Is 2021 finally the end for Sears/Kmart?

[BillyGr]

Makes sense that there would be JC Penney ads, since at least they still have enough stores in many areas to warrant them.

Probably pretty hard to afford anything (especially TV) for Kmart/Sears, when there may be only one store in a particular market area.

[ClownLoach]

I would guess that at this point there are no leased Sears or Kmart stores still operating. The store stays open selling a few liquidation buys that Big Lots rejected until they find someone else to sell or lease the building to (which has been Target quite a bit lately) and then the store closing sign goes up.

Lampert named the new holding company TransformCo for a reason - to transform from being a dying retailer to a landlord.

Anything that was not profitable under a lease was closed in the bankruptcy. There is no way except for one store that they could afford to pay rent and stay open. I would imagine the only location that was leased but remained open was the NYC location probably because it somehow broke even, and as soon as the landlord got the ability to boot them for Wegmans they did.

[Romr123]

Marshall, MI KMart (just now being closed) is a leased store--according to local media a California landlord (!).

[ClownLoach]

Marshall, MI KMart (just now being closed) is a leased store--according to local media a California landlord (!).

Must have been a very ironclad lease to survive the Chapter 11. Or a landlord that had offered significant concessions. Or a store with a missing co-anchor allowing for high rent reductions. Or most likely - a store with a leaseback deal through the "Seritage" front for Eddie Lampert - where he owns the store but it has to pay him rent through a shell company. I just can't imagine how a leased box the size of a Sears or Kmart could break even with the non existant levels of sales.

[storewanderer]

Must have been a very ironclad lease to survive the Chapter 11. Or a landlord that had offered significant concessions. Or a store with a missing co-anchor allowing for high rent reductions. Or most likely - a store with a leaseback deal through the "Seritage" front for Eddie Lampert - where he owns the store but it has to pay him rent through a shell company. I just can't imagine how a leased box the size of a Sears or Kmart could break even with the non existant levels of sales.

I am quite sure much of the merchandise they are being pushed in the "open" stores is being sourced by the liquidation firms. Even if the store doesn't say it is closing, it is basically being handled in a manner similar to a closing store. There are not really any more plan-o-grams and beyond percent off promotions in softlines there isn't much in the way of promotions in the rest of the store. It is possible they got some new plan-o-grams on the C&S groceries in 2020. What the motivation is for the timing of these closures is more than a mystery but I suspect it has something to do with royalties from assets they have sold off.

I don't know about Marshall, MI and why it is (or was) still there but to me the most random is Hamilton, MT. Still has the old teal/red sign. Why...

[Romr123]

The media in Michigan didn't have much other than "local people sad it's closing". They did have a pharmacy, and had Little Caesars until a couple years ago...strip center with a SpartanNash supermarket and fuel center(Family Fare?), RiteAid (former Cunningham inline), credit union, card shop, etc etc....strip center was in perfectly nice condition (parking lot etc). Key seemed to be that there was no competition in the town (quite a pretty, prosperous town---bed and breakfasts, museum, live theatre, biggish hospital, etc) but for Family Dollar/Dollar General/Tractor Service; the Battle Creek shopping strip was 20 minutes west on I-94(Meijer/Walmart/big boxes), Jackson is 25 minutes east/I-94 (Meijer/Walmart/big boxes), Coldwater is 25 minutes south on I-69 (Meijer/Walmart), and Charlotte is 25 minutes north on I-69 (Meijer/Walmart).
There is enough money and desire to keep the town quaint that folks with $$$ were often commuting for work to Battle Creek (Kellogg/VA Hospital) /Jackson (local power utility's HQ); those who didn't have $$ saw KMart as usefully better than Family Dollar/Dollar General and kept it viable.

[HCal]

https://www.prlog.org/12888300-sears-de ... group.html

I really don't know what to believe anymore...

EDIT: This appears to be fake. Sorry for not checking it more closely before posting.

[retailfanmitchell019]

https://www.prlog.org/12888300-sears-de ... group.html

I really don't know what to believe anymore...

Reading the article: "Too many years of decline and poor management will be wiped out with the stroke of a pen."
Yeah, right. I can only see them keeping Sears Hometown. I expect this new group to liquidate Kmart and the mainline Sears stores quickly once the acquisition is complete.
Sears is closing its last store on Long Island: https://www.longisland.com/news/10-04-2 ... osing.html

[jamcool]

Supposedly the owner of Sears Mexico is behind this. A new hispanic-oriented retailer with the Sears name?

[timanny]

https://www.prlog.org/12888300-sears-de ... group.html

I really don't know what to believe anymore...

There may not be anything to believe. The article was written by a "Barry Goldwater" and there is also a reference to "Jerry Stiller Promotions" on the page. A dead senator and dead actor reporting on the fate of Sears?