Poplar Bluff will lose one of its top 10 retailers in the New Year.
The local Kmart is among more than 60 store closings announced Thursday by Sears Holdings as part of an effort to "right size" the company's store footprint.
The locations are expected to remain open through the holiday season and close in late January. Liquidation sales are set to begin as early as Monday, according to corporate officials.
Associates at the store referred questions today to corporate headquarters. No representative was available as of press time.
Kmart has consistently been among Poplar Bluff's top 10 sales tax collectors since opening in 1977.
It ranked ninth on the 2016 list.
In 2000, the store ranked second, behind Walmart Supercenter.
Kmart captured just over 4 percent of all sales tax collections at that time, slipping to just under 2 percent as of last year.
The closings will not impact the local Sears Hometown Store, which has separated from Sears Holdings.
"It's not going to effect us in any way," said Sears Hometown Store owner John Ross. "We've been an independent company, completely separate from Sears corporation, since 2012.
"We have been in the process during those years of creating our own company, with our own independent deals with different vendors," Ross said.
The Poplar Bluff Sears is among more than 700 locations under Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores LLC.
"I'm sorry to hear about Kmart. Everybody here feels badly for them," said Ross, who has owned the local Sears store for 21 years, but previously was a manager for Kmart stores in other parts of the country.
Sears Holdings said in a press release that it is continuing a strategic assessment of the productivity of its store base.
"In the process, as previously announced, we will continue to close some unprofitable stores as we transform our business model so that our physical store footprint and our digital capabilities match the needs and preferences of our members," corporate officials said.
The corporation has said eligible associates will receive severance and have the opportunity to apply for open positions at other Kmart and Sears stores.
Kmart originally occupied both sides of 950 N. Westwood Blvd., the former Hastings and Orscheln building.
The retailer relocated in 1990 to its current location at 2223 N. Westwood Blvd., according to city records.