Old Time Pottery will open its first Jacksonville area store in the Kmart on Blanding Boulevard at Kingsley Avenue in Orange Park. Kmart is currently liquidating its merchandise and is expected to close in October, said Nancy Sumner, a leasing agent with The Shopping Center Group. But no exact date has been set.
Old Time Pottery is expected to open next summer, she said. The lease was signed in June, Sumner said, and the liquidation of Kmart started soon after.
The discount home decor store will take the entire 84,180 square feet, she said. She is also looking for a tenant for an outparcel in the parking lot, up to 7,500 square feet on 1.5 acres, she said.
The entire parcel is 9.3 acres and owned by Sears Holding Co., the parent company of both Kmart and Sears.
Representatives of Old Time Pottery did not respond to phone calls, but the company’s website already lists store coming to 380 Blanding Blvd.
The chain is based in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and has 33 stores in 11 states with three more in the works. The closest to Jacksonville is in Central Florida.
The Kmart closing will leave that chain with only three stores in the area: San Jose Boulevard and Normandy Village Parkway in Jacksonville and Atlantic Boulevard in Neptune Beach.
Original article appeared here.