RIP Super Kmart

This is the place for general and miscellaneous posts on topics which might extend past the boundaries of any specific region. No non-grocery posts.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

RIP Super Kmart

Post by storewanderer »

Final Super Kmart store closure announced 01/04/2018:

2100 Niles Cortland Road
Warren, OH


Deadmalls posted a video of the store recently:


Good clone of the one that was in Reno. 100% identical department placement and even aisle placement within departments.
pseudo3d
Posts: 3852
Joined: November 12th, 2015, 7:01 pm
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 77 times
Status: Offline

Re: RIP Super Kmart

Post by pseudo3d »

storewanderer wrote: January 4th, 2018, 8:40 pm Final Super Kmart store closure announced 01/04/2018:

2100 Niles Cortland Road
Warren, OH


Deadmalls posted a video of the store recently:


Good clone of the one that was in Reno. 100% identical department placement and even aisle placement within departments.
Frankly, Super Kmart was a concept that was never really taken advantage of. I read an article (Houston Chronicle archives I think) that with Kmart's growth projections circa 2000 they would have 500 Super Kmart stores nationwide by the year 2005 (if I recall correctly). That still would've still put them well behind Wal-Mart with four times that number.
Super S
Posts: 2690
Joined: April 1st, 2009, 9:27 pm
Has thanked: 11 times
Been thanked: 61 times
Status: Offline

Re: RIP Super Kmart

Post by Super S »

Kmart had many older stores which were originally designed with a grocery store that would have been perfect for Super K conversions. I think it could have taken off in some areas such as the Pacific Northwest where Walmart was late in the Supercenter format...always wondered how they would do against Fred Meyer.
pseudo3d
Posts: 3852
Joined: November 12th, 2015, 7:01 pm
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 77 times
Status: Offline

Re: RIP Super Kmart

Post by pseudo3d »

Super S wrote: January 5th, 2018, 8:31 am Kmart had many older stores which were originally designed with a grocery store that would have been perfect for Super K conversions.
Not really, no. Most of the Kmart Foods stores were very small, we're talking 20,000 square feet. Furthermore, by the time the late 1990s rolled around most of those stores were quite out of date and in the wrong locations anyway, especially if we choose the future where Super Kmart had kept being a store that functionally acted like a real supermarket (apparently in early 2001 they had built a prototype with faux wood floors and baby spotlights in the produce section, which was in the front, or so I have in one my article collections).
wnetmacman
Forum Moderator
Forum Moderator
Posts: 994
Joined: January 17th, 2010, 2:36 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 44 times
Status: Offline

Re: RIP Super Kmart

Post by wnetmacman »

pseudo3d wrote: January 5th, 2018, 9:41 am
Super S wrote: January 5th, 2018, 8:31 am Kmart had many older stores which were originally designed with a grocery store that would have been perfect for Super K conversions.
Not really, no. Most of the Kmart Foods stores were very small, we're talking 20,000 square feet. Furthermore, by the time the late 1990s rolled around most of those stores were quite out of date and in the wrong locations anyway, especially if we choose the future where Super Kmart had kept being a store that functionally acted like a real supermarket (apparently in early 2001 they had built a prototype with faux wood floors and baby spotlights in the produce section, which was in the front, or so I have in one my article collections).
Actually, in several locations, Kmart DID expand a few older stores into Super Kmart, most notably in Indianapolis, using the full store. You are indeed correct that the original Kmart Foods stores were much smaller, but on the other hand, a lot of things that the grocery stores didn't carry, at that time Kmart did, thus complementing the merchandise mix. Had Walmart started out that way, they may have followed a similar path, especially considering that Target, Venture and several others tried it as well, all with poor results. It only really took off after Walmart started the Supercenter concept, with no doors, and when they started self-distribution.
pseudo3d wrote: January 4th, 2018, 9:00 pm Frankly, Super Kmart was a concept that was never really taken advantage of. I read an article (Houston Chronicle archives I think) that with Kmart's growth projections circa 2000 they would have 500 Super Kmart stores nationwide by the year 2005 (if I recall correctly). That still would've still put them well behind Wal-Mart with four times that number.
Those were initial projections, circa 1990. At the time, Walmart only had about 20-30 of them, and they were still refining the mix. Kmart only ever got to 120. Walmart is at 3552 and counting.

Kmart failed at the Supercenter concept largely because there were too many hands in the pot, so to speak. Walmart saw that early on and took the others out. Yes, they bought McLane to learn, but once they did, they sold them and did it themselves. Kmart always had a grocery partner, and never tried to do it themselves. Additionally, there were multiple partners, so it depended on where you were as to what kind of experience you had. If Kmart had been able to sustain growth as Walmart, they would be on top with the concept, because they really had a good concept initially. Walmart just pushed it out faster.
pseudo3d
Posts: 3852
Joined: November 12th, 2015, 7:01 pm
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 77 times
Status: Offline

