Ocean State Job Lot Eyeing Major Vernon Vacancy

VERNON, CT — Ocean State Job Lot has shown interest in occupying part of the vacant KMart building in Vernon, local ecomomic development officials confirmed Monday.

Discussions on a lease have been ongoing for weeks, Vernon Economic Development Coordinator Shaun Gately said Monday, citing conversations with the property owner. The building measures 80,000 square feet and Ocean State would occupy half of that, he said.

Gately said it is impossible to pinpoint a timetable for opening because of volatility created by coronavirus precations. He did say the owners "want to do do everything to make it happen."

The KMart plaza is located at 295 Hartford Turnpike, the local address for that section of state Route 30. The KMart store itself closed a year ago this month amid financial woes experience by its corporate parent, Sears Holdings.

Town Fair Tire, the Ann & Hope curtain and bath outlet and a Salvation Army store currently anchor the plaza.

Wang's Buffet mysteriously closed, re-opened and closed again over the past several months.

Sears Holdings also closed a Sears Hardware years ago at the adjacent Stop & Shop plaza. That building remains without a tenant.

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