Sears/K-Mart Stores Closing

[mysterywedge]

I say this respectfully, and humorously... 

You need to get out (and eat pizza) way more often.

 

With what I have? I'd be lucky if I could eat pizza in a month. 

The one place I do order from occasiolly is Domino's. Best pizza in the world.

[themountainclimber]

The one place I do order from occasiolly is Domino's. Best pizza in the world.

This.

On topic, I'm not a big fan of Sears/K-Mart anyways. Honestly wouldn't matter to me if my local ones closed down.

[kianworld]

Meh.

I'm not a fan of store closings, a K-Mart was near here, but closed in 2009-10.
Also somewhat off-topic, K-Mart owned Waldenbooks and Borders til' 1995, and you know what happened to those two bookstores. :P

[imhomerjay]

With regard to the infamous Blue Light Specials, I was the "Blue Light" guy during my time there, doing the primary announcing of those specials (on weekends, anyway). It was funny to watch people follow that old contraption around as we would discount the already clearanced merchandise just to get it the heck out of the way. Pre-inventory was the best time...we'd just about give it away to not have to count it during the excruciating inventory process.

At the time, there were no Walmarts in the area, and Target wasn't even in the consciousness of our part of the country. Yet, still, despite the sincere best efforts of....well, most of....the staff, you couldn't help but see the problems with the company.

[PimpinJC]

Up until the beginning of this year, I had not been in a Kmart for nearly 6 years, when both Kmarts in Mobile closed down.  One of them opened back up as Sears after closing, became Sears essentials a few years later, and, ironically, switched back over to Kmart a few months ago.

I must be the odd one out, but I've actually found slightly more variety at Kmart than at Walmart, at roughly the same price or even slightly cheaper (for non-food items).  On top of that, the Kmart staff is at least friendly and know where the items are in the store.  (Assuming I can even find a sales associate at Walmart, most of them have no idea where an item is in the store.  Their only response is "If it isn't on the shelf, we don't have it," to something I could've easily overlooked.)  And Kmart is still the only place where I can find my favorite Peanut Butter Twix.

I agree with everyone else, though, that the interior looks run down and dated.  Both stores that I've been in since this year look like they haven't been updated since the mid 90s.  Both stores still have the "Blue Light Special" signs/carts from the early 2000s, even though they've long been discontinued.  One store used the old K-Cafe as a storage area (still had the cafe there) while the other one had replaced the K-Cafe with the baby section.  I have seen the amount of shoppers slowly decrease throughout the year, though.

It will be sad when Kmart finally does go bankrupt, as it will give stores like Walmart an even greater monopoly.  But, I will not be surprised.  I will be shocked if the Sears name goes away forever, though.  They look in much better shape.

[sideshowPA]

With regard to the infamous Blue Light Specials, I was the "Blue Light" guy during my time there, doing the primary announcing of those specials (on weekends, anyway). It was funny to watch people follow that old contraption around as we would discount the already clearanced merchandise just to get it the heck out of the way.

LOL, we have something in common.  I was blue-light guy for a while as well.  Little old ladies following you around on weekends to see where I was headed next.

[imhomerjay]

Gooooood afternoon Kmart shoppers....it's that time again. The famous blue light is now flashing in our [men's/women's/toddler's/whatever] department. That means for the next 15 minutes and 15 minutes only, we'll be taking an extra [whatever we think we can get away with this week since the manager isn't stuck working today] off our already discounted clearance merchandise. Be sure to have your merchandise re-priced by one of our associates, and remember, this special is only for the next 15 minutes [or until the vultures pick the rack clean]. And as always, thanks for shopping at the [tiny town] Kmart."

Ah....memories.   

I was also often tapped to do the weekend night closing announcements, and general assorted similar stuff until the time came to move on.

[urbanpreppie0004]

I worked at sears from 2007-2010.

This is not surprising in the slightest. I was expecting more stores, honestly.

When the chains merged it was thought that Kmart stores would become sears essentials or grand stores. In fact, there was talk of renovating the stores across the board. Guess what...never happened. Instead, they further watered down the kenmore brand by placing those products in Kmart stores, and for reasons I'll never understand, kept the Kmart name (which is not held up for affordability like Walmart or trendiness like target) and dropped the grand/essentials rollout. The stores that did get it weren't changed very much at all.

The worst part is that sears and Kmart(shockingly) have had some good ideas. Kmart had a group of test stores in upper central IL that had wider aisles and a gray and green scheme. Sears had a test concept in Georgia that reverted back to the script logo of the 60s, used hardwood floors and broke down the merchandising a bit differently.

