Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

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

Post by wyoretailman »

Super S wrote: October 17th, 2018, 7:09 pm
BillyGr wrote: October 17th, 2018, 8:05 am
Super S wrote: October 16th, 2018, 10:26 am

But when Sears still owns Kenmore and Diehard, who will honor the warranty when Sears folds? The Hometown stores? (Which barely touch the automotive end of things) Keep in mind they have already closed most of their parts and service centers. I have had some difficulty at times obtaining Sears-specific parts by mail order, but it is hit or miss.
Whoever buys those brands would (after all, they've already sold off many of their once owned brands, and if they completely close up at some point the bankruptcy courts would sell any left to get money back for those who are owed it).
I was wondering more about the scenario if Sears closes without a buyer for Kenmore or Diehard. The possibility exists. Name brands are a different story. While I realize other manufacturers make the stuff for Sears, they aren't going to be around for help if the repair services won't touch Sears branded products out of fear of not being reimbursed.
I won't buy a Kenmore appliance at their "thanks for not shopping at our store too often sale," as even if they survive I am not sure where repair man would have to come from.
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by wyoretailman »

Super S wrote: October 15th, 2018, 9:08 am
Knight wrote: October 15th, 2018, 7:53 am Here is a list of Sears and Kmart stores closing:
https://www.businessinsider.com/sears-k ... st-2018-10
A couple thoughts about some locations I am familiar with:

Beaverton, Oregon: This store should have closed a long time ago as it is rundown inside and out. Worth noting is that this is the last Kmart in the Portland metro area. Now two left in Oregon: Corvallis and The Dalles.

Puyallup, WA: The Auto Center here closed last year, but the mall itself seems to be in ok shape. I found it interesting that this one stayed open while Tacoma Mall closed though.

Salem, OR: The mall is going through a redevelopment which has walled off about half of the inside mall. The store is a smaller location. This marks the company's exit from Salem, which once also had two Kmarts.

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.

Casper, WY: (double whammy) Losing a Sears and Kmart. Wyoming seemed to have more Kmarts in the smaller towns in the past but Walmart probably had an effect here.

Santa Rosa, CA: Sears is in the mall downtown, but Kmart did not rebuild after their location burned down last year. Kmart had a rocky relationship with the landlord of the Santa Rosa location before the fires that burned down the store last year. Not sure if this had any effect on the Sears, but they could have used that as an opportunity to adjust the merchandise mix at Sears a bit.

I am still not convinced the company is going to survive the bankruptcy. I expect a major announcement after Christmas.
As for the stores in Casper, WY I am surprised they lasted as long as did. Neither store has not been that busy lately. Parts of the Sears store was well stocked (hardware, appliances, and ladies clothing), while others including the men's department like the going out of business sale had already started. Both the optical and auto centers had closed at Sears. The Kmart store was mostly well stocked, except for the little bit of a remaining electronics department. Also the snack bar Kmart closed and recently they were using it to display University of Wyoming Cowboys/Cowgirls clothing. Lastly when looking to see which stores were still left in Colorado I noticed that Kmart near Denver was closed (not where the next closest DC is located).

Really is just a shame that Eddie L did not do not try to do anything to make these chains places customers wanted to shop. I think he should have been gone a long time ago.
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by Super S »

Super S wrote: October 30th, 2018, 11:03 am The Sears bankruptcy may be having an effect on sales at the Sears Hometown stores. I have noticed that there are now suddenly a lot of radio ads for the local Sears Hometown store, including some saying they are not part of the chain closures. It would make sense at this point to rebrand these stores and move away from the Sears name which people will still associate with a bankrupt retailer despite the fact these locations are not owned by Sears.
Here's a news article talking about this very subject:

https://www.kpvi.com/news/local_news/lo ... 8120d.html
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by wnetmacman »

storewanderer wrote: November 12th, 2018, 10:47 am When you have landlords making statements like this:
Washington Prime Group, which owns the Westshore store (the last Sears remaining in Tampa), negotiated to terminate Sears’ lease early and has taken ownership of the space with plans for something new.

"Tenants which have failed to evolve in order to satisfy an increasingly savvy consumer do not belong in our assets," Washington Prime CEO Lou Conforti said in a statement.

Time to just pull the plug 100%.
Washington Prime also owns the Longview, Texas Mall, where Sears is also closing. The irony there is that the entire rest of the mall has remodeled, including the JCP and Dillards anchors, but Sears still (after 39 years) looks almost exactly as it did when it opened. It's a shame, because that mall has always performed well.
wyoretailman wrote: November 15th, 2018, 5:21 pm Really is just a shame that Eddie L did not do not try to do anything to make these chains places customers wanted to shop. I think he should have been gone a long time ago.
Not only did he not make them places people wanted to shop, in my eyes he purposefully made them places people *didn't* want to shop. He should have no say in the bankruptcy process.
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by storewanderer »

Time to go shop at Sears. Spend $250 and get $250 back in Shop Your Way points in 10 installments weekly for the next 10 weeks. Will they even be open long enough for the installments to come through?
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by cjd »

wnetmacman wrote: November 20th, 2018, 7:26 am
wyoretailman wrote: November 15th, 2018, 5:21 pm Really is just a shame that Eddie L did not do not try to do anything to make these chains places customers wanted to shop. I think he should have been gone a long time ago.
Not only did he not make them places people wanted to shop, in my eyes he purposefully made them places people *didn't* want to shop. He should have no say in the bankruptcy process.
That's been my thought as I read this as well. He should have no say in the bankruptcy process and get nothing from it. It looks as if it was his job to figure out how to wind down operations during the last 14 years. It just wasn't as noticeable for a long time. Or maybe the original intent was to keep them both in business, but somewhere along the line it was decided to be impossible so the new strategy was how to maximize the profits and assets on the way out.

That may well be why he treats people the way he does in the business meetings and won't listen to them, because he's not interested in good ideas. Make sense when he says things like "We don't need more customers. We have all the customers we could possibly want." Sure sound like something you would say when your only interest is to maximize how much you can squeeze out of a failing company.
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: November 24th, 2018, 10:33 am Time to go shop at Sears. Spend $250 and get $250 back in Shop Your Way points in 10 installments weekly for the next 10 weeks. Will they even be open long enough for the installments to come through?
When many areas of the country no longer have a Sears or Kmart presence, and many will be in that situation by the end of the year, Shop Your Way is a waste of time. It's hard to justify the program with no local stores and better online options.
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by storewanderer »

In an interesting twist (there are so many interesting twists with Sears), they seem to have secured short term financing from someone other than Great American Group (a liquidation firm).

I wonder what this will mean if anything.
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by mbz321 »

wnetmacman wrote: November 20th, 2018, 7:26 am

Not only did he not make them places people wanted to shop, in my eyes he purposefully made them places people *didn't* want to shop. He should have no say in the bankruptcy process.

IMO, I think it was Eddie's goal from the get-go to buy the chains for real estate only. When the market crashed in 2008, most of the properties suddenly became devalued, so Eddie had to keep the company limping along these years in hopes of a rebound, which hasn't happened to the extent pre-2008 (and arguably, we are about at the point where we may see another real estate collapse). Meanwhile, Eddie has been selling off the company piecemeal throughout the years to stay a float, but I don't think it was ever really his goal to run Kmart or Sears as a retailer long-term.
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: November 27th, 2018, 11:08 pm In an interesting twist (there are so many interesting twists with Sears), they seem to have secured short term financing from someone other than Great American Group (a liquidation firm).

I wonder what this will mean if anything.
I think this is just another lifeline to keep the remaining stores operational through the Christmas shopping season.
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