Grocery Outlet Is Replacing Our Beloved Kmart. Two Mysterious Stores Yet To Be Announced.

The former Kmart in Big Bear Lake, dormant for two years, is slated to become home to three stores, with a Grocery Outlet set to take the center position. Wood Investments Cos., a Newport Beach-based developer and property investor, paid $6.5 million for the 80,800-square-foot shopping center in late December 2022. Though the company wouldn't name the other two tenants, they said that a "soft goods retailer" has already signed a lease for 23,228 square feet, and that a third tenant is in lease negotiations for the remaining 25,000 square feet. The news has been met with enthusiasm from the locals, who are keen to have access to houseware and clothing items in the town of boasting 7 million yearly visitors, 15,000 permanent inhabitants, and around 8,000 vacation homeowners. Though the adjacent shopping strip, which includes a Subway sandwich shop, was not included in the property sale, Wood Investments said it expects to start construction on the building in late 2023, with an expected opening in March 2024. The closure of the former Kmart was part of a larger collapse for the company, which shuttered 33 other stores that year, including six in California. Transformco bought the assets of Sears Holdings in 2019 and closed all of its stores except three (in Miami, New Jersey, and New York) in the following years. To learn more about Grocery Outlet, click here. Sources: https://www.sbsun.com/2023/05/09/former-kmart-in-big-bear-getting-split-into-3-stores-with-grocery-outlet-anchor/ https://www.bigbearchamber.com/relocate-your-business/