Kmart, a longtime anchor tenant in the Bridgehampton Commons, has hired the liquidator Eldon W. Gottschalk & Associates to handle the sale of the store contents in advance of the store's permanent closure on Oct. 20.
The sale began on Saturday and on Sunday between 11:30 a.m., but around noon the parking lot was nearly empty and foot traffic into the store was slow.
"First, I don't know how they stayed open so long," one shopper, Roxanne Panero, said as she entered. "Second, I shop in her all the time, and they will be missed."
Another shopper, Andrea Cox, who learned about the sale when she saw a car by the Bridgehampton Citarella advertising it, guessed that the new tenant is "probably going to be a Target. Do I really want that? Not necessarily," she said. Growing up in East Hampton, she remembered it as the "store to go to" for electronics and other items.
Another shopper asked a reporter, "Can you make it a Target?"
Target's corporate representatives have yet to respond to an inquiry about whether they would move into the space. Nor did Kimco Realty, the real estate investment trust that manages the Bridgehampton Commons. A Kimco representative said Monday morning that the company was preparing a statement for the press.
The Bridgehampton Kmart was one of only two remaining in the United States, and the largest. A smaller Kmart in Miami remains open. In 2023, the third remaining Kmart in New Jersey closed.