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More Kmart stores closing

Started by LM117, September 19, 2016, 06:00:32 PM

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thenetwork

Quote from: Roadrunner75 on January 05, 2017, 10:02:06 PM
Quote from: inkyatari on January 05, 2017, 04:46:42 PM
The hits keep coming...

Sears sells off Craftsman...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-05/stanley-to-buy-craftsman-brand-from-sears-for-about-900-million
Are they nuts?  Why not also stop selling appliances while they're at it, so people have absolutely no reason left to go to Sears. 

Problem #1 is, you can go to Ace Hardware (et,al..) to buy Craftsman products, and avoid the mall environment entirely.
Problem #2 is, like a lot of their hard line products over the years, their Kenmore, etc items are near (if not) exact replicas of famous name brand models -- they just slap a Kenmore logo on them.  IIRC, much of the Kenmore appliances are made by Whirlpool and/or Maytag.   Same thing when Atari first came out with the 2600 console and associated game cartridges, Sears sold them under their "Sears Telegames" brand for a few dollars less.   

The difference between then and now is then you bought the Sears-branded stuff because it was backed with a strong "Satisfaction Guaranteed" warranty, great service department or actual service center if repairs were ever needed, and in some cases you ordered it from home out of a catalog.  And the customer service back then was top notch.

Pretty much what made Sears stand out then versus other discount and department stores is long gone nowadays.   


LM117

“I don’t know whether to wind my ass or scratch my watch!” - Jim Cornette

wanderer2575

Quote from: inkyatari on January 05, 2017, 12:22:17 PM
Quote from: Brandon on January 05, 2017, 11:53:44 AM
Add to this u[rl=http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/04/here-are-68-of-the-100-stores-that-macys-will-close.html]Macy's cutting 68 stores[/url] at the same time.  Some are even in the same malls as the Sears stores closing.  I never saw much reason to spread the Macy's name everywhere.  It only had any cachet in the NYC area and the Bay Area.  Everywhere else really didn't give two shits about the Macy's name.  It meant nothing, and still means nothing to them.  As an aside, I thought Macy's and Gimbel's were made up names when I saw Miracle on 34th Street as a kid.

Seeing as you're from the Chicago area, you can understand the outrage when macy's killed the legendary Marshall Field's stores and replaced them with macy's


Similar to Detroiters' outrage when Marshall Field's killed the legendary Hudson's name.  Poetic justice, anyone?

SP Cook

Quote from: vdeane on January 05, 2017, 09:56:05 PM
Did they sell Craftsman, or lease it? 

Kinda both.  Since 2010 Craftsman tools have been mostly made in Asia and no longer carry the unlimited warranty.  Black and Decker is buying the brand name.  It can now make Craftsman tools wherever and Sears is retaining the right to both make and sell Craftsman tools for 15 years royality free. 

This means there will two unrelated sets of tools called "Craftsman", one sold at Sears and one sold elsewhere. 

I look for similar deals on Kenmore and Die Hard as the shutdown continues. 

kkt

15 years? Lucky if any Sears will still be open in 15 months.

Brandon

Quote from: kkt on January 06, 2017, 10:11:36 AM
15 years? Lucky if any Sears will still be open in 15 months.

It may be for the Sears Hardware & Appliance stores as well as the dealer stores.  I don't see the department stores surviving, but the others have a life outside the demise of the department stores.
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

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jp the roadgeek

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dcbjms

The South Attleboro, MA, K-Mart will be closing some time in early April because the strip mall it's located in jacked up the rental property prices and - lo and behold! - K-Mart can no longer afford to pay the fees.  Tis' a shame, really - it's one of the few remaining businesses left original to the strip mall.

