Kmart is closing stores because of the company's poor management at the corporate level. I don't think it has much to do with online shopping.
"Sears is starving from a dozen-year underinvestment in stores and merchandising; an ongoing shakeup of senior ranks; and the spin-off of various assets to boost its liquidity–from Sears Canada and chunks of real estate to most recently, its iconic Craftsman tools brand to Stanley Black and Decker, a move that squandered what little brand equity it had left. Meanwhile, Kmart failed to carve a distinct reason for being among discount brethren Wal-Mart, the low price juggernaut, and Target, champion of chic cheap."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/barbar...closings-and-survival-prospects/#10a2a1125d02
Our K-Mart is not closing (so far). The business it does at its pharmacy is keeping it profitable. Period. My son works there, and the store manager showed him the figures for sales, profit and number of customers for the retail side v. the pharmacy side. It is like a wasteland. When I go there it creeps me out, and has for years. It is old, not been spiffed up in the 8 years I've lived here, and for many years before that. It looks dirty (I think that's because it needs new flooring, paint, and better lighting). I am always the only customer (except for the pharmacy). Meanwhile, Target, Walmart, Sam's Club, Kohls, and Big Lots are always full of customers.
Kmart bought Sears in 2005.
http://money.cnn.com/2004/11/17/news/fortune500/sears_kmart/ Things continued to go downhill for both Sears and Kmart. Lands End, which suffered a decline in the quality of their products after Sears bought them, has also had a tough time. "A telling fact about Lands' End brand erosion: Sears bought the company for $1.9 billion in 2002. Nowadays, its market value is around $773 million."
http://fortune.com/2015/07/27/lands-end-marchionni-strategy/
It astonishes me that in our small town we have all the stores listed above. This is a small town, low-to-lower middle class. There is nothing to do here except go to a movie (one chain theater), go bowling (except on Sunday), go to the library (except on Sunday), or go shopping. The mall is always empty - even the Christmas traffic has been very low for 8 years. The resurgence in mall traffic this year is due to only one store -- Rural King. They give out free popcorn, which is the first thing people say about it. RK also has no competition. The similar small local chain closed this year because the elderly owner's kids didn't want to run it and he couldn't find a buyer. That was sad ... stores were busy and well-stocked with a large variety of merchandise.
The retail landscape is changing, and I think online sales are a factor, but not the main one. So many stores are alike. When my kids were in high school, certain clothing stores were popular. They were all alike, except for the store's name emblazoned on the clothing. The discount stores are alike, too (except for Kmart, which has not kept up). The department stores sell the same merchandise at our mall. There is a glut of retail companies and some of them will have to fall by the wayside.
The economy is also a factor. There are a lot of people who don't have money to spend on things they don't need. There are also a lot of people who comparison shop to save money. (And there are some of us who dislike shopping *and* clutter ....)
But mostly, I think the stores that are closing are victims of mismanagement. It is easy to blame it on online shopping. I think it is a factor that becomes stronger every year, but these problems were a long time coming and it is not the main factor, especially for Kmart and Sears.
"Further illustrating the growth of e-commerce, a new study published by the
Pew Research Center found that nearly 80 percent of Americans do at least some shopping on the internet, with 43 percent shopping online "weekly" or "a few times a month."
https://www.usnews.com/news/article...es-booming-is-brick-and-mortar-on-the-way-out
I do a lot of my shopping online. Being anti-clutter, this means mostly books. I read e-books (and borrow many of them from the library or get them free on Amazon). My husband buys new hardcovers by favorite authors, but price check and buy them used (Abebooks.com usually) or new from Amazon. IMO, the downfall of book retailers was the harbinger of things to come in the general retail environment.
Buying online saves time and gas, and is often cheaper than going to a bricks-and-mortar store. It also saves frustration -- I don't want to go from store to store looking for what I need, and when I get there, I don't want to waste time looking at tons of similar products to find the item I want. I don't feel guilty about it at all.
When I want something from Home Depot or Lowes, I check their sites first. Like you, I have often found I could only get it online. So, I order it for free store pickup. If it's not what I expected, I can return it on the spot.
