Yet More Sears/KMart Closings (announced 7 Nov 2019)

[laylalex 7,293]

Pier 1 is going into bankruptcy, as well: https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/17/business/pier-one-bankruptcy/index.html

[Steeleballz 7,550]

3 hours ago, laylalex said:

It's so weird to think about it, but you're right. I was looking at my Amazon account the other day and I could track transactions back to the very first one I made when I was 18, which was quite a while ago. I bought my dad a DVD of The Big Lebowski, apparently! One day Amazon will be something that is as outdated a model as Sears.

 

    The crazy thing about Amazon is most of their income came from web services until the last couple of years. Now their logistics division is taking business away from Fedex and UPS, and their streaming service competes with Netflix and Hulu. They have Whole foods too. Amazon is really into everything. Kind of like Omni corporation from the Robocop movie. I don't think it's as great as a lot of people seem to think it is. 

 

[Steeleballz 7,550]

4 hours ago, Cyberfx1024 said:

They are closing the last Kmart in NC

 

   Last one in Colorado is closing too. Now it's just a bunch of Walmarts and Targets.

[Boiler 45,717]

I went into one 15 plus years ago, what is the attraction, I did not see it.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

9 minutes ago, Boiler said:

I went into one 15 plus years ago, what is the attraction, I did not see it.

 

  Their stores have been a mess for a while now. Hence the end result. 

 

 

[TBoneTX 45,571]

7 hours ago, Burnt Reynolds said:

That's a long way to drive for the Kmart experience.

Presuming that I won't make it back to the Valley in time, future experiences will have to be by chance.

Was limited by having to fly vs. drive anyway.

6 hours ago, Cyberfx1024 said:

They are closing the last Kmart in NC

Deprivation loves company.

1 hour ago, Steeleballz said:

Last one in Colorado is closing too.

Deprivation loves company.

 

There are allegedly still a couple of hundred KMarts & Sears around, but where the dickens are they?

Edited February 18, 2020 by TBoneTX

[TBoneTX 45,571]

1 hour ago, Boiler said:

I went into one 15 plus years ago, what is the attraction, I did not see it.

Surprisingly good sales, excellent store-label (well, private-label) products, some stuff not apparently carried elsewhere.

1 hour ago, Steeleballz said:

Their stores have been a mess for a while now.

Some of the poorly managed ones years ago were pretty awful.  However, the last 3 that I visited regularly (Harlingen, TX; Lake Charles, LA; McAllen, TX) were bright, clean, well-organized, and fairly well-run.  Same with the 2 in Iowa that I hit in 2017.  Guess they found religion, but too late.

Edited February 18, 2020 by TBoneTX

[Neonred 3,576]

4 hours ago, Steeleballz said:

 

    The crazy thing about Amazon is most of their income came from web services until the last couple of years. Now their logistics division is taking business away from Fedex and UPS, and their streaming service competes with Netflix and Hulu. They have Whole foods too. Amazon is really into everything. Kind of like Omni corporation from the Robocop movie. I don't think it's as great as a lot of people seem to think it is. 

 

Too big and too successful.  Time for the government to break up Amazon.

[Neonred 3,576]

2 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

 

 

There are allegedly still a couple of hundred KMarts & Sears around, but where the dickens are they?

Three KMarts in the FL Keys.  Key Largo, Marathon, and Key West.  When you come down I'll take you on the grand KMart tour.

[OriZ 3,157]

Our Kmart closed years ago, but Sears just now. Bought a ton of stuff for $80 a few weeks ago.

[Dashinka 24,628]

9 hours ago, Boiler said:

I went into one 15 plus years ago, what is the attraction, I did not see it.

The blue flashing light.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

7 hours ago, TBoneTX said:

Surprisingly good sales, excellent store-label (well, private-label) products, some stuff not apparently carried elsewhere.

Some of the poorly managed ones years ago were pretty awful.  However, the last 3 that I visited regularly (Harlingen, TX; Lake Charles, LA; McAllen, TX) were bright, clean, well-organized, and fairly well-run.  Same with the 2 in Iowa that I hit in 2017.  Guess they found religion, but too late.

 

    Too many of them were like that. The other knock for me personally was you could go to two different KMarts and it was like going to  completely different chains. No consistency in the layout, in the products or in the store policies. You could grab a set of name brand tools at one location and the other wouldn't even stock that brand. One would be stocked and the other could have shelves half empty.

 

   I think the overall idea was to combine dollar store with department store. That wasn't a bad idea, but KMART took too much of the dollar store approach. That's probably what let Walmart in and eventually took over that segment of the consumer base. I don't care for Walmart much either, but the one near us is not too bad. If I need anything in a pinch, I will go there. If there's one thing to be learned from Amazon, it's that people want things easier and more convenient. KMART did the opposite. For the last 15 years, going to KMART was as likely as not to need a second stop at a different department store to get the items that KMART didn't have.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

5 hours ago, Neonred said:

Too big and too successful.  Time for the government to break up Amazon.

 

   I'm pretty sure it's on Trump's "to do" list. 

[yuna628 9,686]

Kmart wasn't too bad when it existed. I mean it was filthy, and the layout was whacky, but you could find good deals there. Sears on the other hand... good riddance. What their optical division did to their workers during 'restructuring' only to close afterall, was shameful.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

37 minutes ago, Bill & Katya said:

The blue flashing light.

 

    Yeah, for all those people looking for the chaos and disorganization model of the shopping experience, KMART was really on to something.