GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — The Kmart department store, No. 9146, the only one left in Berkshire County, is slated to close by the end of the year. 

 

The BerkshireEdge reports that a Marshalls will take over Kmart's 24,000-square-foot location in the Barrington Plaza, owned by Kimco Realty. The department store's size was tiny compared to newer Big and Super Kmarts, Walmart Supercenters and Targets that often run between 90,000 and 190,000 square feet. 

 

Walmart's planning a 190,000 square foot super center in Pittsfield, similar in size to the one it opened several years ago in North Adams.

 

The Business Insider reported Monday that Sears Holdings Corp. will close another 64 stores in 28 states. This follows July's reports that some 80 Kmarts and Sears would close across the country. Kmart's locations have dropped from 1,300 stores in 2012 to 870 today. 

 

There were Kmarts at one point in North Adams and Pittsfield but both have been closed for years. There's still a Kmart on Kocher Drive in Bennington, Vt.

 

The 117-year-old company, formed as Kresge Corp. at the turn of the last century, has been struggling over the past decade. It bought Sears in 2005 for $11 billion just three years after filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy; last week, it reported a drop in cash and equivalents of nearly 80 percent in the last year. Moody's questioned the future viability of the chain.