Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

[Alpha8472]

The lower case Sears logo is actually not new. It was around back in 1987:



I was at the closing sale of the Kmart in Concord, California today. This store closes tomorrow. It was the nicest and most well kept Kmart that I have ever visited. The store dates back to at least the 80s. There is no Target or Walmart in this city, so Kmart actually did good business and was very nice looking. The pharmacy closed a couple years ago, but the store has always had good business.

The store was mostly empty with only a few displays of junk items left. They were selling expired unheard of brand vitamins, parts of broken cash registers, Kmart floor tiles, Kmart aisle posters ($50), and various junk from the manager's office filing cabinets. It was sad. There were more employees than customers. In fact, there was a security officer in plainclothes watching the shoppers. As if there was anything worth stealing... I assume people were so nostalgic that they even bought the department signs, aisle signs, and the shelves from the store. Most of the shelving and racks were gone.

This will probably be a historic visit for me. I will probably never be able to see another Kmart again in my entire life. All of the other local Kmart stores have closed.

[storewanderer]

Redwood City Kmart is going to start liquidation shortly.

I think the Kmart in Freedom has not yet been announced for closure. Some for Grass Valley, South Lake Tahoe, and McKinleyville. So they are still going to be present in NorCal for now.

[cjd]

The lower case Sears logo is actually not new. It was around back in 1987:



I was at the closing sale of the Kmart in Concord, California today. This store closes tomorrow. It was the nicest and most well kept Kmart that I have ever visited. The store dates back to at least the 80s. There is no Target or Walmart in this city, so Kmart actually did good business and was very nice looking. The pharmacy closed a couple years ago, but the store has always had good business.

The store was mostly empty with only a few displays of junk items left. They were selling expired unheard of brand vitamins, parts of broken cash registers, Kmart floor tiles, Kmart aisle posters ($50), and various junk from the manager's office filing cabinets. It was sad. There were more employees than customers. In fact, there was a security officer in plainclothes watching the shoppers. As if there was anything worth stealing... I assume people were so nostalgic that they even bought the department signs, aisle signs, and the shelves from the store. Most of the shelving and racks were gone.

This will probably be a historic visit for me. I will probably never be able to see another Kmart again in my entire life. All of the other local Kmart stores have closed.

That's interesting. The current use of the lowercase logo apparently has been around since 2010, but I don't remember it being used prior to that.

The logo that was being talked about adding to the buildings though is the lowercase one but that also includes the funny looking green symbol after it which just came out last year.

That's how I felt when the Kmart here closed, since I knew it was unlikely I'd ever step for in another, and for that I felt the same for Sears' closing as well.

[Super S]

The lower case Sears logo is actually not new. It was around back in 1987:

I think that one is just coincidence, but it does make you wonder when you see how closely it resembles the current logo's font.

Sears has randomly used unofficial lower case (and upper case) logos in their advertising and on their products over the years. I have seen several variations used on 1970s vintage riding mowers as well as various tools. In the 1980s they shifted more towards always using their official logo, particularly when the upper case logo made its debut.

What they are doing with the symbol next to the logo is pretty much a waste of time. The current logo will be associated too much with the downfall of Sears. In the (unlikely at this point) event Sears rebounds, they should ditch the lower case logo entirely.

[jamcool]

Sears experimented with a Euro-style lower case logo briefly in the early 80s before adopting the “stripes” Upper-case SEARS logo in 1984.

[cjd]

Sears experimented with a Euro-style lower case logo briefly in the early 80s before adopting the “stripes” Upper-case SEARS logo in 1984.

I think I do recall seeing a lower case logo on some literature from that time period, possibly owners manuals.

[TW-Upstate NY]

I assume people were so nostalgic that they even bought the department signs, aisle signs, and the shelves from the store. .

That doesn't surprise me in the least and I'm being very serious when I say this that the fixtures (especially the signage) were probably worth more than the merchandise left in the store. I'm a bug when it comes to old retail and have been able to build a rather large collection of "stuff" like this from various chains of yesteryear. Collectors will pay good money for those items.

[Super S]

I assume people were so nostalgic that they even bought the department signs, aisle signs, and the shelves from the store. .

That doesn't surprise me in the least and I'm being very serious when I say this that the fixtures (especially the signage) were probably worth more than the merchandise left in the store. I'm a bug when it comes to old retail and have been able to build a rather large collection of "stuff" like this from various chains of yesteryear. Collectors will pay good money for those items.

There are also instances where signage gets re-used in other stores. I know of one thrift store which made extensive use of 1980s era Montgomery Ward hanging department signage, and it's common to see this when a chain shuts down and leaves stuff behind.

[kr.abs.swy]

You see this in basically any store that Ridley's Family Markets takes over from another retailer. They barely touched the Albertsons in Blackfoot, Idaho, that they bought. Looking at pictures on Google Maps, it looks like they kept the Lifestyle interiors on the Safeways they bought in Wyoming.

When I was in the Blackfoot Ridley's a few years ago, I actually saw an Albertsons logo on a small sign on a paperbacks shelf. The store had been Ridley's for at least a few years at that point.

That doesn't surprise me in the least and I'm being very serious when I say this that the fixtures (especially the signage) were probably worth more than the merchandise left in the store. I'm a bug when it comes to old retail and have been able to build a rather large collection of "stuff" like this from various chains of yesteryear. Collectors will pay good money for those items.

There are also instances where signage gets re-used in other stores. I know of one thrift store which made extensive use of 1980s era Montgomery Ward hanging department signage, and it's common to see this when a chain shuts down and leaves stuff behind.

[cjd]

I didn't see any decor or signage for sale at the Sears or Kmart closings here. Lots of shelving and overpriced used office stuff like hole punches, staplers or clipboards, some of it broken junk. The more interesting stuff never made it to the sale it seemed.