The end of KMart?

Don M.

Don M.

SF VIP
Location
central Missouri
It appears that KMart may be on its "last legs". It has been struggling for years, and showing little or no signs of recovery. The few times I've visited one of those stores in recent years, it seems like a disorganized mess, and has only a few shoppers in the store. It's parent company, Sears, isn't doing much better...and were it not for the Craftsman tools, and Kenmore appliances, Sears would also be in dire trouble.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/kmart-workers-believe-stores-going-162400821.html
 

When I think of Kmart in our area...even thirty years ago...dirty, merchandise tossed every which way, and the reek of rancid popcorn butter. There are dollar stores way more cheerful than that.
 

The Kmart and Sears by me are still in pretty good shape and clean, but not that many shoppers, especially in the Sears store. Hate to see these stores disappear. :(
 
Dupe Murkland said:
Sears/Kmart should be relatively fine for awhile... The stock-price opened at 15-bux, shot to 16 around noon, then backed-off to close at $15.63. A profit od 63-cents per-day per-share is a good range. What's still attractive is the real estate Sears Holdings owns.

http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/SHLD
Click to expand...

I think the Christmas shopping season will tell the story for KMart. If they don't show major improvement during this peak retail season, next year will probably see closures of most of their stores. Sadly, Sears doesn't appear to be far behind, and may well go the way of Montgomery Wards in a few more years. Between Walmart, Target and online venues such as Amazon, marginally profitable retail stores are doomed.
 
For my dad, Sears was the go-to place for almost everything -- especially tools and appliances and such -- when I was a little kid I remember mom ordering all kinds of stuff from the Sears catalog. At Christmas, I'd go through the catalog and pick out a picture of the toy I wanted, which I'd include in my letter to Santa Claus.

IMHO, Sears since then has gone to hell in the proverbial handbasket. I almost never go there anymore, and when I have, it's been impossible to get any help. Here, you have a better chance of getting help in Wal-Mart (good luck with that) than you do in Sears. Their prices are too high, too. You can find the same things elsewhere for much less.

Sears sure took a wrong turn somewhere, and I doubt they'll last much longer, at least as brick and mortar stores. They'll probably go the way of Montgomery Ward.
 
Both K-marts closed here a few years ago. I guess Walmart drove them out of business. K-mart's prices were always higher. The Sears store is still hanging on. Sears has opened a few small stores just for tools, lawnmowers, appliances in some of the less populated areas.
 
K-Mart AND Sears - both failing businesses. They are already in dire trouble. Recasting Sears as a members club is a waste of time. And the value of their RE holdings? Less than people think. Big mall locations are becoming passe. Best Buy should sell itself to Amazon as a display store, since they know perfectly well 85% of their walk-ins go out the door, go home, and order on-line for the product they were just examining.

Most of our friends are either younger/college educated Gen Xers or just plain wealthier than we are. None of them shop at malls. They haven't done so since they were teenagers. Costco, Trader Joe's, Amazon - those are today's Gods of Business for young homeowners who are beginning their prime earning years. Wal-Mart is tolerated for children's stuff because the kids are going to either outgrow it or break it anyway.

Craftsman tools and Kenmore appliances mean nothing to them. Tools come from HDepot, Lowe's, or sometimes there's a decent-sized ACE hw store. Nobody wants a Kenmore stove; they want Wolf or Bluestar, maybe Thermador or Viking. If they can't afford that it's Electrolux or Samsung.

One thing about living in CA - you really do see how the trends are going to go across the nation in the next decade. Based on what we've seen out here over the last 45 yrs as adult consumers, Sears won't even last another decade.

This made interesting reading:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/326...assets-that-remain-after-the-real-estate-sale
"... If Sears's intention is to eventually vacate most of its physical retail locations, then I'd estimate that the value of the KCD brands and the Home Services and Protection business could fall another 70% or more from its current value.

Sears does have a lot of stores remaining, but the bulk of those stores are leased locations with minimal to negative value. Sears retains approximately 60% of its owned locations, but potentially only 35% of its top owned locations in the top 149 malls. It also has retail operations that threaten to relatively quickly burn through the cash it has recently raised, and unfunded pension obligations that are increasing. "
 
I hate those "clubs" and will not engage in any more store charge cards either, I've gotten rid of the couple I had. So, shopping at Sears is a rare occasion for me. Why do they think we all want to play those games? You want to buy something but they won't sell it to you for the sale price unless it's on their conditions?
 
