Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Predicting the demise of Sears & Kmart since 2017!
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by SamSpade »

This USA Today article has a visual of the 142 announced closures.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/20 ... 595399002/
Washington Square isn't shocking (seeing as the other Portland area stores are gone and now Salem) but it really is well lit and (for a Sears Holdings store) well maintained. But when I was there yesterday, the Lands End section had shrunk by about 1/3 and inexpensive women's apparel was filling in where men's and children's used to be.
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by babs »

SamSpade wrote: October 15th, 2018, 11:27 am This USA Today article has a visual of the 142 announced closures.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/20 ... 595399002/
Washington Square isn't shocking (seeing as the other Portland area stores are gone and now Salem) but it really is well lit and (for a Sears Holdings store) well maintained. But when I was there yesterday, the Lands End section had shrunk by about 1/3 and inexpensive women's apparel was filling in where men's and children's used to be.
A lot of the comments here are using shocking or surprising as to what locations are staying or going. The chain is dead. There is no rhyme or reason why locations are staying open or closing. Today's events will make things spiral downward faster for any location still open. Why would you buy any big ticket item like appliances from them?

As for the Washington Square location. The building was sold to Maerich and Seritage. They have a clause in their lease that lets them out if they find a use that generates more income than the Sears store did. If Maerich hasn't worked on a redevelopment plan, now that would shock me.
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by Super S »

SamSpade wrote: October 15th, 2018, 11:27 am This USA Today article has a visual of the 142 announced closures.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/20 ... 595399002/
Washington Square isn't shocking (seeing as the other Portland area stores are gone and now Salem) but it really is well lit and (for a Sears Holdings store) well maintained. But when I was there yesterday, the Lands End section had shrunk by about 1/3 and inexpensive women's apparel was filling in where men's and children's used to be.
I don't know how I missed seeing that one. Washington Square looked better than most Sears and I honestly thought it would hold on until the bitter end. This marks the company's exit from Portland metro.
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by cjd »

I'm quite surprised the store in Lakeland FL would close. That's a central store to many communities in that area. And from looking at photos recently, it seemed the departments were well stocked and had much more selection than my local store. I would have expected the one here to close first.

But as you say, it's really no surprise to see any of them close at this point.
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by storewanderer »

Super S wrote: October 15th, 2018, 3:27 pm
SamSpade wrote: October 15th, 2018, 11:27 am This USA Today article has a visual of the 142 announced closures.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/20 ... 595399002/
Washington Square isn't shocking (seeing as the other Portland area stores are gone and now Salem) but it really is well lit and (for a Sears Holdings store) well maintained. But when I was there yesterday, the Lands End section had shrunk by about 1/3 and inexpensive women's apparel was filling in where men's and children's used to be.
I don't know how I missed seeing that one. Washington Square looked better than most Sears and I honestly thought it would hold on until the bitter end. This marks the company's exit from Portland metro.
I agree there is little to no rhyme or reason to the closures and it is just a continued series of "phased closures." The chain cannot continue because they have abandoned too many metro areas and they have continued to hold onto too many poor stores (that's not to say those won't close in the next round).

The good news is the store in Aberdeen, WA is still open. How it is still open is a mystery because a year ago that place was barely stocked, poorly maintained, and what was stocked there was just... weird (lots of overly large sizes only). The store in Las Cruces, NM about six months ago was identical as far as merchandising goes, but better maintained, and it too is staying open.

I see the Kmart in Kansas City, MO is closing. I was just in this store last week. This is the last Kmart in Kansas City, MO (there is still one in the metro area on the KS side). This store is interesting. It was converted to Sears Essentials/Sears Grand so it is actually quite nice inside for a Kmart. It has a clean ceiling and all new flooring and shelving throughout. Last week, the store was very clean, very well maintained, and very well stocked. The store also had a still open pharmacy and an auto center (subleased I assume). And I don't think that is any coincidence. At my 9 PM visit there were 15 or so employees and 3 checkstands open despite the fact that there were less than 5 other customers in the entire store. The employees had a lousy attitude and I almost got into a confrontation with one of them who seemed to have a problem with me trying to use a price scanner on the sales floor that had an "out of order" sign on the screen that I didn't notice as I scanned an item, then decided to go up and tell the 3 cashiers about it (she had no clue I could hear her).
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by submariner »

I’m pretty sure a lot of the stores closing are the locations with the most valuable real estate. For example, Two near me that are closing: South Coast Plaza and Los Cerritos Center are two very high-traffic malls (they already closed another high traffic location in Brea a while back). The locations would sell for a significantly larger amount of money compared to two other nearby stores of older (50s-60s) vintage, Buena Park and Orange (the former holding a sentimental spot as a store my family frequented as a kid).


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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by SamSpade »

Super S wrote: October 15th, 2018, 9:08 am Boise, ID: A little surprising that they are closing at the largest mall in the state. But not so surprising when knowing GGP owns the mall. GGP and Sears have not had a great relationship over the years. This pretty much marks the company's exit from Boise.

