Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Predicting the demise of Sears & Kmart since 2017!
Alpha8472
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by Alpha8472 »

The 80s or 90s style Kmart photos were $3 on the second to last day. Perhaps they sent the rest of the signs to another store. The old retro stuff must have missed the truck going to the other stores. I thought about buying the photos just for nostalgia. They might be collector's items one day.
Last edited by Alpha8472 on February 19th, 2020, 6:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
storewanderer
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by storewanderer »

I actually had one of the final transactions the day the Kmart in Sparks, NV closed after the store had formally closed which was a Sunday afternoon around 1 PM, and they were down to maybe five or six other customers behind me with purchases and while waiting in line employees were clearing the last few racks of items and while I was in the store employees were getting called back to HR one at a time probably for their walking papers. While it was sad in a sense, all of the employees in this store with the exception of the store manager were younger and clearly had not been working there long and probably already had new jobs lined up. Their behavior was no different on the last day than it was before the store was even announced for closure. Just indifferent. For its last day they were 95% off and a lot of odd items were present, some damaged packages, etc. Fixture sales took place later but I did not go back for that. That sale, the liquidation firm seeded in a lot of extra items and it was pretty well stocked even the second to last day there were 5 grocery aisles filled with random items (mostly not grocery but they consolidated into that space) along with a surprising amount of odd clothing.

When the Super Kmart closed in Reno a number of years back, I did go in on the last day, but it was in the morning and still only at 90% off. Lot of long term employees in there, nobody was being told if they were getting transferred or severance until after the store closed (ironically most wanted the severance... but the deal was if offered a transfer within 50 miles you had to take it or they wouldn't pay the severance...), and it was just very sad. A couple of the managers told me it may go to 95% off as the afternoon went on but I just couldn't stick around there to watch the actual time of shut down.

Sears/Kmart sure provided a steady stream of liquidation sales over the past 20 years.
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by kr.abs.swy »

Coastal Farm & Ranch will take over the Corvallis, Oregon, Kmart space: https://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local ... cc7f5.html

Due to anti-big box regulations in Corvallis, this was the most realistic option for Target to enter this market or for Walmart to upgrade from its Neighborhood Market, and I am surprised that Target or Walmart are not taking over this location. The Coastal will compete directly with a new Wilco store that is basically on the other side of a Safeway store (across the road that is used to access a Home Depot) in the same shopping area.

It is hypothetically possible that Safeway had some kind of right to veto tenants and refused to allow Walmart or Target based on the percentage of their sales that would have been grocery, but that is 100% speculation on my part.

There has been a lot of turnover in this shopping center. A former Staples store is now an Ashley furniture store. The Kmart closed. A McGrath's restaurant closed (and is vacant). The Wilco opened about five years ago. Quizno's and Radio Shack locations both closed. The Safeway isn't an overperformer.

The Kmart sign remans on the building for now.
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by storewanderer »

Went to Kmart today. Every week gets better and better. There are a few changes every week.

They have a ton of additional summer seasonal now. Limited garden items, in the "Essential Garden" label primarily. Also they have what looks like half a truck of patio chair cushions. These were interesting. They look new. The tag on them shows "date of delivery" of August 2018 so not exactly new. I wonder if there were bought last year and just now distributed? This store has no back room so they likely were not sitting on them, plus the boxes look new. Noticed all of these garden items said "distributed by Kmart Corporation Hoffman Estates, IL" but I have seen some more recent items that said "distributed by Transform KM" so I do wonder if these items are actually recent or were sitting in the warehouse from last season.

The food aisles continue to dwindle to nothing. They disassembled all but about 4 feet of the chips display (since Frito Lay seems to have long stopped coming in) and put shelving up in that space and filled those shelves with cases of water. The store does seem to have a supply of Pepsi products again but no other soda. Dish soap selection is very limited but the laundry needs area was quite full and had a decent assortment of SKUs. The paper product aisle is particularly interesting. There are exactly 3 SKUs on the entire paper aisle. The shelves are actually full, but only of 3 SKUs: Bounty 8 pack paper towels fill half of the aisle, the other half has a mixture of 6pk and 12pk Best Yet Bath Tissue. No name brand bath tissue available.

The full aisle of coffee makers in what was previously a kitchen appliance area was also quite humorous but at the same time very sad.

Clothing area is very full.

While in the store multiple customers were asking the employees where items were and the employees would respond if "well it would be ... if we still have any of that..."

I wonder how long this can go on.
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by Alpha8472 »

The shelter in place for the San Francisco Bay Area and many parts of California has affected mall stores. Are any Sears stores closing as well? Supposedly Sears Auto Centers are deemed as essential stores and are allowed to remain open as well as hardware stores. The Sears Auto Center is open. Is the main store open? It might qualify as a hardware store. Many malls are deserted as Macy's and other clothing stores have shut down across the nation. Many mall restaurants have closed as well. Restaurants are allowed to open if they do take out or drive through only, but many mall restaurants have given up. The malls have practically no customers.
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by TW-Upstate NY »

This might be the way it ends for them-they'll just close the stores like many others are doing now and when this eventually ends, just don't reopen them. They were devoid of product under normal circumstances so they really serve no purpose trying to hang on now. Might just be the out (or excuse) fast Eddie (who should be in jail for what he did to not one but two of the greatest retailers of all time) is looking for.
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by storewanderer »

Today it came out Sears sold Innovel its home delivery arm to Costco for $1 billion. Wow. That was worth keeping the stores afloat for. I am surprised how much Costco paid for this.
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by storewanderer »

Temporary hours at Kmart are 10 AM to 6 PM.

Given how the store probably has not been cleaned in about 5 years, given the current situation, I opted to not go in.
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by BillyGr »

storewanderer wrote: March 20th, 2020, 10:35 pm Temporary hours at Kmart are 10 AM to 6 PM.

Given how the store probably has not been cleaned in about 5 years, given the current situation, I opted to not go in.
Though if we still had one and I was in need of one of those hard to find items, it might have been a tempting place to check out... ;)
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Re: Sears/Kmart: Will 2020 be the end?

Post by Super S »

TW-Upstate NY wrote: March 18th, 2020, 8:25 am This might be the way it ends for them-they'll just close the stores like many others are doing now and when this eventually ends, just don't reopen them. They were devoid of product under normal circumstances so they really serve no purpose trying to hang on now. Might just be the out (or excuse) fast Eddie (who should be in jail for what he did to not one but two of the greatest retailers of all time) is looking for.
Disasters have been a convenient excuse for Kmart not to reopen in the past. There was the fairly recent fire at the store in Santa Rosa where they decided not to rebuild, as well as a store in Saginaw Township, Michigan that never reopened after snow caused part of the roof to collapse.

While the Coronavirus outbreak has not resulted in physical damage to the stores, many malls are closed which are likely affecting Sears (although the stores themselves may be able to stay open) and Kmart is a chain that has fallen off of the radar for many people due to how many have closed, and due to their terrible stocking abilities (based on what I have been reading)

Kmart, and to a lesser extent Sears, technically qualify as essential, but given how many stores have been operating over the past year, it's more like barely essential in some cases.

I have no Kmarts left close to me, and only one full-line Sears which is a couple hours away, so I can't comment on how current events have affected in-store operations. I wouldn't be surprised though if current events bring the end to one or both chains.
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