A road map for Kmart's future plans

Just look at all the Ks on the map.

At first glance, the Tampa Bay area may provide plenty of choices as the discount giant that filed for bankruptcy protection Wednesday looks for stores to close.

Counting all the locations it lists in the five counties of the bay area, Kmart has 28 stores, more than its more-prosperous rivals Wal-Mart (with 25) and Target (with 12.)

But it's harder to guess where Kmart may close stores in the months ahead. One possibility: the many neighborhoods where Kmart confronts its competitors' stores within a mile or two.

"In suburban and rural areas, Wal-Mart is pounding Kmart into the ground," said Burt Flickinger III, a retail consultant. "In those areas, Kmart stores will largely go dark."

Kmart officials will evaluate over the next three months which of its 2,114 stores nationally will be closed. They will say only that they will base their decisions on store profitability. But other factors usually come into play in such decisions.

One of Kmart's strengths may turn out to be its relative lack of competition in some urban areas across the country, including southern Pinellas County. Kmart, which was entrenched in the market in the 1970s, long had those areas to itself because Wal-Mart and Target didn't arrive until the mid- to late 1980s.

Wal-Mart built its strength in rural areas first, while Target headed straight for the newer suburbs. The late-arriving chains have had trouble finding large enough locations and have faced resistance from neighborhood organizations in urban areas.

In terms of customer traffic, much has changed because of the discount stores' deployment.

In 1993, 62 percent of Tampa Bay area shoppers had been in a Kmart in the past 30 days, according to the Scarborough Report. Wal-Mart had 58 percent and Target had 33 percent.

By 2001, 65 percent of shoppers had been in a Wal-Mart, 38 percent in a Target. Kmart's customer traffic had slipped by 11 percentage points to 51 percent.

-- Information from the New York Times was used in this report.

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