kr.abs.swy wrote: ↑September 29th, 2021, 10:50 pm
The sense that Sears/Kmart has been run for cash for 15 years without any intention to build a meaningful business over the long term, regardless of the number of empty boxes and unemployed employees, is really not in dispute and has been discussed here. What I don't understand is their flailing attempts at the "dead end initiatives," as you mentioned. I remember there was briefly a small store in a mall in Portland that sold only fitness goods (maybe a partnership of some sort with someone like NordicTrack, but it was Sears-branded). There were the Kmarts added to a few of the Sears locations. There are the -- count them -- 3 Home and Life stores that are, ahem, not exactly blanketing the country. It feels like someone dreamt up a prototype, someone else approved the absolute bare minimum amount to test it, and it was doomed to fail because not enough was invested to make it viable. So why even bother? Just for example, the mall fitness store in Portland wasn't open long enough for anyone to know it was there. From what I've read, they didn't even bother to figure out a way to integrate the systems at the Bronx Sears/Kmarts, so people had to check out at Kmart before they left to go to Sears (seriously -- like would you ever expect to have to check out at the grocery side of SuperTarget before you go over to the housewares?). And they don't even have a Home & Life store in each time zone. I just don't understand the decision to invest a penny in these dead-end initiatives, because they didn't even invest enough to do a proper test. But what do I know ... I've never bankrupted a company.
Also remember Sears Essentials/Sears Grand- they had all of the Kmart consumables in those stores but they used the Sears cash register and Sears shelf tags, etc. It makes no sense why that co-branded Sears/Kmart needed to have the Kmart IT installed when Sears had previously handled all of those items.
Whatever the case may be Kmart's fate was sealed in the first bankruptcy. When they closed their newer stores (including half of the Super Kmarts) yet kept a ton of old 70's stores in the wrong neighborhoods around because they were cheap leases and "made more money" it was clear Kmart was going to have a really difficult future.
Sears... is a little different. Poorly run and unfocused for decades it was still quite a force in appliance retailing and certain other categories and despite ongoing struggles in softlines it was still selling a significant dollar volume of softlines. While Sears bumbled around a lot it was still moving a lot of merchandise even as recently as 5 years ago and still present in most major markets in the US up until about 3 years ago.
Ed Lampert is probably proud he kept the chains open as long as he did. Anyone else would have shut Kmart down by 2010 and probably shut Sears down in 2017, given the condition of the two chains.
I also think they were slated to shut down entirely in 2020, but due to COVID, stayed open longer.
As far as I am concerned it is over for Kmart. I don't like this lone Kmart remaining out west in Grass Valley, CA. The store doesn't play any music, it is overly clean inside, poorly stocked, neatly merchandised, and overpriced. The exterior of the facility is rather neutral looking (does not look run down). I am used to the typical Kmart experience of loud bad music, odd but consistent odor in the store, not very clean store, messy store, and poorly maintained exterior so this Grass Valley Store just doesn't do the trick. It just feels like a generic store with random items, not like Kmart.