Attention shoppers: Kmart’s blue light special in Lawrence is about to end for good.

Lawrence’s Kmart store at 3106 Iowa is among the 326 stores that the Detroit-based retailer plans to close later this year in an effort to emerge from bankruptcy, the company announced Tuesday.

Kmart officials also announced plans to close a distribution center in Texas but did not announce any changes to the company’s distribution center in Lawrence, which employs about 450 people and is one of the 10 largest private employers in the city.

The company hopes the closings, which will eliminate 30,000 to 35,000 jobs in 44 states and Puerto Rico, will allow the company to leave Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by the end of April.

“We don’t want to remain in bankruptcy a day longer than necessary,” Kmart chief executive James Adamson said.

No definite date for when the Lawrence store would close was released by the company. But in a press release Kmart officials said the store closing plan must receive approval at a Jan. 28 hearing from the bankruptcy judge overseeing the case.

If approved, officials said store liquidation sales would begin shortly thereafter. Employees at some stores across the country were told to expect the closings to happen in 60 to 70 days, according to a report by the Associated Press.

Shopper reaction

Officials at Kmart’s corporate headquarters didn’t return phone calls seeking more details about the closings. Kmart officials also did not release the number of Lawrence employees who would lose their jobs. Several employees at the Lawrence store also declined comment.

Shoppers at the Lawrence store, which opened in 1974, had mixed emotions about the news Tuesday afternoon.

“I don’t think one company should sell everything,” John Stevens, a Lawrence resident, said. “Wal-Mart already seems to be selling everything, and this will just make it worse. Less competition means higher prices.”

Hundreds of Kmart stores around the country will close later this year to help the company get out of bankruptcy, including the Lawrence store, above, at 3106 Iowa.

Brandon Wiggins, another Lawrence resident, said he saw the closing coming.

“I personally like Wal-Mart better anyway,” Wiggins said. The Kmart “return policy and their service just never seemed to be as good. That may be part of the problem.”

Job search

Cheryl White, a manager at the Lawrence Job Service Center, said she expected the number of people to lose their jobs would be significant. For comparison purposes, the Lawrence Wal-Mart store employs about 300 people.

“I suspect they hire a lot of students and part-time workers, but I’m sure there will be some people who are losing a full-time job as well,” White said.

And now may not be the best time for people in the retail field to search for work, she said, because many stores recently released seasonal workers hired to help for the holiday rush. That means there may be a large pool of people searching for retail work.

If displaced retail workers can hold out for the next few months, the market may improve, White said, because of planned openings by other large retailers such as Home Depot and Best Buy. Both stores are under construction on the northeast corner of 31st and Iowa streets. Home Depot officials hope to open their store by May, and Best Buy hopes to open during the fall.

Redevelopment planned

About 118,000 square feet, the Kmart store is the largest single development in the Pine Ridge Plaza Shopping Center at 31st and Iowa Streets. Kmart leases the space from a group of Kansas City-area developers who purchased the shopping center in July.

¢ 6News video: Lawrence Kmart to closeFrom Kmart:¢ Kmart list of latest store closings¢ Kmart press release on store closingsPast stories:¢ Analysts wary of Kmart plan (10-22-02)¢ Bankrupt Kmart’s troubles seem to be mounting (5-04-02)¢ Kmart still mum on future of center (4-23-02)

Jodi Belpedio, an agent with Rubenstein Real Estate who represents the owners, said the closing did not come as a surprise.

“We bought the property because we thought it was great real estate, and we don’t think this changes that. We’re definitely going to look at redevelopment, and we think we’ll end up improving the overall development.”

Belpedio said the property owners would pursue several “large box or junior tenant” national retailers to occupy the space. She declined to name any potential tenants.

“It is obvious there are a number of retailers who have wanted to be in Lawrence but haven’t been able to enter the market, so we’ll be in touch with those companies,” Belpedio said.

The last major retailer to close on South Iowa Street was Payless Cashways in 2001, and that 86,000 square-foot building is still vacant.

Belpedio and other area real estate agents said they thought the Kmart property would attract more interest from potential tenants because it has better access than the Payless site.

“That property still has a lot going for it because the 31st and Iowa intersection is still real strong and all the development that has happened around it has made it even stronger,” Kelvin Heck, a Lawrence real estate agent with Grubb & Ellis/The Winbury Group, said.

Tough competition

The company last year after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection closed 283 stores and cut 22,000 jobs but still racked up losses of more than $2 billion.

The latest round of cutbacks will reduce the number of Kmart stores to about 1,500 and its work force to 200,000 employees.

Retail experts Tuesday were still not sure the changes would be enough to save the retailer, which pioneered the blue-light special and introduced Martha Stewart styles to the masses.

“I think they have to get beyond lean and mean. They’ve got to get small, real small,” said Anthony Sabino, associate professor of business at St. John’s University.

The Associated Press contributed information to this story.