Pete from Boston

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on January 05, 2017, 10:06:10 AM
Quote from: Pete from Boston on January 04, 2017, 05:30:11 PM
Re: Prodigy, this seemed to me to be the intended extension of Sears's non-core assets Dean Witter, Allstate, Coldwell Banker, and Discover.  The first three of these were clustered in financial service centers in many stores.  Prodigy was envisioned to be something promised a decade earlier and realized a decade later–home transactions of every kind on a personal computer.  The infrastructure (networked home computers) was not there yet.

Thing was once Netscape and AOL started coming around it was already too late for Prodigy with the closed IP.  I seem to recall a push for an open browser (had some family associated with the company) much like Netscape or a drastic loosening of content rules.  The big thing with Prodigy was the early social media via message boards and chat rooms.  The company tried to snuff out anything that wasn't family friendly and ended up pushing a lot of subscribers away.  The ironic thing was that was the big thing for Prodigy and not the shopping, news, stock, in addition to all the rest of the stuff they thought it would end up being.


The explosion of the World Wide Web was arguably in 1995.  Prodigy came on the scene in what, 89?  People didn't even have CD-ROM drives at that point, much less modems for the most part.  Even if the content was top-notch, Tim Berners-Lee was still right up the road with a death sentence for their delivery model by the time the home technology base was more robust.

Has they gone only into content, they'd have ended up being a Yahoo!, which proved that "all things to all people" is not a sound long-term online strategy.

briantroutman

#184
Quote from: SP Cook on January 06, 2017, 09:17:58 AM
Since 2010 Craftsman tools have been mostly made in Asia and no longer carry the unlimited warranty.  Black and Decker is buying the brand name.  It can now make Craftsman tools wherever and Sears is retaining the right to both make and sell Craftsman tools for 15 years royality free.

Craftsman was already on its slide into irrelevance under Sears ownership when production was offshored and the famous warranty was killed off. But now the brand can officially take its final resting place in history's dustbin along with the likes of Zenith, Kodak, Schwinn, or Howard Johnson–zombie brands that have no meaningful connection to their past or the people and institutional knowledge and culture that made them what they were.

Yet under informed old people will still buy them because–"...by god, I bought a Zenith with Chromacolor in '72 to celebrate Nixon's reelection, and it was the best goddam TV I ever had."

Pete from Boston

Westinghouse, RCA, Polaroid...

Christmas Tree Shop sells 4-packs of Polaroid AA batteries for two bucks.  Polaroid batteries.

Westinghouse might as well be used to sell frozen french fries at this point, with the way it's casually slapped on whatever some company owns the license to use it for.

Pan Am Railways, anyone?

kkt

Quote from: Pete from Boston on January 06, 2017, 07:42:48 PM
Westinghouse, RCA, Polaroid...

Christmas Tree Shop sells 4-packs of Polaroid AA batteries for two bucks.  Polaroid batteries.

Westinghouse might as well be used to sell frozen french fries at this point, with the way it's casually slapped on whatever some company owns the license to use it for.

Pan Am Railways, anyone?

Once-great companies, either merged with a hostile new management or a completely new entity...

East India Company
Hewlett Packard
AT&T

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: kkt on January 06, 2017, 07:58:51 PM
Quote from: Pete from Boston on January 06, 2017, 07:42:48 PM
Westinghouse, RCA, Polaroid...

Christmas Tree Shop sells 4-packs of Polaroid AA batteries for two bucks.  Polaroid batteries.

Westinghouse might as well be used to sell frozen french fries at this point, with the way it's casually slapped on whatever some company owns the license to use it for.

Pan Am Railways, anyone?

Once-great companies, either merged with a hostile new management or a completely new entity...

East India Company
Hewlett Packard
AT&T

So is Nationalization of the East India Company something we're considering a hostile takeover?  :-D

kkt

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on January 06, 2017, 08:14:30 PM
Quote from: kkt on January 06, 2017, 07:58:51 PM
Quote from: Pete from Boston on January 06, 2017, 07:42:48 PM
Westinghouse, RCA, Polaroid...

