgreens is closing 1,200 stores after losing $8.6 billion last year.
Family Dollar is closing 1,000 stores. CVS has a three-year plan to close 900 stores and eliminate 2,900 corporate jobs. Big Lots has concluded with the close of 500 of its locations, and Denny's will close 150 locations.
The 7-11 chain is shuttering 444 stores and has been bought out by a Japanese firm. They have had lower sales due to a reduction in SNAP benefits and flavored nicotine bans that had previously created a lively cash flow for the company.
The Walgreens and CVS failures are mainly due to prescription pricing wars and who controls the pricing of medications. There are hundreds of small pharmacies that have closed around the country due to this really FUBAR system, and it's leaving retail deserts in big and small cities.
Sure, sometimes the little guys can't compete with the big guys, but it's very worrisome to see so many large retailers leave the landscape. On the other hand, Amazon's One Medical, Amazon Clinic and Amazon Care are providing such conveniences as virtual health care and same-day appointments for less than $50 a month.