The final full-size Kmart in the nation will be replaced by a new Target shop on the East End in the Hamptons.
Following Kmart’s store closure on October 20, the Minneapolis-based business will occupy the 89,935-square-foot location in the Bridgehampton Commons shopping mall located at 2044 Montauk Highway in Bridgehampton.
For some time, Target had been planning to open a store in the Hamptons. According to sources in the real estate sector, the chain purchased the Bridgehampton Kmart lease from its owner, Transformco, a few years ago in preparation for Kmart’s closure. The terms of the agreement have not been made public.
Target will join the 61,892-square-foot King Kullen grocery as a co-anchor of the 304,959-square-foot Bridgehampton Commons complex. The tenant roster also includes TJ Maxx, Staples,
“We are constantly evaluating potential store locations to serve new guests, but I don’t have any new-store news to share at this time,” a Target representative said in response to a request for comment regarding the new Bridgehampton location.
Regarding the new Target shop, a representative for Kimco Realty, a Jericho-based company that owns Bridgehampton Commons, likewise declined to comment.
Target is been expanding even though several big-box locations have been closing. Nine additional stores will open this month, according to the publicly traded corporation, which now has over 1,950 locations in the United States. On Long Island, the chain operates 20 locations, including both full-size and small-format stores. The closest one to Bridgehampton is located 23 miles away in Riverhead.
Although a small Kmart in Miami will continue to operate, the Bridgehampton Kmart is the brand’s only full-size location in the continental United States. Additionally, Kmart continues to run a few smaller locations in the US Virgin Islands and Guam.
When Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2002, it declared it would close more than 250 of its more than 2,000 locations in the United States. Following its bankruptcy recovery, Kmart and Sears amalgamated in 2005, resulting in roughly 3,500 stores for the new firm, Sears Holdings. However, Sears Holdings started closing stores after filing for Chapter 11 in 2018.
Transformco was established in 2019 under the leadership of hedge fund executive Edward Lampert, who paid $5.2 billion to acquire the remaining Sears and Kmart properties. The business shut down hundreds more locations in the years that followed.
With the permitting process still ongoing, the new Target in Bridgehampton is probably not going to open until late next year or early 2026.
