Avenel Kmart closing, leaving only 1 in New Jersey, 1 in New York, and 1 in Florida

New Jersey will surrender the title of Kmart king.

Kmart employees at the Avenel store, near Rahway, were told the store will close next month. A Kmart worker on Friday said that the last day would be April 17.

New Jersey was the only state with two Kmarts still in existence after a long and painful decline for what was once the nation’s largest discount retail chain, The Inquirer reported last month. The other Kmart store is located in Westwood, in northern New Jersey.

Nationwide, there will be only one Kmart each in New Jersey, New York, and Florida after the Avenel store closes.

The Facebook page of Kmart and Sears fans reacted with sad and crying emojis as word spread over the last two days.

“At this point might as well close them all, this is extremely sad and pathetic,” said one Facebook poster. “One by one they’re all going,” said another.

At its peak in the 1990s, Kmart operated about 2,400 stores and employed 350,000 in the United States and Canada. Its brands once included PayLess Drug Stores, the Borders bookstore chain, and Sports Authority.

Kmart followers say that several Kmarts remain open in the U.S. territories.

“It’s amazing to remember that [Kmart] started out the same year as Walmart and Target in 1962. Kmart had its day but wasn’t able to define its market as clearly as the other two discounters,” Vicki Howard, author of From Main Street to Mall: The Rise and Fall of the American Department Store, told The Inquirer last month.

Kmart didn’t have the best bargains or style, Howard said, and if there is nostalgia for Kmart, it speaks to the “current state of affairs in terms of the retail apocalypse.”