Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Predicting the demise of Sears & Kmart since 2017!
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Re: Big Bear Lake, CA specifically

Post by SamSpade »

storewanderer wrote: December 10th, 2020, 12:00 am Big Bear Lake, CA Kmart closure was announced this week. It will close in January. Building was supposedly sold.

Kmart store count is around 33 after this closure.
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Re: Big Bear Lake, CA specifically

Post by storewanderer »

SamSpade wrote: December 11th, 2020, 10:54 am
At least they have Big 5 Sporting Goods for shoes, gloves, etc. that tourists (and locals) might need. There are a number of small clothing boutiques it looks like for style (albeit likely at a higher price). There's a couple hardware stores, hopefully they can diversify into carrying more kitchen appliances and home basics. There's a few furniture stores, a few auto parts stores and a tire shop. There's petco for pets. VONS and Stater Bros. for groceries and basics. Several other pizza shops. There are a few nurseries.

Whether another "general" retailer comes to town or not, likely most of what KMart sold can be found elsewhere, just not all in one place or under a 'well known' label.
Any store that goes in there, will better serve the community than Kmart has in its current form the past year. Kmart has closed most departments and at this point is basically running a store with Fallas-level (that means, below Ross) clothing and whatever C&S can send them on food/drug at outrageous prices with little to no promotion.

Kmart has not really sold home basics or kitchen items this entire year, though in the past month they have gotten a large load of off brand hangers and various off brand non-stick pans in stock to fill almost an aisle each. Same goes for the hardware/auto category, the past year they are basically just selling off whatever has been sitting on the shelves for the past few years and replenishment is very limited, aisles have been closed off, etc.

Petco (which has discontinued mainstream pet food brands like Pedigree, Alpo, and Friskies) does not sell any of the same brands of pet food as Kmart so the grocery stores would be a more logical move to take the pet food sales Kmart had and probably both have a better mix anyway.

It will be interesting to see if Target is who takes this building. Target would better serve the community, increase employment, and definitely generate more sales tax revenue.
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by veteran+ »

The Big Bear market is a very difficult market to manage for any retailer.

Challenging on all levels. Not all retailers that have remained are legitimately profitable.

The balancing of extreme low volume and high volume in this intense seasonal area is a tough one (I would say more than Palm Springs).

Even the type and skill level of the store manger is critical. I know of quite a few super talented store managers that just couldn't do it.

Any retailer entering this market, even during best of times, had better do their homework thoroughly.
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by jamcool »

Another possibility is Tractor Supply Co., which has hardware and auto departments, and pet and garden supplies. TSC seems to be building stores at the edges of metropolitan areas where there are a lot of weekend farmers/ranchers
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by storewanderer »

I went to the South Lake Tahoe Kmart today. I cannot believe it, but they have done some very major restocking to this store. They still have closed off about 6 aisles at the back of the store and the hardlines areas that are open are in rough shape. They don't really have a bed/bath or sporting goods department anymore either. However, they have completely refilled the 8 aisle or so home/kitchen area now (last time I was there only 2 aisles were refilled- most of the summer these aisles were all empty) with large quantities of few SKUs of various items including kitchen electrics, pans, flatware, cutlery, and more. I am not familiar with most of the brands. The prices seem very very high. The clothing area is very heavily stocked with odd brand items; they have a ton of coats and boots, far more than before, and heavy promotional activity there.

Store is open 8 AM to 8 PM (before it was open 10 AM to 6 PM) and only had about 5 employees this afternoon. Not many customers and not many people buying anything. But I am very surprised by the amount of restocking that has taken place. They also have music playing again- Christmas music, and piped in announcements about mask wearing and social distancing. One last sort of gasp, I guess this is.
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by klkla »

I think either Walmart or Target would want it. It's a very good location that even does fairly well during the summer.
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by Jeff »

klkla wrote: December 13th, 2020, 10:09 am I think either Walmart or Target would want it. It's a very good location that even does fairly well during the summer.
If both didnt open in the Kmart spot in Bishop, I highly doubt that they'll open in Big Bear. The logistics to get the trucks up the mountain are tough, even though the back way in from Victorville is fairly straight compared to the other ways. Plus the size of the store is too small for Walmart, even if it was scaled back. Its only 80k sq ft. Good size though for Target.
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by lake52 »

klkla wrote: December 13th, 2020, 10:09 am I think either Walmart or Target would want it. It's a very good location that even does fairly well during the summer.


This is probably a longshot, but I could see Raleys wanting to get out of their aging and awkward store that is adjacent. This would be a good opportunity for them to replace one of their busier stores with a new build. Target has had at least two opportunities to get into SLT, they for whatever reason have never wanted to.

I don't think Walmart could ever get a store approved in Tahoe.

I really think that if someone wanted this SLT store, they simply would have paid Kmart for it. You can tell by the stores Kmart has left. They're niche stores that make money, but no one else really wants them.
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by storewanderer »

lake52 wrote: December 13th, 2020, 6:59 pm
This is probably a longshot, but I could see Raleys wanting to get out of their aging and awkward store that is adjacent. This would be a good opportunity for them to replace one of their busier stores with a new build. Target has had at least two opportunities to get into SLT, they for whatever reason have never wanted to.

I don't think Walmart could ever get a store approved in Tahoe.

I really think that if someone wanted this SLT store, they simply would have paid Kmart for it. You can tell by the stores Kmart has left. They're niche stores that make money, but no one else really wants them.
Raleys spent a lot of money expanding that Y Store maybe 15 years ago. They expanded on the side toward Kmart (basically reconstructed bakery/deli/hot food into that space- so all of those departments are in recent/modern space), re-did the ceiling throughout, etc. in there, and as a result, it really comes off like a (very long, very shallow) new building. I'm not sure if maybe some of the other elements of the store (meat prep, walk in refrigeration/freezers, dairy, etc.) are very old- I think that store is from the early 70's. That store really packs the customers in during a lot of the year so I think they need all the space they have there. Their current store is larger than the South Lake Tahoe Kmart is. Though Raleys is moving toward smaller stores, this particular location in South Lake Tahoe still seems to be one where the larger format makes sense.

What you see of the South Lake Tahoe Kmart on the customer sales floor is basically the entire space they have there. The South Lake Tahoe Kmart has basically no backroom space (other than a very small area on the side of the store closest to the highway, for offices, layaway, and enough space to unload a very small truck into), the full Kmart backroom is a block away at 1030 Tata Lane at the now-closed "garden center" and they then load products between the receiving area/back room at the garden center and main store in a moving van.

I will be very surprised if Target doesn't take the Kmart space... previous opportunities, Target was more stubborn on store size and format; now, the time is right, Target is interested in expanding into smaller format stores now and has become very flexible on store size. I think the space is too small for Wal Mart.
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

With that Big Bear closure, Kmart only has two stores left in SoCal: Costa Mesa and Long Beach. The question is, how much longer until those stores get shut? I wouldn't be surprised if these stores are on the next closure list...
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