Christmas Tree Shop sells 4-packs of Polaroid AA batteries for two bucks.  Polaroid batteries.

Westinghouse might as well be used to sell frozen french fries at this point, with the way it's casually slapped on whatever some company owns the license to use it for.

Pan Am Railways, anyone?

Once-great companies, either merged with a hostile new management or a completely new entity...

East India Company
Hewlett Packard
AT&T

So is Nationalization of the East India Company something we're considering a hostile takeover?  :-D

No, they are really a new entity.  As you know, the East India Company was nationalized in 1858, but somehow a legal existence continued and it was brought back from the dead in 2010, claiming the original trademarks and heritage and selling a little food, tea, and gold coins.  They don't yet have sovereign powers or an army...

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-10971109

thenetwork

#189
The famous clothing store The Limited was said to be closing their brick and mortar/mall stores THIS SUNDAY!

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-suncapital-limitedstores-idUSKBN14R015?il=0

They said they will now be an e-tail only company for internet shoppers.

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: kkt on January 06, 2017, 08:46:24 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on January 06, 2017, 08:14:30 PM
Quote from: kkt on January 06, 2017, 07:58:51 PM
Quote from: Pete from Boston on January 06, 2017, 07:42:48 PM
Westinghouse, RCA, Polaroid...

Christmas Tree Shop sells 4-packs of Polaroid AA batteries for two bucks.  Polaroid batteries.

Westinghouse might as well be used to sell frozen french fries at this point, with the way it's casually slapped on whatever some company owns the license to use it for.

Pan Am Railways, anyone?

Once-great companies, either merged with a hostile new management or a completely new entity...

East India Company
Hewlett Packard
AT&T

So is Nationalization of the East India Company something we're considering a hostile takeover?  :-D

No, they are really a new entity.  As you know, the East India Company was nationalized in 1858, but somehow a legal existence continued and it was brought back from the dead in 2010, claiming the original trademarks and heritage and selling a little food, tea, and gold coins.  They don't yet have sovereign powers or an army...

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-10971109

That has to be pretty satisfying for someone from India to snatch that brand name up all things considered. 

kkt

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on January 06, 2017, 09:11:55 PM
Quote from: kkt on January 06, 2017, 08:46:24 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on January 06, 2017, 08:14:30 PM
Quote from: kkt on January 06, 2017, 07:58:51 PM
Quote from: Pete from Boston on January 06, 2017, 07:42:48 PM
Westinghouse, RCA, Polaroid...

Christmas Tree Shop sells 4-packs of Polaroid AA batteries for two bucks.  Polaroid batteries.

Westinghouse might as well be used to sell frozen french fries at this point, with the way it's casually slapped on whatever some company owns the license to use it for.

Pan Am Railways, anyone?

Once-great companies, either merged with a hostile new management or a completely new entity...

East India Company
Hewlett Packard
AT&T

So is Nationalization of the East India Company something we're considering a hostile takeover?  :-D

No, they are really a new entity.  As you know, the East India Company was nationalized in 1858, but somehow a legal existence continued and it was brought back from the dead in 2010, claiming the original trademarks and heritage and selling a little food, tea, and gold coins.  They don't yet have sovereign powers or an army...

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-10971109

That has to be pretty satisfying for someone from India to snatch that brand name up all things considered. 

Yeah, pretty amazing.  I wonder if the reborn company is allowed to call itself "The Honourable".

Pete from Boston

Quote from: thenetwork on January 06, 2017, 09:04:14 PM
The famous clothing store The Limited was said to be closing their brick and mortar/mall stores THIS SUNDAY!

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-suncapital-limitedstores-idUSKBN14R015?il=0

They said they will now be an e-tail only company for internet shoppers.

The teenage girls that built that store in the 80s are now in their 40s and 50s.  I didn't even realize they were still around.

