Bluelight Specials are Back

Attention Kmart shoppers! The retailer is bringing back its famous “Bluelight Specials.”

A bluelight special, for those who have never had the pleasure of rushing to an aisle after one starts, is when blue lights suddenly flash in store aisles while sirens blast, alerting shoppers to a surprise 15 minute-long sale.

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The deals are usually steals. “Ran into a bluelight special today at my local Kmart,” shopper Barbara Lacefield wrote on Kmart’s Facebook page. “$40 lawn chairs and chaises on blue light for $5.”

Why Blue is Back
Kmart is trying to rebound from a slump of gigantic proportions. While it raked in $37 billion in sales in its 2000 fiscal year with 2,165 stores, last year the brand registered a comparatively paltry $12.1 billion in sales in 979 stores — the rest of the locations have closed.

That’s a 67 percent drop in 15 years. During the same period, sales by its competitor Target nearly doubled to $72.6 billion.

Sears spokesman Howard Riefs (Sears is a sister company of Kmart) has said the company remains focused on returning Kmart to “profitability and relevancy” by clarifying its brand, enhancing customer relationships and improving operational effectiveness.

It remains to be seen whether the return of the blue light will ramp up the struggling retailer’s fortunes.

“Attention Kmart shopper! Do you really think this will work?” Twitter user Thabo Hermanus asked Sunday, using the hashtags #bluelight #Kmart.

Ode to the Past
The Bluelight Specials bring with them a heavy dose of nostalgia. They started in 1965 as a way to get rid of slow-moving merchandise, and continued up until 1991. The blue light has made reappearances here and there throughout the years, but is now back in an effort to improve sales at the retail chain.

Kmart research has shown shoppers remember the Bluelight Specials fondly.

“I remember the blue light specials from childhood,” said Christy Tingle Kaufman on Facebook. “My dad would jokingly say, “Let’s go sit in the snack bar and wait for a blue light special.”

Today’s bluelight specials will also be on the Internet.