More Kmart stores closing

[LM117]

I was in the Kmart in Des Moines a year or two ago (the one on Hubbell Ave, near Easton Blvd) but I don't see it on that list, so I have no idea if it's still open.

According to Google Maps, it's still open.

[I-39]

I'm gonna be honest, I haven't seen a K-Mart in years. I guess they've left the suburban landscape completely and now only exist in smaller towns/cities.

[cl94]

I'm gonna be honest, I haven't seen a K-Mart in years. I guess they've left the suburban landscape completely and now only exist in smaller towns/cities.

In the northeast, they still have some of a presence, partially because Walmart got into the market so late. My hometown had a Super K-Mart long before it got a Walmart Supercenter. Of course, the latest round of closings is getting rid of most suburban locations.

[JJBers]

I'm gonna be honest, I haven't seen a K-Mart in years. I guess they've left the suburban landscape completely and now only exist in smaller towns/cities.

In the northeast, they still have some of a presence, partially because Walmart got into the market so late. My hometown had a Super K-Mart long before it got a Walmart Supercenter. Of course, the latest round of closings is getting rid of most suburban locations.

Well, there goes 3 of the 4 Big K-Marts in Connecticut

[jp the roadgeek]

I'm gonna be honest, I haven't seen a K-Mart in years. I guess they've left the suburban landscape completely and now only exist in smaller towns/cities.

In the northeast, they still have some of a presence, partially because Walmart got into the market so late. My hometown had a Super K-Mart long before it got a Walmart Supercenter. Of course, the latest round of closings is getting rid of most suburban locations.

Well, there goes 3 of the 4 Big K-Marts in Connecticut

No closings in CT this time around.  The other 3 are in Milford (standard Big K), Southbury (a two-level store) and Watertown (an antique).  The latter 2 are 10 minutes from each other.  How this relic in Watertown survives is beyond me.

[JJBers]

I'm gonna be honest, I haven't seen a K-Mart in years. I guess they've left the suburban landscape completely and now only exist in smaller towns/cities.

In the northeast, they still have some of a presence, partially because Walmart got into the market so late. My hometown had a Super K-Mart long before it got a Walmart Supercenter. Of course, the latest round of closings is getting rid of most suburban locations.

Well, there goes 3 of the 4 Big K-Marts in Connecticut

No closings in CT this time around.  The other 3 are in Milford (standard Big K), Southbury (a two-level store) and Watertown (an antique).  The latter 2 are 10 minutes from each other.  How this relic in Watertown survives is beyond me.

[snipped image]

Well, I'm still betting that only the Milford one is going to be still open by 2020, that is if K-Mart is still open. Vernon one is looking like it's about to go soon, with the Stop & Shop less than 1000 feet from it, along with a Price Chopper, Home Goods, Harbor Freight Tools, and Staples 2000 feet from it. This is along with Buckland Hills about 3 miles away.

[jeffandnicole]

As it happened, we were unsuccessfully shopping for a specific pool float this weekend.  I decided to check out the Kmart that will be closing in Mantua, NJ.  We went there, and I was surprised to find the shelves well stocked.  Amazingly well stocked.  As if they had a huge amount of inventory that never gets sold!  Everything was current though, and overall very well organized.

You certainly noticed the lack of shoppers inside the store.  There were some, but you could easily walk a distance without encountering any.

What I did notice though was the lack of sales.  Nothing was on sale!  There were large signs on many of the rack announcing the price like any other store, but nothing shouting out SALE, XX% OFF, or the like.  I did see one item - an outdoor rubber mat - that was signed "$8.99 (Similar Price at Walmart...$17.99).  I then thought about it, and realized I haven't seen a sales ad for them in quite a while either.  They're doing absolutely nothing to draw people into their stores.

I didn't notice much of an electronics department.  I don't recall seeing many TVs and the like...mostly accessory type stuff.

