The closure of Taft’s Kmart store this spring will have a major impact on the small community southwest of Bakersfield, according to residents.
Sears Holdings Inc., which owns both Kmart and Sears, has announced it is closing 103 stores by April, including the Kmart in Taft located on Gardner Field Road. With the Kmart being the only large store in town, it’s closure is expected to hurt the local economy in multiple ways.
“It’s going to be a huge loss to us,” said Kathy Orrin, executive director of the Taft Chamber of Commerce. “It brings in the most sales tax revenue in the community, not to mention we will be losing jobs. It’s devastating.”
Orrin said many residents already shop on a somewhat frequent basis in Bakersfield when they have other matters there, such as a doctor appointment. With the closure of Kmart, she expects that people will shop more frequently in Bakersfield, which would further harm the economy of Taft.
However, some residents don’t have the option to go to Bakersfield, Orrin said.
“For many of our citizens, especially our aging population and those of us who don’t have good transportation, it’s a problem,” she said. “Those people are going to be very impacted. They’re going to feel this the most.”
Local resident Jan Ashley said she plans to do more shopping in Bakersfield once the store closes.
“I’m fortunate that I work and have a car,” she said. “I feel sorry for people who can’t get into Bakersfield. They’re in between a rock and a hard place. They’re going to have to get someone to pick things up for them in Bakersfield.”
Orrin said such residents could take a bus to Bakersfield, although she said that option would be time-intensive and could be costly.
“They’re going to have to get smart about the bus. That’s going to be a learning curve for a lot of folks,” she said.
Residents would still have the option of getting some of their necessities from stores such as Albertsons, Rite Aid and Dollar Tree in Taft. However, Orrin said merchandise might be more costly and there might be less of a selection compared to Kmart.
Orrin said she’s concerned that once Kmart closes its doors, the shopping center it anchors might empty out soon after, since the store would no longer be there to drive traffic. A Dollar Tree is located in the center, as well as a couple local businesses.
“I want to see if the shopping center become ghost town,” she said.
Orrin said more people may choose to shop online rather than going into Bakersfield to shop.
“I’ve seen an increase of delivery trucks in our town,” she said. “Online shopping is alive and well. We’re going to see more of that, but that doesn’t really help Taft.”
Another aspect of the Kmart closure that won’t help Taft is the loss of jobs. The store declined to say how many people are employed there.
“It’s going to make the economy even worse,” Ashley said. “Even if it’s only 20 or 30 people who lose their jobs, those are people that are going to suffer and may have to apply for unemployment [benefits]. There’s not a lot of jobs around here. They’ll probably have to go to Bakersfield.”
Ashley said it’s unfortunate that the closure is happening as the town is still growing.
“We finally get some new houses built here and a big business goes away,” she said. “It seems like we’re always going two steps forward, three steps back. It’s a struggle that a lot of small towns have. This is one more big chink in our armor.”
Orrin hopes that a business that offers general goods such as Kmart will take over the space. However, she’s not holding her breath.
“I would love a Walmart. It would be very successful,” she said. “I don’t really see it happening though. They would probably consider us too small of a town.”
The population of Taft was 9,373 as of 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.