Re: RIP Super Kmart

Post by pseudo3d »

wnetmacman wrote: January 5th, 2018, 1:58 pm
Actually, in several locations, Kmart DID expand a few older stores into Super Kmart, most notably in Indianapolis, using the full store. You are indeed correct that the original Kmart Foods stores were much smaller, but on the other hand, a lot of things that the grocery stores didn't carry, at that time Kmart did, thus complementing the merchandise mix. Had Walmart started out that way, they may have followed a similar path, especially considering that Target, Venture and several others tried it as well, all with poor results. It only really took off after Walmart started the Supercenter concept, with no doors, and when they started self-distribution.
Much of the modern "supercenter" trends adapted from the "hypermarkets" from Europe which were more food-focused but had a shallow general merchandise category. Wal-Mart's first attempt, Hypermart USA, was very different from Supercenters in terms of product mix (for example, they had only white paint instead of a full paint-mixing department) with the food section outsourced to Cullum Companies. It wasn't until a few years later when Wal-Mart re-merchandised it to be more like a Wal-Mart attached to a food store (and took it in-house), similarly, the original "American Fare" by Kmart had more upscale apparel (Calvin Klein, Puma, Bill Blass, Beverly Hills Polo Club) than what would typically be found in stores. The other brands adapted from Europe (Auchan, Carrefour) ultimately didn't make it.
Kmart failed at the Supercenter concept largely because there were too many hands in the pot, so to speak. Walmart saw that early on and took the others out. Yes, they bought McLane to learn, but once they did, they sold them and did it themselves. Kmart always had a grocery partner, and never tried to do it themselves. Additionally, there were multiple partners, so it depended on where you were as to what kind of experience you had. If Kmart had been able to sustain growth as Walmart, they would be on top with the concept, because they really had a good concept initially. Walmart just pushed it out faster.
Part of Super Kmart's problem was that the stores were better and were much closer to a "real" supermarket (full delis, seafood, even salad and soup bars) but that made them much more expensive to build compared to Walmart which was slapping them up with less features and cheaper materials (like warehouse ceilings). As a corollary to this, Kmart had mismanaged funds and just didn't have the war chest to build them out properly anyway. The lack of a dedicated partner was also a problem. If they had bought SuperValu back in the early 1990s it would've given them Twin Valu, bigg's, Cub Foods, and an infrastructure to do grocery retailing.
Super S
Posts: 2690
Joined: April 1st, 2009, 9:27 pm
Has thanked: 11 times
Been thanked: 61 times
Status: Offline

Re: RIP Super Kmart

Post by Super S »

pseudo3d wrote: January 5th, 2018, 9:41 am
Super S wrote: January 5th, 2018, 8:31 am Kmart had many older stores which were originally designed with a grocery store that would have been perfect for Super K conversions.
Not really, no. Most of the Kmart Foods stores were very small, we're talking 20,000 square feet. Furthermore, by the time the late 1990s rolled around most of those stores were quite out of date and in the wrong locations anyway, especially if we choose the future where Super Kmart had kept being a store that functionally acted like a real supermarket (apparently in early 2001 they had built a prototype with faux wood floors and baby spotlights in the produce section, which was in the front, or so I have in one my article collections).
While the store size did vary, and some stores were indeed too small for this type of conversion, some of the older, larger Kmart stores were, when you factor in the adjacent space, comparable in size to a medium sized Walmart Supercenter. With removal of the wall in between and some remodeling it was at least possible. I won't argue the fact that the stores were aging, but nearly 20 years ago, when Kmart was in better shape, the stores were not as old and outdated as they are today and some could have been cost effective to convert. The oldest Kmarts are not in the best shape these days though and many after they close are being torn down instead of being remodeled for new tenants.

One thing that Walmart was doing by the late 90s was building their conventional stores with a future supercenter conversion in mind, among other things it was common to leave an unpaved area at one end of the building. Many of the stores older than that era were simply replaced. Not sure if Kmart or anybody else was doing this.

Keep in mind though that Walmart today is downsizing many of their newer Supercenters. One good example is the one at Delta Park in Portland which has a VERY limited general merchandise mix and lacks things such as an auto center, with more space devoted to grocery.
klkla
Posts: 1614
Joined: February 24th, 2009, 3:26 pm
Been thanked: 2 times
Status: Offline

Re: RIP Super Kmart

Post by klkla »

pseudo3d wrote: January 5th, 2018, 2:20 pmMuch of the modern "supercenter" trends adapted from the "hypermarkets" from Europe which were more food-focused but had a shallow general merchandise category.
Don't forget about FedMart. They were building huge stores very similar to today's WalMart SuperCenters in the 1970's.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: RIP Super Kmart

Post by storewanderer »

There were about 240 Super Kmarts for a very short period of time before the company filed bankruptcy. Chuck Conaway and the partnership with Fleming (that was the brief period during which Kmart did have one single partner for grocery) resulted in a program where they were planning to convert many traditional locations over to Super Kmart. They did about 120 or so conversions and then the whole bankruptcy thing happened and many of those converted stores were quickly closed.

The Super Kmart format was definitely a lot more labor intensive and required more space for its perimeter programs, than Wal Mart Supercenter.
pseudo3d
Posts: 3852
Joined: November 12th, 2015, 7:01 pm
Has thanked: 5 times
Been thanked: 77 times
Status: Offline

Re: RIP Super Kmart

Post by pseudo3d »

klkla wrote: January 6th, 2018, 6:57 pm
pseudo3d wrote: January 5th, 2018, 2:20 pmMuch of the modern "supercenter" trends adapted from the "hypermarkets" from Europe which were more food-focused but had a shallow general merchandise category.
Don't forget about FedMart. They were building huge stores very similar to today's WalMart SuperCenters in the 1970's.
Well, if I recall correctly, many of the FedMart stores topped out at maybe 100k square feet (and running 70k square feet normally). The only really big ones (like San Diego) were built under European ownership, and those stores (like the other more European-based ones) crashed and burned.
Post Reply