There were a LOT of plants outside.  Too much, really.  Especially further away from the rest of the shopping center, which sees very little foot traffic (this Kmart is on the far right end of the shopping center). 

The Automotive area has been closed for a long time. It had reopened at one point (maybe a Sears Auto?) but it didn't last long.

The Pharmacy inside is only open 10am to 6pm, Monday thru Friday.  Not very convenient.

Prices were mainly high throughout, although my wife did find a few clothing items under $10 that she liked.

Of the 10 registers, I saw up to 5 open at one time!  That I found amazing.  Of course, when we went up, 3 were open, and one of the lines was having an issue with a purchase so only 2 were available.  But the customer service counter was staffed, and that person was calling people over to check out as well. In fact, the entire store seemed to be decently staffed.

When we first entered, someone was handing out raffle tickets for something.  I ignored it.  Later on, my wife said it was a chance to win a shopping spree before they started their Going Out of Business sales.

Oh...they didn't have that pool float we wanted either!

[JJBers]

As it happened, we were unsuccessfully shopping for a specific pool float this weekend.  I decided to check out the Kmart that will be closing in Mantua, NJ.  We went there, and I was surprised to find the shelves well stocked.  Amazingly well stocked.  As if they had a huge amount of inventory that never gets sold!  Everything was current though, and overall very well organized.

You certainly noticed the lack of shoppers inside the store.  There were some, but you could easily walk a distance without encountering any.

What I did notice though was the lack of sales.  Nothing was on sale!  There were large signs on many of the rack announcing the price like any other store, but nothing shouting out SALE, XX% OFF, or the like.  I did see one item - an outdoor rubber mat - that was signed "$8.99 (Similar Price at Walmart...$17.99).  I then thought about it, and realized I haven't seen a sales ad for them in quite a while either.  They're doing absolutely nothing to draw people into their stores.

I didn't notice much of an electronics department.  I don't recall seeing many TVs and the like...mostly accessory type stuff.

There were a LOT of plants outside.  Too much, really.  Especially further away from the rest of the shopping center, which sees very little foot traffic (this Kmart is on the far right end of the shopping center). 

The Automotive area has been closed for a long time. It had reopened at one point (maybe a Sears Auto?) but it didn't last long.

The Pharmacy inside is only open 10am to 6pm, Monday thru Friday.  Not very convenient.

Prices were mainly high throughout, although my wife did find a few clothing items under $10 that she liked.

Of the 10 registers, I saw up to 5 open at one time!  That I found amazing.  Of course, when we went up, 3 were open, and one of the lines was having an issue with a purchase so only 2 were available.  But the customer service counter was staffed, and that person was calling people over to check out as well. In fact, the entire store seemed to be decently staffed.

When we first entered, someone was handing out raffle tickets for something.  I ignored it.  Later on, my wife said it was a chance to win a shopping spree before they started their Going Out of Business sales.

Oh...they didn't have that pool float we wanted either!

No restaurant? Huh...

[roadman65]

The K Marts I remember had just a snack bar.  Nothing elaborate like Wal Mart contracting Subway or McDonalds.  However, later on in FL they did allow Little Caesars to come in and sell their pizza, but that was before they closed the Hunters Creek, FL and Sand Lake Road in Orlando locations back in the 90's.

[jeffandnicole]

In that Mantua Kmart, it used to have a snack bar up front (ICEEs!), and a cafeteria-type restaurant in the back center of the store.  Through the years, both of those closed, but an eatery (combo restaurant/snack bar) opened up on the far front left of the store.  This eatery also became a Little Caesars for a while.  For the past many years, there's been no eatery of any sort.

If memory serves me correctly they moved all the checkout points from the right of the main entrance to the left many years ago.  The customer service desk also moved to the left...and was moved again further away from the main doors to the opposite side of the checkouts.

I'm sure when they start closing the store and dismantle the shelving along one particular wall, it will probably expose the doors (and a window or two) that lead to the Automotive area.

