Kmart in Presque Isle to Close Down

One of the original anchor stores for 25 years at the Aroostook Centre Mall in Presque Isle will shut down this summer. Kmart, in recent years owned by a beleaguered Sears Holdings corporation, will join the former Sears anchor store at the Star City shopping mall in closure. 

Sears Holdings, the Illinois-based company that owns Kmart and Sears, had announced 68 closures on April 21. Presque Isle's Kmart store

has been added, slated for an August closure.

Howard Riefs, director of corporate communications, says more than 70 stores are now on the list, but Presque Isle is the only one in Maine. The five other Kmart locations in Maine are Bangor, Augusta, Auburn, Madawaska, and Waterville.

The Sears store at the Aroostook Centre Mall closed in 2014.

The Presque Isle Kmart employees will be offered severance pay and invited to apply for open positions at other Sears or Kmart stores.

Liquidations sales will get underway May 19.