The date has been set for the closure of a popular Kmart store — dubbed “the best” by locals.
In July, Kmart Australia announced its decision to close its Port Adelaide store in South Australia, leaving locals stunned and angry.
It’s now been confirmed May 25, 2024, will be closing day.
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“We can confirm that Kmart Port Adelaide will continue to trade until mid-next year and close on May 25, 2024,” a Kmart spokesperson told 7NEWS.com.au.
“We want to thank the Port Adelaide community for their continued support over many years.
“There will be no changes to the store until early next year to support customers with the products they need through the busy Christmas period.
“Our focus remains on supporting our Port Adelaide team and we are confident that we will have high rates of redeployment in nearby Kmart stores, with all permanent team members being offered like-for-like roles.”
More than 100 team members were reported to be affected by the closure.
Many locals voice their disappointment over the news on social media, with many saying the store was always busy and popular with many people.
“Whaaaat? It was the best one — always had whatever you wanted in stock, unlike others,” one Reddit user said.
Another wrote: “I’m surprised as it still seems to be quite busy.”
A third said: “There’s always lots of shoppers and people going through the checkout.”
Another wrote: “Going to be a few unhappy older residents,” to which someone else replied: “I’m unhappy and I’m not even old!”
One insider said Kmart staff were rattled by the unexpected news.
“This announcement was as sudden as it sounds, team members — including all store managers — were told just yesterday,” one Reddit user claimed.
“There’s a weird feeling among the team. There’s so many older workers here who’ve been at the store for 30 to 40 years who are rightfully shocked.”
Another pointed out the Port Adelaide store — located inside Port Adelaide Plaza shopping centre — was popular because its registers were still at the front of the store.
Several years ago, Kmart controversially moved its checkouts to the centre of stores — drawing criticism from some.
“One of the few stores in Adelaide to still have the older, and better, layout (incl. registers at the front),” one shopper noted.
“Makes sense now why it didn’t get upgraded with the rest of the mall.”
Another said: “The new layout is puzzling and irritating. Seems to be changed just to fit some sort of soft touch customer type idea or something, instead of what actually makes sense.”
7NEWS.com.au understands Kmart regularly reviews its store network. In this particular area, Kmart has a number of nearby stores to support its Adelaide customers.
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