![Mr. Green :mrgreen:](./images/smilies/11_mrgreen.png)
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/11_rolleyes.png)
Kmart and Sears are a special case...when the companies merged, better leadership could've righted the ship and created a new plan going forward, like taking ideas from Sears Grand (and a few Sears Essentials-like stores that opened right before the merger, in former Wal-Mart buildings, no less) and repositioning Sears as a Target-like store to replace Kmart and the Sears in B-class (and below) malls, while changing the A-class Sears to a new, more upscale concept, and heck, with that rumor of SHLD buying Safeway in 2005, they could've really brought a proper food store concept to their stores without relying on third parties like Kmart did. (Of course, any and all of the chance of that sort of thing happening slowly drained out over the years, but it's a nice thought).TW-Upstate NY wrote: ↑August 6th, 2020, 8:51 am I agree with you but unfortunately, sentimentality has no place in the corporate world. All you have to do is check out E-Bay or go to an antique store and see all the retail artifacts for sale and I ought to know-I've bought enough of them over the yearsYou think for one minute fast Eddie has saved anything along those lines in regards to Sears or K-Mart. Oh, wait a minute-he probably has but then turned around and sold them for whatever he could get
You know, in a sense that's what we do here without even realizing it sometimes-we're helping preserve that history that bankruptcies and mergers pretty much kick to the curb. Somebody will throw out a name of a long forgotten defunct or consolidated chain and eventually maybe a former employee will chime in with their recollections of the company and their work experiences. This is what I love about boards like this and Groceteria for example-it's what we do and know what-I think we do it pretty well.
Maybe even better, find someone local who would buy the building and run a store to serve those needs, while also purchasing the memorabilia and keeping that there as a museum.Super S wrote: ↑August 6th, 2020, 8:27 am Given the location and size, the merchandise mix they had was probably more locally tailored than a typical JCPenney store. Kemmerer really doesn't have many other options.
The right thing to do, if the store does end up closing, would be to turn it in to a museum.
Target did rebuild T-1 as a Super Target, and I imagine the others were replaced too with larger stores at some point, but all the rest of them (I imagine) were all in major metropolitan areas, and unless Kemmerer's store was losing money hand over fist, I don't see why keeping or dropping Kemmerer has anything to do with the success of JCPenney, and the last decade has a smattering of much bigger mistakes--not reigning in Ron Johnson's expensive attempt to remake the company in his image, the ill-fated attempt to go into heavy appliances, and probably more I'm not mentioning.kr.abs.swy wrote: ↑August 7th, 2020, 10:38 am All, I appreciate that we all love the thought of the legacy first JC Penney store staying open for another 100 years, but the reality is that this is a store that has not fit with JC Penney's business model for decades. It's a tiny store (I've been in it), it doesn't have many of the departments that a typical Penney's store would have, it's outdated, and it's in a tiny town. It hasn't made sense to operate it for decades, but management team after management team has looked the other way and kept it open. It's hours from any sort of metro area, so even if people were interested in it for nostalgia, it just isn't easy to get to.
It doesn't make sense to criticize JC Penney for not making some of the hard decisions that should have been made over the past few decades while at the same time telling them they should keep a store open that doesn't fit their current model and probably barely breaks even, if that, and almost certainly doesn't earn back its cost of capital. It's a distraction. Every second that an executive spends thinking about what to do with this outlier store is a second they aren't spending thinking about fixing JC Penney.
It's a fluke of history that this still exists. I can't imagine that Sears, Macys, Dillards, Target, Kohl's, etc., still operate their first store out of nostalgia. The one possible exception is Walmart, which I believe turned the original store into a museum of some sort.
All that said, I hope they figure out a way to keep it open, too.
