Update: The Bridgehampton Kmart closed on October 20, 2024. At the time of its closing, it was the last full-size Kmart on the U.S. mainland.
When this story was originally written in 2023, the Bridgehampton store was a strange survivor: a full-size Kmart still operating in the middle of the Hamptons long after most of the chain had disappeared.
A retail time capsule in Bridgehampton
The store stood out partly because of its surroundings. Bridgehampton is better known for expensive real estate, boutiques and seasonal crowds than for an old-school discount department store. Kmart offered something much less glamorous: everyday merchandise, familiar aisles and a retail experience that felt transported from an earlier era.
That familiarity was also why the store attracted so much attention. It was not simply another Kmart. By its final years, it had become one of the clearest physical reminders of a chain that once operated more than 2,000 stores.
The end came in October 2024
The Bridgehampton location closed on October 20, 2024. Its shutdown ended the run of full-size Kmart stores on the mainland United States.
That makes the original story more interesting as a historical snapshot than as a current shopping guide. The store did survive far longer than most of the chain. It just did not survive forever.
For the closure timeline, see Associated Press coverage of the final days of the Bridgehampton Kmart.
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