Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Predicting the demise of Sears & Kmart since 2017!
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storewanderer
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by storewanderer »

Went into Sears in Sacramento (Arden Mall). Mall is closed but Sears is open (so is JCP, but didn't go in there). Hardly any customers. Hardly any employees. A couple of registers had one employee and those had steady business; at points a line of 2 customers. But they have product throughout the store. A lot of off brand clothing and little branded clothing. Most clothing is 70% off; some is 25% off.

All fitting rooms closed. Cashier wearing mask and gloves and cleaning surface of counter between customers. Rack behind cashier with a paper taped to it to isolate returned goods. So it appears Sears has some kind of management giving it guidance on how to operate during COVID.

All areas of the two floor sales floor are open. They still have inside the store portrait studio, tax preparation service, formal wear rental, and watch repair service (all appear to be leased tenants but the formal wear and watch repair have a Sears cash register... think I would not use that to process cards if I were an independent business.. but whatever). The store was neat, clean, and overall it was well maintained (all the lights were on, etc.). I was a little surprised. It wasn't fully stocked with products but it was stocked a lot better than I was expecting it to be. They still have a very small assortment of kitchen/bed/bath items as well. Tool area seemed to have more stuff than previous visit but still quite a few out of stocks there. They had multiple patio sets on display in seasonal.

The lousy product mix makes this an unappealing place to shop but as far as the neatness and orderliness of the store it was in great shape.
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by Super S »

Over the last couple days I have heard an ad on the local radio station that is more or less advertising that the local Sears Hometown franchise opportunity is available. In other words, it sounds like the local franchise is wanting to get out. I have had the impression that this location has not done all that well especially given the terrible parking area, and the fact that there are maybe 1 or 2 cars total at any given time. To be fair they have done other local radio advertising, but it's just not the best location, and anything that has the word "Sears" associated with it gives the impression that the company won't be around for much longer. Especially since most of the full-line stores are now gone in my area. The Sears name is too damaged at this point.
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by storewanderer »

Sears Corporate has been taking over some of the dealer stores in an effort to keep them open as the operators are fleeing.

Sometimes the operators try to sell the store.
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by storewanderer »

Kmart at South Lake Tahoe has closed off a few more aisles in the back corner of the store where hardware was. Clothing area is also noticeably thinning now (racks spaced more far apart and less full).

They have no Halloween anything but have gotten in some new Christmas Trees (unbranded) from a Sears distro with boxes that say online only item and there are black and white printouts with photos of the tree on the boxes. Most of their summer stuff is gone (sold out).

There is basically one aisle in this entire store that looks halfway normal- the dry grocery aisle. It is full, well assorted, and looks pretty good. Paper aisle is full of like two SKUs of Best Yet products and they have empty boxes on the shelves to attempt to make the shelves look more full. C&S seems to be doing a little bit with this place... at least sending it a few items. The rest of the store I don't think is getting much if any replenishment of any product for months now.

Vast majority of customers going into the store were walking out without purchases as there is so little to buy. I wonder what is going on in Guam Kmart... and how it is getting any product.
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: September 10th, 2020, 11:07 pm Sears Corporate has been taking over some of the dealer stores in an effort to keep them open as the operators are fleeing.

Sometimes the operators try to sell the store.
I have to wonder though what exactly is happening here. The commercial sounds locally produced, but at the same time sounds like an act of desperation.

The store might do better if it wasn't affiliated with Sears in any way. When Sears started closing their Parts & Service centers, I decided to look elsewhere for big purchases. Parts & Service combined with local warehouses stocked with products made Sears a good place to buy appliances in the past, those advantages are now gone.
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by storewanderer »

Back to Kmart today. They re-assembled the chip aisle and have an assortment of Lay's products again. Also noticed a small assortment of beer for sale again (just one or two packages of each brand). I wonder if they are on COD with these vendors or something.

Halloween is limited to some boxes of bagged branded candy on the endcaps in what used to be the bed/bath department (which is now the whatever can fill this space aisles, including Easter decor from last Easter). I am guessing bagged branded candy is all C&S had for Halloween, no general merchandise.

The clothing area is really thinning out with the racks now spaced more far apart and less product on the racks.

The food/drug area is getting stuff from C&S, with varying levels of how well stocked or not well stocked it is. It doesn't look like this place has received much stuff other than the C&S food/drug items in many months now.
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by Alpha8472 »

I have noticed some strange limited hours at my local Sears. The Sears at Sunvalley Mall closes at 6 PM while the mall closes at 7 PM. At 6:00 PM the two Sears employees race out the only entrance that is open and lock the door. The store goes dark. There are no other employees in the store and there is no one to restock or even clean the store. The store has closed all entrances except for one. That entrance is not even one of entrances to the indoor mall. It is the outside door by Mail Order Pickup.
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by storewanderer »

You should see the Grass Valley Kmart. Most of the sales floor is blocked off. The pharmacy is still open and I assume the only reason the store is still operating. The food area is kind of well stocked; pet and cleaning areas are well stocked and drug aisles look okay (all of this stuff comes from C&S). There is weird other random stuff scattered throughout some shelves on the aisles that are still open. Clothing areas are relatively full. When I went in there last week it was around 5 or 6 PM (this store is open until 8 PM or 9 PM) and basically there were no other customers and about 10 employees total (3 in the pharmacy). No music was playing. The store is brightly lit and eerily silent. There were 2 cashiers and an employee staffing the refund counter and I am not sure how to politely describe the demeanor of these employees... just a really weird experience. I cannot imagine this store is doing more than $1,000-$2,000 a day in merchandise sales in its current form. That pharmacy must be awfully profitable. Otherwise, I can't understand why it makes sense to keep paying payroll or operating costs.

Someone on Google Maps did a review of Guam Kmart in September and has attached some photos. The store is packed with merchandise.
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by reymann »

i went to the sears in clovis the other day and some of the areas are starting to look very bare. the mall managment has been rumored to be kicking sears out after the holidays.
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by Alpha8472 »

An empty anchor would be bad for mall, unless a higher paying business wants the space. Is Walmart or Costco offering to take over the space?
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