Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

[Super S]

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.

[storewanderer]

I am surprised Sears Hometown is not attempting to expand into some markets vacated by Sears itself. I think Sears owns much of the inventory that Sears Hometown has (like it is on consignment to those dealers or something). I wonder how this impacts their ability to get inventory...

[Super S]

I am surprised Sears Hometown is not attempting to expand into some markets vacated by Sears itself. I think Sears owns much of the inventory that Sears Hometown has (like it is on consignment to those dealers or something). I wonder how this impacts their ability to get inventory...

Actually they have expanded Sears Hometown into a few of those markets. The store I am speaking of, in Longview, WA, came about after they closed their regular store at the Three Rivers Mall in neighboring Kelso a few years ago.

But the point I was trying to make was the fact that the Sears name is damaged goods and I would not be surprised if some sort of name change eventually takes place.

[wnetmacman]

I am surprised Sears Hometown is not attempting to expand into some markets vacated by Sears itself. I think Sears owns much of the inventory that Sears Hometown has (like it is on consignment to those dealers or something). I wonder how this impacts their ability to get inventory...

They are expanding, but the little Hometown stores aren't what they're doing. They're putting Sears Outlet stores in the bigger towns. Lake Charles and Lafayette, LA have these; it's a bad attempt at keeping the appliance and furniture business.

[bnill]

The South Coast Plaza (Costa Mesa, CA) Sears is on the list. I'm surprised that store has lasted as long as it has -- not because it's unsuccessful, but because that mall has gone VERY upscale over the last 20 years or so and Sears seems out of place among the mix of other tenants.

From what I’ve heard, SCP has been trying to get rid of Sears for years, before they even went bad simply because they didn’t mix with the other anchor tenants i.e. Nordstrom, Saks, Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, etc. They couldn’t evict Sears since Sears used to own the land the store was on, but SCP has since reacquired the land the store was on, but it remains a bigger challenge now since they need to do more than just replace it with another anchor such as Neiman Marcus, the mall needs new entertainment options...

[Brian Lutz]

Sounds like the same thing that happened with the JCPenney store at Bellevue Square. JCPenney had been present in the mall for many years even before it was converted to an enclosed mall, and what was originally a fairly average shopping mall in the 80s and 90s went increasingly upscale as it mirrored the area, to the point where the management made multiple attempts to buy JCPenney out of their lease before finally succeeding in 2016.

[Super S]

40 more stores closing:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/20 ... 933522002/

None I am familiar with but an interesting note is that three stores in Puerto Rico are on the list.

[SamSpade]

I guess Sears finally worked out a situation with GGP for Grand Teton Mall in Idaho Falls, ID. I'm assuming this includes the attached auto center closing.

This location is in a successful regional mall and near the KMart they shuttered in February.

This now marks Sears stores exit from Idaho. The remaining stores are all "Hometown" stores.
There are 2 KMart locations remaining at this time, Twin Falls, ID and Lewiston, ID.

If this chain holds on in any form, those sound pretty expensive to service with distribution.

[Super S]

I guess Sears finally worked out a situation with GGP for Grand Teton Mall in Idaho Falls, ID. I'm assuming this includes the attached auto center closing.

This location is in a successful regional mall and near the KMart they shuttered in February.

This now marks Sears stores exit from Idaho. The remaining stores are all "Hometown" stores.
There are 2 KMart locations remaining at this time, Twin Falls, ID and Lewiston, ID.

If this chain holds on in any form, those sound pretty expensive to service with distribution.

I think many mall operators are seeing the Sears and Kmart names as damaged goods at this point and aren't really making much effort to retain them. This is why we are seeing Sears leaving the better malls now, such as Grand Teton Mall, Boise Towne Square, as well as Clackamas Town Center and Washington Square in Portland.

Regardless of how they operate on the internet, the loyalty many folks had for Sears is quickly disappearing as they leave regions, and in some cases, entire states.

[babs]

I guess Sears finally worked out a situation with GGP for Grand Teton Mall in Idaho Falls, ID. I'm assuming this includes the attached auto center closing.

This location is in a successful regional mall and near the KMart they shuttered in February.

This now marks Sears stores exit from Idaho. The remaining stores are all "Hometown" stores.
There are 2 KMart locations remaining at this time, Twin Falls, ID and Lewiston, ID.

If this chain holds on in any form, those sound pretty expensive to service with distribution.

I think many mall operators are seeing the Sears and Kmart names as damaged goods at this point and aren't really making much effort to retain them. This is why we are seeing Sears leaving the better malls now, such as Grand Teton Mall, Boise Towne Square, as well as Clackamas Town Center and Washington Square in Portland.

Regardless of how they operate on the internet, the loyalty many folks had for Sears is quickly disappearing as they leave regions, and in some cases, entire states.

Compounding that Boise Towne Square, Clackamas Town Center, and Washington Square stores have all been sold off to Seritage and the mall owners. They have an incentive to find a higher and better use.