More Kmart stores closing

[cl94]

Most of the Albany area Kmart stores closed a few years ago. The few that remain are in Queensbury (one of the last Super Kmarts until it reverted a few years ago) and a few rural locations. Don't see the Queensbury one lasting much longer. Bunch still exist in the Southern Tier, probably because there's no competition.

[Life in Paradise]

10 to 15 years ago, I think there probably was a way to save the stores, but even if K-Mart/Sears did everything right (spruce up stores, utilize helpful associates and pay them accordingly, have the right merchandise mix, and have a daring internet/store synergy) it would appear to be too late.  Either the silver bullet (or wooden stake) is about to be applied.  Unfortunately, those that are responsible (the CEO-Lambert) will probably not suffer at all.

[Rothman]

Most of the Albany area Kmart stores closed a few years ago.

The closure of the one on Central Ave by New Karner was a mercy killing.  That thing was begging to be put out of its misery for about a decade before they finally shut down.

Of course, now it's a Carmax lot.  Seems to be the trend along Central Ave:  Car lots, big and small.

[cl94]

Most of the Albany area Kmart stores closed a few years ago.

The closure of the one on Central Ave by New Karner was a mercy killing.  That thing was begging to be put out of its misery for about a decade before they finally shut down.

Of course, now it's a Carmax lot.  Seems to be the trend along Central Ave:  Car lots, big and small.

I forgot about that one. Never in that area.

The Super Kmart in Queensbury was where we did a decent amount of grocery shopping. There were no Walmart Supercenters up there yet and dry goods were much cheaper. Still got meat at Hannaford, though.

[thenetwork]

Medina, OH was the the location of the very first Super KMart, which was the new Kmart concept that was supposed to compete against the Walmarts and Super Walmarts of the time -- Open 24 hours with full grocery store under one roof.

They wound up shrinking in half after several years, dropping the grocery side, due to over-saturation of grocers within a 1-mile radius.  Not long after that they closed that one up for good.

Another early Super K store was in Montrose/Akron, OH.  Again, it fell victim to over-saturation of nearby grocery and discount stores...and shoplifting..., and closed around the same time as the original Medina store.  The West Akron K-Mart is now a stand-alone JCPenney and is doing pretty well for a major department store 2 miles from the other anchor stores at nearby Summit Mall (Macy's & Dillards).

[Buck87]

Fremont, Ohio had a Super Kmart that just closed last year. It also got dropped the grocery side a while before the final closing.

It was in somewhat of an odd location, being the only thing on the north side of the OH 19 north exit off the bypass (US 20/6), while the main strip with the Wal-Mart, Lowes and other retail and food chains is at the OH 53 north exit.

[thenetwork]

Fremont, Ohio had a Super Kmart that just closed last year. It also got dropped the grocery side a while before the final closing.

It was in somewhat of an odd location, being the only thing on the north side of the OH 19 north exit off the bypass (US 20/6), while the main strip with the Wal-Mart, Lowes and other retail and food chains is at the OH 53 north exit.

Kmart has struck out 2 or 3 times with grocery stores. 

- I remember a select few Kmarts in the early 70s also having (smaller) grocery stores, calling them K-Foods (or was that what they called their inside restaurants/cafes back then???)

- The grocery supermarkets as part of Super Kmarts fizzled out, as the posts above attest.

- And now with most of the remaining Big Ks having some aisles of basic grocery items -- about on par with a Big Lots -- I don't know of too many people who would do (or admit to doing) their grocery shopping at Kmart.

[GCrites]

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.

All it takes is viewing a thread with this many appearances of the term "KMart"

[Max Rockatansky]

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.

All it takes is viewing a thread with this many appearances of the term "KMart"

Which is ironic since I read a lot of business news with Sears/Kmart in it but yet never see commercials on Youtube or adds online anywhere...go figure.

[Max Rockatansky]

Update on Sears/Kmart stock prices:

https://www.thestreet.com/story/13969600/1/dying-sears-is-having-one-of-the-most-disastrous-weeks-in-its-history.html?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO&yptr=yahoo

[SP Cook]

And the bowl circling begins, as the company places the, legally required, "we really don't know if this is a good idea or not" language in its latest SEC filing.


money.cnn.com/2017/03/22/news/companies/sears-kmart-future

[ET21]

One of these isn't making it out of the decade if they don't turn around these losses

[Brandon]

One of these isn't making it out of the decade if they don't turn around these losses

Neither will make it out, IMHO.  Sears Holdings (formerly Kmart Corp) is DOA.  Which is a shame, as had neither squandered their goodwill or had seriously gross mismanagement (Lampert is a terrible retailer, maybe a good hedge fund guy, but a terrible retailer), they'd both probably be fine today.

