By Randy Tucker
The Cincinnati Enquirer

About 400 jobs are expected to be lost in Greater Cincinnati when Kmart Corp., the one-time king of discount stores in America, completes its latest round of store closings.

The Troy, Mich.-based retailer announced last week that it would close 326 of its more than 1,800 stores, including five in Greater Cincinnati, eliminating more than 37,000 jobs nationwide.

The store closings in Cold Spring, Columbia Township, Delhi Township, Lebanon and Sharonville are intended to help the struggling discount chain reduce losses as it strives to climb out of bankruptcy by the end of April. Kmart became the largest U.S. retailer to file for bankruptcy protection last January, following a disappointing 2001 holiday sales season.

But while the store closings might be necessary for the good of the company, they could mean hard times for displaced Kmart workers in the Tristate, some experts say.

"Most retailers aren't expecting to see much improvement until the second half of the year, and they're not going to hire any more people than they need to until things improve,'' said Kenneth Dalton, and independent retail consultant in Chicago.

Another dismal holiday season, another poor earnings quarter and the realization among most retailers that they must keep costs under control to turn their companies around have already contributed to widespread job losses in the retail industry.

A recent employment report from the U.S. Commerce Department showed that job losses in December ran at the fastest pace in almost a year, with more than 104,000 job losses in the retail sector alone.

But most of those losses came from three sectors: restaurants, grocery stores and auto dealers.

Richard Castellini, a spokesman for the online job search company Careerbuilder.Com, said he's optimistic about the job prospects for displaced Kmart workers.

While all retail sectors have struggled, discounters remain the most healthy of the bunch, as consumers concerned about the sluggish economy and possible war with Iraq continue to focus on price.

In fact, Kmart's chief competitors, Wal-Mart and Target, could be the future employers of many displaced Kmart workers, Mr. Castellini said.

"The Targets and Kmarts of the world continue to grow, and Kmart workers are in a good position'' to land jobs there, Mr. Castellini said.

He said Careerbuilder.com has an exclusive agreement with Kmart to help displaced workers find jobs at its Web site, which is affiliated with the Gannett, Tribune and Knight Ridder newspaper companies. Gannett Co. Inc. is the parent company of the Enquirer.

"We will be set up in kiosks at each and every one of the Kmart stores with computers that will allow displaced workers to search the Careerbuilder Web site for jobs,'' Mr. Castellini said. "Kmart was very interested in us developing articles and information to help their employees in their job search. They're not happy about having to make these store closings, but they had to make some tough decisions.''

Kmart will seek U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval at a Jan. 28 hearing for its latest round of store closings and expects the store closings to finish about 60 days after that.

The impact on the local work force will likely be greater in places such as Texas and Florida, where Kmart will close 54 and 25 stores, respectively.

E-mail rtucker@enquirer.com