I am still not convinced the company is going to survive the bankruptcy. I expect a major announcement after Christmas.
According to the BoiseDev blog -
The store in Boise is adjacent to the Boise Towne Square Mall and shares an entrance with the general mall area – but the store itself and the land it sits on is owned by Sears Roebuck & Co.

The store and land are valued at $6.5 million according to the Ada County Assessor, with more than 120,000 square feet of space for the store and attached auto center.

(JCPenney and Sears are the only 2 mall anchors that own their real estate)
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by architect »

submariner wrote: October 15th, 2018, 7:51 pm I’m pretty sure a lot of the stores closing are the locations with the most valuable real estate. For example, Two near me that are closing: South Coast Plaza and Los Cerritos Center are two very high-traffic malls (they already closed another high traffic location in Brea a while back). The locations would sell for a significantly larger amount of money compared to two other nearby stores of older (50s-60s) vintage, Buena Park and Orange (the former holding a sentimental spot as a store my family frequented as a kid).


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I have somewhat noticed the same pattern in Texas, where two of the closing stores (Stonebriar Center in Frisco and Barton Creek Square in Austin) are in highly successful malls which have a good shot at quick redevelopment. In addition, another freestanding location on 41st Street in Austin also has huge potential for redevelopment, likely as housing or mixed-use based on surrounding development in the area.

The stores which will remain in the major Texas markets after this round of closures are as follows:

Austin
- Lakeline Mall - Mall still does good business, but definitely the weakest mall in the Austin region.

San Antonio
- Rolling Oaks Mall - A mall which has definitely seen better days; store mix is gradually shifting more mom-and-pop. I don't see this store being refilled if Sears pulls the plug.
- South Park Mall - A stable but lower-tier mall on the city's south side. Tenant replacement will likely be nonconventional.

DFW
- Hulen Mall - A stable but aging mall in south Fort Worth also anchored by Dillard's and Macy's. Competes heavily with the much larger North East Mall in Hurst and Parks at Arlington. This anchor could be difficult to fill when Sears closes.
- North East Mall - Located in Hurst and one of the strongest malls on this list. However, the Sears anchor is awkwardly located directly adjacent to 183, in an area which in arguably the worst anchor position in the mall and could also make redevelopment difficult.
- Parks at Arlington - Another excellent mall on this list, in a strong retail submarket. Whenever Sears lets go of this store, it should be able to be retenanted fairly quickly.
- Collin Creek Mall - Dead mall; just Sears, JCPenney and a few inline stores remain.
- Richardson Square - Freestanding anchor store from former mall; located immediately adjacent to both a Lowe's and SuperTarget so how this place stays in business is anyone's guess. Property was sold last year, but store was scheduled to remain open for the foreseeable future.
- Town East Mall - A mid-tier but stable mall in Mesquite; well-trafficked both from local shoppers and people driving in from areas to the east of DFW.

Houston
- Willowbrook Mall - Regional mall which has aged somewhat but still pulls good traffic and has attentive management. Losing Sears will certainly be a loss, but definitely would not be fatal to the mall.
- Deerbrook Mall - Similar situation to Willowbrook.
- 4000 N. Shepherd - Freestanding location; site's future could be completely up in the air.
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by BillyGr »

babs wrote: October 15th, 2018, 1:36 pm A lot of the comments here are using shocking or surprising as to what locations are staying or going. The chain is dead. There is no rhyme or reason why locations are staying open or closing. Today's events will make things spiral downward faster for any location still open. Why would you buy any big ticket item like appliances from them?
Why not? If the store near you is closing, you may be able to get a good price on those items (which aren't always available at the kind of discounts that show up during closings, particularly if they hang out till later in the sale).

If they aren't, still no reason not to buy them there if they have a better price than other options.

If you have a problem with them, you can always go to the company that makes them for issues (like repairs) as you could anywhere you buy them, you don't need the store to do that.
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by babs »

BillyGr wrote: October 16th, 2018, 10:05 am
babs wrote: October 15th, 2018, 1:36 pm A lot of the comments here are using shocking or surprising as to what locations are staying or going. The chain is dead. There is no rhyme or reason why locations are staying open or closing. Today's events will make things spiral downward faster for any location still open. Why would you buy any big ticket item like appliances from them?
Why not? If the store near you is closing, you may be able to get a good price on those items (which aren't always available at the kind of discounts that show up during closings, particularly if they hang out till later in the sale).

If they aren't, still no reason not to buy them there if they have a better price than other options.

If you have a problem with them, you can always go to the company that makes them for issues (like repairs) as you could anywhere you buy them, you don't need the store to do that.
I think you missed my point. It wasn't about buying an appliance from a store closing, sure you might get a great deal. For the stores remaining, the publicity around the store closings is likely to push people away from Sears and towards stores like Home Depot and Best Buy. For Sears to survive bankruptcy, they need to grow the appliance side of their business. The negative publicity will likely have the opposite effect.
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