Local Kmart to Shut Doors

ANAHEIM—A Kmart store here will be among 72 shuttered by the nation’s third-largest retailer as it downsizes in order to compete with the likes of Target Stores Inc., Wal-Mart and the big home improvement chains.The local store is a Super Kmart at 1095 S. Pullman Ave., which employs 148 workers. A regular Kmart is located nearby on Katella Avenue. Kmart will try to move as many employees as possible to the other store as possible, company officials say. The store closures, scheduled to occur on Nov. 1, will affect a total of 5,000 employees. The retail chain is in the middle of year-long plan to build its presence on the Internet as well as renovate and open new stores. Kmart, which earned $403 million on revenue of $35.9 billion in fiscal 1999, operates 2,171 stores.