Here's the store, btw: https://goo.gl/maps/9acy4Uj9j2U2

[briantroutman]

The K Marts I remember had just a snack bar.  Nothing elaborate like Wal Mart contracting Subway or McDonalds.

In this same thread several months ago, we went through a cycle talking about food service in Kmart stores. Here's a post I had written about my hometown Kmart's former full-service restaurant, and there are posts from others before and after it.

[slorydn1]

Back in the 1970's the one on 28th St in Grand Rapids (near US-131) had a large sit down cafeteria style resturant in the back left corner.

When I first moved here to New Bern Kmart was located in the back half of the mall and it had a tiny 2 or 3 table snack bar type arraingement. That Kmart closed in the late 90's.

[thenetwork]

Another round of Sears store closings, this time it's North of the Border, eh?  Roughly 25% of the stores plus additional staffing cuts.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sears-canada-files-court-protection-123838117.html


EDIT:  And just for shits and giggles, here are a few more U.S. Sears closings announced today:

http://www.wtol.com/story/35728577/toledo-location-among-latest-round-of-sears-closures?utm_content=buffer93019&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

[7/8]

Another round of Sears store closings, this time it's North of the Border, eh?  Roughly 25% of the stores plus additional staffing cuts.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sears-canada-files-court-protection-123838117.html


EDIT:  And just for shits and giggles, here are a few more U.S. Sears closings announced today:

http://www.wtol.com/story/35728577/toledo-location-among-latest-round-of-sears-closures?utm_content=buffer93019&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

This was the top news story on CTV National News tonight. It's sad to hear of 2900 jobs being cut.

Another interesting story on tonight's news was a Canadian sniper in Iraq breaking the world record for longest confirmed sniper kill at 3540 m; the bullet travelled for 10 seconds! https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canadian-elite-special-forces-sniper-sets-record-breaking-kill-shot-in-iraq/article35415651/?ref=https://www.theglobeandmail.com&

[epzik8]

Back in February, I was driving through Prince Frederick, Maryland and I passed by a Big Kmart that co-anchors a shopping center with a Giant grocery store. Funny thing is, the Tollgate Marketplace up near where I live in Bel Air, Maryland once had Kmart and Giant as co-anchors too.

[jp the roadgeek]

New List:

8201 S Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL
- 1601 N Harlem Ave, Chicago, IL
- 9701 Metcalf Ave, Overland Park, KS
- 5715 Johnston Street, Lafayette, LA
- 4575 La Jolla Village Drive, San Diego
- 126 Shawan Road, Cockeysville, MD
- 17318 Valley Mall Road, Hagerstown, MD
- 32123 Gratiot Avenue, Roseville, MI
- 14250 Buck Hill Road, Burnsville, MN
1640 Route 22, Watchung, NJ
- 1425 Central Avenue, Albany, NY
- 4000 Jericho Turnpike, East Northport, NY
- 601-635 Harry L. Drive, Johnson City, NY
- 7875 Johnnycake Ridge Road, Mentor, OH
- 6950 W 130th Street, Middleburg Heights, OH
- 3408 W Central Avenue, Toledo, OH
- 650 Bald Hill Road, Warwick, RI
- 300 Baybrook Mall, Friendswood, TX 77546
- 9570 Southwest Freeway, Westwood/Houston TX
- 5200 South 76th Street, Greendale, WI

I'm familiar with a couple on this list.  The Albany one is in Colonie Center, and the Warwick one is the last original holdover from the old Rhode Island Mall

[thenetwork]

The Toledo store was from the 50s and was the last Sears there.

The Middleburg Hts store was also a standalone from the early 60s.  Surprised its finally closing after 20 years being only 10 minutes from the one at South Park Mall. 

The Sears in Mentor was the last on Cleveland's east side.  This will leave Great Northern and South Park as the last 2 Sears in Cleveland & all of Northern Ohio.