Buck87

Quote from: inkyatari on January 05, 2017, 12:22:17 PM
when macy's killed the legendary Marshall Field's store

I thought that was the Silver Streak

:D

NJRoadfan

Quote from: briantroutman on January 06, 2017, 03:08:35 PM
Yet under informed old people will still buy them because–"...by god, I bought a Zenith with Chromacolor in '72 to celebrate Nixon's reelection, and it was the best goddam TV I ever had."

Yeah, but that '72 Chromacolor likely still works like the day it left the showroom with zero service! Those things were indestructible, Zenith really knew how to make a TV!

adventurernumber1

Quote from: adventurernumber1 on January 04, 2017, 12:05:35 PM
Also, I have noticed a dramatic increase in Sears commercials, such as in ads while watching videos on YouTube. I'd say for the most part they are pretty good commercials, but maybe they have come in too late to the game. It is probably a last attempt to save the company, and I understand that. It seems like I just hadn't seen many Sears commercials before.

Starting today, I am also now seeing a sharp increase in Kmart commercials as well. The advertisements on almost every single youtube video I have watched today are Kmart ads. These are actually the first Kmart commercials I've ever remembered seeing in recent history.
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GCrites

I wonder why they keep stopping and restarting the Blue Light Specials. I feel like KMart suffers from a lack of brand identity these days whereas in the '80s and '90s people were always joking about Blue Light Specials. Sure they're a little corny, but they are exclusive to their brand and a lot of other stores do things that get made fun of a lot more. Wal-Mart survived Wal-Mart Bingo just fine for example.

jeffandnicole

Quote from: adventurernumber1 on January 08, 2017, 06:41:54 PM
Quote from: adventurernumber1 on January 04, 2017, 12:05:35 PM
Also, I have noticed a dramatic increase in Sears commercials, such as in ads while watching videos on YouTube. I'd say for the most part they are pretty good commercials, but maybe they have come in too late to the game. It is probably a last attempt to save the company, and I understand that. It seems like I just hadn't seen many Sears commercials before.

Starting today, I am also now seeing a sharp increase in Kmart commercials as well. The advertisements on almost every single youtube video I have watched today are Kmart ads. These are actually the first Kmart commercials I've ever remembered seeing in recent history.

Could it be because you typed in Kmart and/or Sears in a search engine lately?  It's not exactly a coincidence...they are simply using your cookies to bring you the ads of the places you're visiting.

Pete from Boston

#198

This person does some great logo reinterpretation, including this one relevant to this discussion (apparently can't include image here from Instagram):

https://instagram.com/p/BPEODVKBX53/

adventurernumber1

Quote from: jeffandnicole on January 08, 2017, 08:56:44 PM
Quote from: adventurernumber1 on January 08, 2017, 06:41:54 PM
Quote from: adventurernumber1 on January 04, 2017, 12:05:35 PM
Also, I have noticed a dramatic increase in Sears commercials, such as in ads while watching videos on YouTube. I'd say for the most part they are pretty good commercials, but maybe they have come in too late to the game. It is probably a last attempt to save the company, and I understand that. It seems like I just hadn't seen many Sears commercials before.

Starting today, I am also now seeing a sharp increase in Kmart commercials as well. The advertisements on almost every single youtube video I have watched today are Kmart ads. These are actually the first Kmart commercials I've ever remembered seeing in recent history.

Could it be because you typed in Kmart and/or Sears in a search engine lately?  It's not exactly a coincidence...they are simply using your cookies to bring you the ads of the places you're visiting.

I actually have not looked up Kmart at all in very recent history - I've only been reading this thread on the forum to get up-to-date Kmart news. I could be wrong, though. I think I have searched up Sears a few select times, so that could explain my aforementioned post of seeing many Sears commercials. However, I don't think I have typed in Kmart much, if at all, so I am a bit surprised to see a spontaneous influx of Kmart advertisements.
Now alternating between different highway shields for my avatar - my previous highway shield avatar for the last few years was US 76.

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