The Kmart store located on Shotwell Street in Bainbridge is slated to close in May.

Local officials informed the 68 associates employed at the store during a meeting on Wednesday.

Kim Freely, a spokesperson for Sears Holding Corp., the parent company of Kmart, confirmed the store closing sale will begin on Feb. 21 and continue through the store’s closing on May 9.

Freely indicated that the Bainbridge location is one of 13 Kmart stores, of the 1,300 nationwide, closing at this time because of “business reasons.”

Kmart was originally located across the street in the location where the Sears is currently located. It moved to its present location, at 1615 E. Shotwell St., in 1990.

Matt Palmer, the chairman of the Bainbridge-Decatur County Chamber of Commerce, was disappointed to hear of the closing.

“This is certainly disappointing news, not only from a retail perspective, but from the lost jobs due to the closing,” Palmer said. “The Chamber is committed to help fill the void left by the Kmart closing.”

In 2002, Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and more than two years later, emerged from bankruptcy, but it had closed 300 stores in the United States and laid off approximately 34,000 workers as part of restructuring the company. In 2004, Kmart announced its intention to purchase Sears, Roebuck and Company.