If they want to survive, they need to change. Period.

[Alfonzo]

With respect, Alfonzo, your gripe isn't with Kmart, but with the local government.  A retail establishment cannot use eminent domain to force people off their property:  only the government itself can do that, and if it hadn't been Kmart, you can rest assured said government would have found something else to put there.

You're 100% correct, Patrick and I actually am aware of eminent domain law (I was secretly waiting for someone to call me out on it.  ) I think I was just airing out my own personal grudges I have with the way the store left the neighborhood (Which had seen much better days).

EDIT: There are now several stand-alone Little Caesar's in my area. The big selling point for them is that their large pizzas are $5 ($7 for a deep dish)

[JerseyBob]

There are now several stand-alone Little Caesar's in my area. The big selling point for them is that their large pizzas are $5 ($7 for a deep dish)

I don't know how well Little Caesar's is doing in the rest of the country, but I don't see many (any?) stand-alone stores in the Northeast anymore.  I remember a few being around many years ago (they had those memorable "Pizza!  Pizza!" commercials).  They also used to sell pizzas that could be any length the customer ordered, didn't they?  Would it be safe to say, if not for the stores inside K-Marts, Little Caesar's would be out of business by now?

EDIT:  I just did a search on Google Maps, and there are more than I thought (several in NJ, NY and Pennsylvania).  Certainly fewer than there used to be, but more than I expected.

[FieldsFan336]

We haven't had a Kmart in Toronto for years now.  According to That Other Wiki, Kmart Canada folded in '98 with all their stores becoming Zellers.  In an odd turn of events, 15 years later most Zellers stores are being rebranded as Target stores with their first venture into Canada.

I've been working at the Zellers store at Erin Mills Town Centre for a little over four months now, and we're scheduled to convert to Target some time in the new year along with Square One and many others in the bigger urban areas - we are still waiting for our notice.  Some stores in smaller towns will stay as Zellers stores, others will eventually be turned into Sobeys stores, Canadian Tire stores and Wal-Mart stores (the store in Georgetown falls under the latter), and there are other stores they don't know what to do with them

[jmorgan]

There was a K-Mart where I live that closed down several years ago. Now, it's the local Ford car dealer there. Ironically, while the then-new Wal-Mart was being built across the street, I would shop at K-Mart during lunch (I worked at Wal-Mart at the time).

We still have a Sears here which is located in a shopping center. In fact, my brother works there.

[GuyWithFace]

My local K-Mart...I have not visited in quite some time. Last I went there, the place was shoddy, the employees incompetent, and the restrooms located at the top of a flight of stairs (which was also right next to the employee clock-in/out area). My mother worked there briefly, and her body ached from using those stairs several times per day.

I have two Target stores nearby -- the two-floor one has a Starbucks near the exit (as I learned the last time I went there, picking up The Price Is Right 2010 for Wii on clearance for something like $5), and the Super Target has a Pizza Hut at the front of the store. There is a third one quite some distance away, which is located within a mall (the only one I have seen of its kind).

Wal-Mart...I have not been to in some time, either. Last I recall, the one nearest to me replaced the cafe with Subway, and "replaced" all the regular employees that used to be there (including one of my aunts) with their own...which I and my mother thought was redundant and a waste.

The local Sears...used to be connected to an indoor mall as did the other "large" stores there, but said mall has since turned into a far less enjoyable outdoor one.

[Axl]

With respect, Alfonzo, your gripe isn't with Kmart, but with the local government.  A retail establishment cannot use eminent domain to force people off their property:  only the government itself can do that, and if it hadn't been Kmart, you can rest assured said government would have found something else to put there.

I think that's an oversimplification.  I've seen these sorts of deals up close, and it's usually the tail wagging the dog.  I doubt the local government was already preparing to condemn those properties and then discovered -- Holy crap! -- it just so happens that Kmart is interested in building there!  Obviously the government made eminent domain happen, but I suspect it was at the behest of Kmart.

If they want to survive, they need to change. Period.

More importantly, they need to innovate.  They've had a problem for decades of doing little more than constantly playing catch-up with what Walmart is already doing.  I remember a period in the 80's when Walmart starting accepting returns with just a receipt and basically no questions asked, while Kmart still made you literally fill out a form in carbon triplicate explaining precisely what was wrong with the product (usually after already explaining it to an employee who seemed disinclined to take it back).  Of course Kmart eventually changed that, but only after they'd chased away a lot of customers.

[trytobecharming]

Would it be safe to say, if not for the stores inside K-Marts, Little Caesar's would be out of business by now?

.

Little Caesar's did have standalone commercials on the local station this year.