Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Predicting the demise of Sears & Kmart since 2017!
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Knight
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by Knight »

Considering store locations that have closed and are closing and the speculation of bankruptcy proceedings, Sears Holdings has reached its end. Sears and Kmart stores could utilize the holiday season to make sales and liquidate merchandise, fixtures, and assets, then they could close in January.
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by Super S »

Knight wrote: October 11th, 2018, 9:12 am Considering store locations that have closed and are closing and the speculation of bankruptcy proceedings, Sears Holdings has reached its end. Sears and Kmart stores could utilize the holiday season to make sales and liquidate merchandise, fixtures, and assets, then they could close in January.
Or we could have a situation like Montgomery Ward at the end, where they hold out until just after Christmas and make a going out of business announcement at that time. Either way, I think the day is very close.
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by Knight »

Montgomery Ward announced its end Tuesday, 26 December 2000.
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by reymann »

i think they sell off kmart to walmart and liquidate the remaining kmart stores and sears liquidates after the holidys.
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by babs »

reymann wrote: October 14th, 2018, 10:30 am i think they sell off kmart to walmart and liquidate the remaining kmart stores and sears liquidates after the holidys.
Walmart isn't buying what's left of Kmart. Not happening.
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by storewanderer »

babs wrote: October 14th, 2018, 10:49 am
reymann wrote: October 14th, 2018, 10:30 am i think they sell off kmart to walmart and liquidate the remaining kmart stores and sears liquidates after the holidys.
Walmart isn't buying what's left of Kmart. Not happening.
I think Kmart has 30-40 locations that would be valuable for Wal Mart. Some of them would require very extensive capital to get them up to Wal Mart's standards. Some locations that come to mind include stores like Corvallis, OR; Grass Valley, CA; Bishop, CA; Guam, much of Puerto Rico/Virgin Islands...

Most of Kmart is basically garbage at this point. These stores have been dragged through so much mud that it is well past over.
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by cjd »

The Kmart here probably could have made a nice smaller Walmart, as it was one of the relatively newer ones. But we already have a Supercenter a few miles away. I'm not sure who will fill the vacancy of the Kmart, Farm and Fleet was discussed but I'm not sure they even have stores around here. When the Sears goes out the mall will have two huge vacancies that will be hard to fill. Let's face it, there aren't that many retailers wanting to open huge stores right now, most are downsizing. Having a Sears and Kmart as anchors at opposite ends of a mall wasn't such a good idea after the merger.

I expect most of the Kmart locations will sit vacant, especially the older ones in less prominent locations. Some may be demolished and rebuilt into new uses either retail, office or housing. The Sears mall locations, as I said will be harder to fill.

Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard are separate entities along with possibly other brands. Lowes and Ace have rights to the Craftsman name, not sure who will buy the others if anyone. Amazon sells some Kenmore items so I do wonder if they will create some home appliance or floorcare division with the Sears designs and models.
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by kr.abs.swy »

The Jackson, Wyoming, store will be a major prize for someone. It is on the smaller side but is only about 30 years old (brand new by Kmart standards) and would be almost impossible to replicate today.

The pharmacy in the Corvallis store closed about two years ago, for what it's worth.
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by wnetmacman »

In any form of liquidation, there are several factors to consider:

None of the Kmart stores are of a size to match up with the current standards of Walmart. Walmart only wants to build Supercenters of 100,000 square feet or less. In just about every location, the Kmart store has a Walmart competitor. In the few that do not, the Kmart that does exist is too small to house a current Walmart, and even if it did, it wouldn't for long. Walmart would only use the space to get in, and then try to relocate later.

For the Sears stores, most malls are having issues getting anyone to take the whole buildings, unless it was a lower tier mall where the store is 100,000 square feet or less. The mammoth Sears stores just can't house a modern department store, so they are being broken up, but market saturation with these companies is getting high. That's why so many malls with these massive stores are just simply boarding them over or locking the whole mall all together.

Also, there still could be some sucker out there who may be able to make a go of Sears in its entirety. It's doubtful, but possible. My bet on that would be Amazon, simply because they are the only company in a financial position who wouldn't pose an antitrust threat to doing so. Walmart would have too much overlap.
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Re: Sears/Kmart Death Watch 2018

Post by cjd »

I don't think Walmart would be interested in Sears. I could see Amazon possibly using it to expand into appliances, repair services or auto repair. Plus they already sell some Sears items. On the other hand, I don't think they would be interested in operating brick and mortar stores, it kind of goes against their business model.
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