Kmart on Tuesday said it has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and would close underperforming stores. Analysts have predicted that between 300 and 700 of the company's 2,100 stores, most of which are leased, will be shuttered.

There is some precedent that the locations qiuckly could find takers. When Montgomery Wards filed for bankruptcy and closed four Portland locations, Target quickly picked up two of the locations, at Mall 205 and Jantzen Beach, Home Depot picked up the company's Beaverton location and Meier & Frank picked up a portion of the company's location at Clackamas Town Center.

Some local brokers say rising retail vacancies, high unemployment and a stricter lending environment may slow the trading of local Kmart locations that are shuttered. As well, they say some of the locations are old enough that they may have to be razed and redeveloped, which could further complicate matters. Others say retailers not yet in the Portland market, or those already here and doing well, may snap up available locations and sit on them until the market improves, given that the region's urban growth boundary has left little raw land available for development in the right locations.