Retail Roundup: Kmart to lay off 85 workers when West Babylon store closes

Sears Holdings will lay off 85 workers when the Kmart store in West Babylon closes in early September, according to a state WARN notice.

When the company announced on May 31 it would close 63 Sears and Kmart stores nationwide, it said the number of employees affected was not available.

The Hoffman Estates, Illinois-based retailer did not respond to inquiries about how many workers would be laid off at the West Babylon store, or the number of layoffs nationwide and in New York State.

We now know that 85 employees will be laid off at the West Babylon store, courtesy of the company’s state-mandated filing of a WARN notice under the state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.  The store will close Sept. 2, according to the notice.

The WARN notice was posted on the New York state Department of Labor’s website Thursday but filed May 31, the same day the layoffs were announced.

Retail Roundup is a new column about major retail news on Long Island — store openings, closings, expansions, acquisitions, etc. — that will be published online and in the Monday paper. To read more Retail Roundup, click here. If you have news to share, please send an email to Newsday reporter Tory N. Parrish at tory.parrish@newsday.com.