I suppose if they want to go with the nostalgia/tourist attraction thought, they should look towards South Dakota. After all, who would have thought that people from all over would know about a drug store (that, of course, has turned into much more over the years) in a small town there?kr.abs.swy wrote: ↑August 7th, 2020, 10:38 am All, I appreciate that we all love the thought of the legacy first JC Penney store staying open for another 100 years, but the reality is that this is a store that has not fit with JC Penney's business model for decades. It's a tiny store (I've been in it), it doesn't have many of the departments that a typical Penney's store would have, it's outdated, and it's in a tiny town. It hasn't made sense to operate it for decades, but management team after management team has looked the other way and kept it open. It's hours from any sort of metro area, so even if people were interested in it for nostalgia, it just isn't easy to get to.
All that said, I hope they figure out a way to keep it open, too.
I agree, Belk is a southern store. Their merchandise mix caters more to the affluent customer that is looking for a specific look. Brands like Southern Tide, Columbia, etc. Most everything they sell is name brand, they do have a few private labels such as crown & ivy. Their shoe departments are very small. They also have a small but decent housewares department.storewanderer wrote: ↑July 28th, 2020, 12:24 pm
I've never been in a Belk. How are their stores? I've traveled to many places with a Belk but never went into one...
Isn't Sycamore the same group that runs Staples? That store has turned into such a zombie under Sycamore.
Also curious why they only want to keep 250 stores open. Maybe the plan is to do full remodels to these 250 stores and actually make them really great stores? And they can only afford to remodel that many stores? Maybe those 250 stores are at what are considered to be the remaining A malls?
If that is the case- find another buyer for remaining stores. I think those little small town 40k square foot JCP Stores are some of their better performing stores from what I see, under the current JCP format (run down outdated stores with high priced goods that lack anything beyond the bare minimum level of style and quality).
I don't see this working out at all. Why would they rebrand to Belk in the Western and Mountain States (and the East Coast?). Belk is a Southern brand. These are different markets. Very different markets. I also think JCP has a very different customer. I could see maybe eliminating JCP where there is overlap.
Maybe they have assessed that JCP is so broken that replacing it with a regional brand geared toward the Southern United States is a better bet. I do think JCP is very broken, but this is definitely not the answer.
How does Belk stand up against Dillards and Macys? Does it outperform them? Why shop Belk over Dillards or Macys (or Kohls)?
pseudo3d wrote: ↑August 7th, 2020, 1:27 pmTarget did rebuild T-1 as a Super Target, and I imagine the others were replaced too with larger stores at some point, but all the rest of them (I imagine) were all in major metropolitan areas, and unless Kemmerer's store was losing money hand over fist, I don't see why keeping or dropping Kemmerer has anything to do with the success of JCPenney, and the last decade has a smattering of much bigger mistakes--not reigning in Ron Johnson's expensive attempt to remake the company in his image, the ill-fated attempt to go into heavy appliances, and probably more I'm not mentioning.kr.abs.swy wrote: ↑August 7th, 2020, 10:38 am All, I appreciate that we all love the thought of the legacy first JC Penney store staying open for another 100 years, but the reality is that this is a store that has not fit with JC Penney's business model for decades. It's a tiny store (I've been in it), it doesn't have many of the departments that a typical Penney's store would have, it's outdated, and it's in a tiny town. It hasn't made sense to operate it for decades, but management team after management team has looked the other way and kept it open. It's hours from any sort of metro area, so even if people were interested in it for nostalgia, it just isn't easy to get to.
It doesn't make sense to criticize JC Penney for not making some of the hard decisions that should have been made over the past few decades while at the same time telling them they should keep a store open that doesn't fit their current model and probably barely breaks even, if that, and almost certainly doesn't earn back its cost of capital. It's a distraction. Every second that an executive spends thinking about what to do with this outlier store is a second they aren't spending thinking about fixing JC Penney.
It's a fluke of history that this still exists. I can't imagine that Sears, Macys, Dillards, Target, Kohl's, etc., still operate their first store out of nostalgia. The one possible exception is Walmart, which I believe turned the original store into a museum of some sort.
All that said, I hope they figure out a way to keep it open, too.