Online shopping has certainly thrown the cat among the pigeons as far as retailers go. K Mart here is holding on but only because they have cheap Chinese merchandise for sale. Target is on the skids as are many other retailers. They had is so good for many years until people started buying online and became so much wiser about prices. Basically the only thing I buy at K Mart is underwear and a few clothing items but not much else.
 
I haven't been to Kmart in a long time. Why don't they lower their prices; I guess they can't afford to. lol. I can't remember the last thing I bought there.
 
Ruthanne said:
I haven't been to Kmart in a long time. Why don't they lower their prices; I guess they can't afford to. lol.
Click to expand...

Yes, Kmart went out of business here mostly because their prices got high it seemed. I used to shop there anyway because the stores were more convenient. Walmart ran them out.

Ruth, the last thing I bought there was probably underwear, too, but I bought a whole bunch of it, because I could see the handwriting on the wall with no customers in the store. So I'm good for a while. Ha!
 
I can't say for certain, but several years ago my son worked for Sears and they had this pyramid system. Upper management was paid well but sales associates earned very little. Like many other companies, they combined jobs and laid off people which often reflects stock prices. They would promote people without rewarding them in salary but gave them a title and a lot more responsibility. Again, this is an opinion but trying to do more with less in order to secure a bigger bonus (for upper management) eventually leads to a frequent turnover in employees, messy stores etc.--poor management. I think the end result affects business. I was in fairly recently and saw very few sales people. I just think a lot of the problem is in the management. They still have good products which is probably why they still remain open. KMart was in turmoil when they purchased it, it's a shame they couldn't make it work but yes, Walmart was a company that from the very beginning, threatened smaller businesses with unfair competition.
 
Sears has really gone to pot in the last few years, and is nothing like it once was. You can't get decent help (or ANY help) in the stores most of the time. I think their lousy treatment of employees and bad management will cause their ultimate closing. Pity -- Sears used to be the go-to place for a lot of things; not any more. If I want to be ignored by salespeople or find no salespeople at all, I'll just go to Wal-Mart.
 
How many people remember Kreges? K-Mart has a long history. S.S. Kresge started opening Krege stores around 1920. Kreges went to way side and the same corporation opened the first K-Mart in 1962, one month before the first WalMart opened. More and more shoppers are buying on line. For the big box stores left, they have to be appealing to shoppers and K-Mart stores for the most part have lost their appeal and are no longer competitive. They are still No. 3 behind WalMart and Target, but for how long? In 2005 the chain bought Sears, and as others have already noted, these stores have been losing their appeal ever sense as well. If K-Mart is number 3, just think of all of the people they employee. That should be the real concern.
 
I remember Kresge's well. There was a big one downtown here right across the street from Woolworth's back in the early 60s when I worked downtown. They were very similar, as I recall, and favorite places to walk around in during lunch hour.

I've never been a fan of K-Mart - to me, their stores have always had a sort of cheesy "crummy" feeling. I can't put my finger on the exact why of that, but it's a feeling I've just always gotten in their stores. Also for some unknown reason, I associate the smell of badly popped popcorn with K-Mart. Weird.
 
Sears stock is only where it is because they sold Craftsman off to Ace Hardware last week. At most they gained a reprieve through the holiday season. We have one Kmart left in the area. The store has been a dump for at least 15 years. The urban Ghetto model doesn't work all that well in whitebread NY.
 
I can't think of a K-Mart near me that is still open. Some of the Sears Stores also closed down. I hated to see them go. The nearest K-Mart was a nice clean store but never had many shoppers. I really don't know what the problem was.
 
In my small town,Kmart is the only game in town. We do have a very nice store,probably one of the last stores Kmart built. Over 100,000 sq. ft. (large for here) and it is very clean. When we lived in the SF Bay Area over 25 years ago,the Kmart store there was very dingy and dirty. This one is nothing like that. Still.their prices are higher than Walmart and they don`t have a lot of the items that Walmart does,so I still drive the 25 or so miles to Walmart frequently.
 

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