[LM117]

They ought to save us the suspense on which locations are next and just close all of their stores now and get it over with since it's gonna happen sooner or later anyway. I feel for those losing their jobs, but the truth's the truth. There's no chance in hell of that company turning around. What used to be a yearly announcement of closings has now turned into an almost monthly thing. Anybody would have to be insane to apply for a job at Sears or Kmart these days.

[kkt]

Pretty much.  I guess closing each store takes some overhead for Sears headquarters so it would be hard to do them all at once.  I'm sorry for the people who will be out of work, but unemployment is fairly low right now so it's a good time to be job hunting.

[Billy F 1988]

That's a huge blow. The one I remember was located in Missoula at what is now the South Crossing strip mall on Brooks Street. I've only been to that Missoula K-Mart maybe a few times in my lifetime. I don't recall any other Montana K-Mart stores closing other than Missoula. That I think was in 2011.

[cl94]

The Colonie Center store was one of their older locations. Opened with the mall in 1966. Heck, a subsidiary of Sears (Homart) built the mall.

[thenetwork]

The Sears in Windsor, ON was at Devonshire Mall, and was also one of the nicer malls in the Metro Detroit area.  Back in the 80s they had some weird laws where the mall would be closed by 6 or 7 pm on Saturdays and may have been closed all day Sundays as well.   

Very strange weekend hours for a mall back then.

[vdeane]

The Colonie Center store was one of their older locations. Opened with the mall in 1966. Heck, a subsidiary of Sears (Homart) built the mall.

And Homart still owns that part of the mall (along with the part that is Whole Foods, which used to be part of the Sears), even though the rest of the mall is now owned by Kohlberg and Colonie Pacific.  That's definitely gonna make filling that space complicated.

Yesterday I was joking that Sears decided to close the store after the NYSDOT employee who loved shopping there was transferred up north.  As such, their customer base is much smaller now.

[1995hoo]

Something to note with regard to Sears closing stores, and the malls having trouble "re-renting" them, is that in many instances (certainly not all, but many), Sears own their building, even when it's part of a mall. My brother was the head of loss prevention at the Landmark Mall Sears in Alexandria not quite 20 years ago (he resigned after an argument with his boss) and he said something about how corporate management had preferred to own the space so as not to be subject to the vagaries of mall management arbitrarily changing or remodelling things. Landmark might be a good example of that–it used to be an outdoor mall with three anchors (Sears, Woodies, and Hecht's), then in the 1980s it was turned into an indoor mall, then after Woodies folded Lord & Taylor took over that space but didn't succeed (too upscale and pricey for that location), and now the Hecht's/Macy's is gone too, the mall is closed to be turned back into an outdoor mall with condos and other such stuff, and Sears (plus the Auto Center) is all that remains. No doubt if that Sears closed it would make redevelopment a lot easier, if it ever happens, but the Sears still does a decent business there. No doubt part of that is that particular store seems to have a somewhat lower-income clientele (corporate management consider it an "inner-city" store, according to my brother) who find it easy to get to that store because several bus lines stop at the mall.

So it's not that easy for malls either to evict Sears or to take over or re-rent the space when a Sears location closes.

I seem to recall in first-year contracts class in law school one of the cases we read had to do with Tysons Corner Center. If I recall correctly, Lansburgh's had the space at one end of the mall and went under and Sears were fighting to get that space. Ultimately Bloomingdale's got it instead. I'm sure Sears wanting to own their space, rather than rent, was a major part of it, but I don't remember all the facts anymore. Hard to imagine how different that mall would be had a Sears gone in there instead! I remember when JC Penney took over the old Woodies space at Tysons. The store was a total flop and closed within a few years, the building was demolished, and it was several years before that part of the mall was rebuilt.

[thenetwork]

Well, it's only been 2 weeks since our last list of stores getting the axe, why not another round of closures???

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sears-closing-43-more-stores-160845669.html

Tune in next week for another edition of "Sears/Kmart Closures".