Post Office Express inside Carson Kmart to close and not relocate

The Post Office Express inside the Carson Super Kmart Center will close Feb. 23 with no plans for relocation, postal officials announced Tuesday.

Customers who appreciated the north Carson City retail post office being open seven days a week were disappointed by the news.

"I think it's terrible," said Roby Hightower of Carson City. "That's a pretty strong word, but that's the way I feel."

Irita Traquina, 45, of Carson City, said she regularly visits the post office because it is less crowded than the main office on Roop Street. She said she hoped the express office would relocate after hearing of Kmart's decision to close its supercenter in the next few months.

The post office closure "was the one thing I was hoping wasn't going to happen," Traquina said.

Carson Postmaster Doug Hval said officials with the U.S. Postal Service in Nevada explored options before deciding to close the office and not relocate it. He would not say whether the decision was based on economics or any other reason.

The main Carson City post office at 1111 S. Roop St. will expand its hours to include Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. beginning March 1 and provide all of its weekday services. The second full-service office at 2613 Empire Ranch Road is also new and will help customers after the closure, Hval said.

"We're confident we'll be able to continue to provide services," He said.

Kmart Corp. announced its intention to close the Carson Kmart store Jan. 14. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2002. The Carson store was one of 326 U.S. stores on the company's latest list of closures.

Kmart on Friday filed its plan of reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Illinois and, on Monday, began a series of hearings in the Chicago courtroom of Judge Susan Sonderby.

As part of its filing Friday, Kmart disclosed evidence it said demonstrated that former Kmart managers had "violated their stewardship responsibilities to Kmart, its employees and stakeholders." Ten former corporate managers were fired, the company's president, Julian Day, said.