[ET21]

One of these isn't making it out of the decade if they don't turn around these losses

Neither will make it out, IMHO.  Sears Holdings (formerly Kmart Corp) is DOA.  Which is a shame, as had neither squandered their goodwill or had seriously gross mismanagement (Lampert is a terrible retailer, maybe a good hedge fund guy, but a terrible retailer), they'd both probably be fine today.

I think one could at the others expense. Sears probably survives on what's left over of Kmart

[jeffandnicole]

Being Sears are found mainly at malls, and malls themselves aren't doing very well, I don't see that happening.

[LM117]

Being Sears are found mainly at malls, and malls themselves aren't doing very well, I don't see that happening.

Me either. It's only a matter of time before they all close. I also think all of the Kmarts will be gone first since they seem to be the weaker of the two, not that Sears is much stronger.

I wouldn't be surprised if there were another round of store closings announced either mid-summer or fall.

[thenetwork]

Being Sears are found mainly at malls, and malls themselves aren't doing very well, I don't see that happening.

Me either. It's only a matter of time before they all close. I also think all of the Kmarts will be gone first since they seem to be the weaker of the two, not that Sears is much stronger.

I wouldn't be surprised if there were another round of store closings announced either mid-summer or fall.

Likely that more closures will be announced Apr/May -- after their Quarterly reports come out.

Did I mention that our Sears mall store is so dead, they close by 8PM while the mall stays open until 9?

[LM117]

Being Sears are found mainly at malls, and malls themselves aren't doing very well, I don't see that happening.

Me either. It's only a matter of time before they all close. I also think all of the Kmarts will be gone first since they seem to be the weaker of the two, not that Sears is much stronger.

I wouldn't be surprised if there were another round of store closings announced either mid-summer or fall.

Likely that more closures will be announced Apr/May -- after their Quarterly reports come out.

Did I mention that our Sears mall store is so dead, they close by 8PM while the mall stays open until 9?

Same here at Danville Mall. Mall closes at 9, Sears closes at 8 Sunday-Thursday. The Sears here is mostly used as a mall entrance. There might be a lot of cars in the parking lot in front of the store (which has 2 floors), but once you set foot inside and see how devoid of customers it is, it becomes apparent that it's just an entrance. Hell, if you're on the first floor and someone on the second floor farts, you'd probably hear it.

The Sears at Berkeley Mall in Goldsboro, NC (where I grew up) is the same way also. Mall closes at 9, Sears closes at 8 Monday-Thursday.

[cl94]

The Sears in Albany downsized a few years ago. About 1/3 of it became a Whole Foods. As far as Kmart, I've mentioned previously that very few remain open in this area.

[sparker]

KMart doesn't have much of a presence here in the greater Bay Area; the only one I can recall patronizing was the one in Hollister -- and only because I was ferrying a friend around because he needed a new car battery, and KM carried Die Hard (his preference).  Otherwise, the non-mall larger chain stores up here are dominated by Target and Wal-Mart (which has actually closed some of their older outlets as well).

[Max Rockatansky]

New article on Sears Financial position:

https://www.thestreet.com/story/14054951/1/sears-has-finally-admitted-that-it-s-almost-dead.html?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO&yptr=yahoo

[thenetwork]

And yet they are looking for people to work at our local Sears and Sears Outlet stores (our Kmart closed for good today).  I don't know how anyone would want to apply for a job at any of the Sears/Kmart stores now knowing their position would be considered "temporary".

At least with a seasonal summer or Christmas job at other places, you kind of have a rough estimate on how long the job could last, and there's always a chance you might be picked up permanently or guaranteed a job the following year.  Working for the Sears family now is like playing Russian Roulette.

[Max Rockatansky]

And yet they are looking for people to work at our local Sears and Sears Outlet stores (our Kmart closed for good today).  I don't know how anyone would want to apply for a job at any of the Sears/Kmart stores now knowing their position would be considered "temporary".

At least with a seasonal summer or Christmas job at other places, you kind of have a rough estimate on how long the job could last, and there's always a chance you might be picked up permanently or guaranteed a job the following year.  Working for the Sears family now is like playing Russian Roulette.

The management or salaried jobs that could be a big problem.  For anyone who is entry level or someone who wants to get a salaried position on their resume there might be an opportunity there.  Really that isn't something that is going to help a retailer that is struggling and could probably use all the skilled staff it can get.

[D-Dey65]

Being Sears are found mainly at malls, and malls themselves aren't doing very well, I don't see that happening.

Me either. It's only a matter of time before they all close. I also think all of the Kmarts will be gone first since they seem to be the weaker of the two, not that Sears is much stronger.

I wouldn't be surprised if there were another round of store closings announced either mid-summer or fall.

The one in Rego Park was closing down and clearing out all their merchandise when I was in NYC a couple of weeks ago.

[cl94]

If I were in control of Sears, I'd dump clothing and related stuff and just focus on the hardware and appliances. Big change from their current model, but it's stuff that the discount and internet stores have really been able to get into.