State’s First Super Kmart Center May Be Constructed in La Habra : Retail: Store would open by the end of next year, employing 300 and generating $35 million annually in sales taxes.
LA HABRA — A Super Kmart Center that would be the first of its kind in California is being considered for La Habra, company and city officials said this week.
The super-store, which would employ 300 people and generate more than $35 million a year in sales tax revenue, would open by the end of 1994, according to plans still being negotiated. No further details will be announced until “everything’s final and construction begins,†said Dennis Wigent, manager of electronic communications for giant retailer Kmart at its Troy, Mich., headquarters.
In the meantime, the City Council and Redevelopment Agency in a joint meeting Monday agreed to buy the land owned by Nationwide Theaters Corp. at Idaho Street and Imperial Highway for $8.2 million and to offer the site to Kmart for $5.3 million.
“We’re just offering an incentive for them to come out here,†Councilman Juan M. Garcia said. “All we’re trying to do is make it more attractive.â€
A proposal for a 170,204-square-foot Super Kmart was unanimously approved by the council.
City Manager Lee Risner noted that about half a million people live within a 5-mile radius of the site in La Habra.
Kmart officials “have been negotiating the owner-partnership agreement,†he said, “so I have to assume that they’re highly interested.â€
Because negotiations are not yet final, Kmart’s Wigent said Tuesday, he cannot comment on the deal. “We think it’s a good site, and we think (a Super Kmart) would make money there. But nothing’s been decided yet.â€
Wigent said that Super Kmarts are about double the size of standard Kmarts, which average about 94,000 square feet. He said the La Habra store would be modeled after five others already operating: two in Ohio, one in Georgia, one in South Carolina and one in Mississippi. Three more--two in North Carolina and one in Ohio--are to open in July.
All of them sell not only general merchandise but also groceries and fast food.
“The super-store specializes in fresh produce, fresh meats and fresh fish and it will have a Chinese food take-out and salad bar carry-out plus a bakery,†Wigent said.
There are 187 Kmarts in California now, 14 of which are in Orange County.
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