The heck with Walmart, Shop Kresge's

[hobub]

Depressing. K-Mart is dying off. Only way to prevent the inevitable is to shop there. And with Christmas around the corner...

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/22-depressing-photos-show-kmart-114018302.html

[jimsmegos]

Sad to see what has happened to those stores. It's been a good while since I've been in one but it's there own fault. Their prices were far from competitive from Walmart or Target. Customer service was abysmal. The overall look of the stores were so depressing. I hate for any company to fall apart but IMO K-Mart threw in the towel a decade ago.

[Werewolf]

The last Kmart in my area closed several years ago. It was run down, disorganized and dirty. Management clearly didn't care.

[MIB41]

K-Mart is very much a company on it's last legs. There is no effort put into the general upkeep of any of these stores, which means the local and regional management are probably under greater heat to keep expenses and staffing levels at a minimum while they monitor the bottom line for survival sake. Unfortunately appearance means everything, so when the company doesn't care, the customer doesn't either. Which means the customers that typically inhabit these stores are probably not capable of sustaining them on a profitable margin. This is why I like stores like Target. Presentation is everything to them and it makes the shopping experience that much more enjoyable. Plus you're more likely to see families and less riff-raff on both sides of the counter.

[ubermanx]

K-Mart is long gone here in Canada. Target bought up the old store leases and Walmart grabbed any Target didn't want.

And it's not going well for Target ... http://o.canada.com/business/target-canada-flop/

In my small town Target took a pass so we have two Walmarts and a Sears. The Sears only sells toys at Christmas and we still have a few boutique toy stores but they are usually full of Playmobil products. So for me it's either a road trip or whatever Walmart brings in ...

Marty

[palitoy]

Shop at your local merchants this Christmas, buy clothing made in your country, vote with your dollar.

[spacecaps]

The K-Mart close to me is crap. I won't even go in there. It's exactly like the one in the article. It's been like that since the 90's when I used to work there too. There is a Kmart a few towns over that time forgot though and is pretty cool. Inside it looks like the 70's never ended. A few years ago I went into one in New Hampshire and it still had the KMart Cafe in the back with the old brown booths and amber stained glass dividers. Honestly though, I'm surprised Kmart has lasted this long to begin with. Back in the day Kmart was a third choice behind Bradlees and Caldor. If you asked me back then which would be the first to go under, I would have said KMart yet somehow both of those other stores are gone and the Kmart is still there. Now I go to Target when I need to go to a store like that. Walmart is never an option.

[Iron Mego]

Shop at your local merchants this Christmas, buy clothing made in your country, vote with your dollar.

Unfortunately, the second part is harder and harder to do these days. About the only USA-manufactured clothing company I can think of right now is American Apparel.

[HardyGirl]

We lost 2 K-Mart stores years ago, but now we have Target (in Emeryville). I really don't live near enough to a Wal-Mart to make it worth my while, (any savings would go towards transportation), and since I don't have wheels, I shop from catalogs and the internet a lot of the time.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Most of the K-Marts near me have closed. The K-Mart in Georgetown isn't bad, but it seems outdated and ran by a skeleton crew. I do find some good finds there from time to time. Almost all the DCUC-style figures I've bought in the last several years have been on the occasional trips to that K-Mart.

Sears is closing in Fayette Mall in Lexington. This was THE anchor of the mall. It's sad to think that the once mighty giant who gave us those glorious Christmas catalogs (and Christmases!) will soon be no more.

Chris

[WannabeMego]

Didn't K-Mart buy Sears?

http://money.cnn.com/2004/11/17/news/fortune500/sears_kmart/

[johnnystorm]

We have a small Kmart, or 'Big K' as the sign says, & we rarely go there. They are very rundown, no staff, & they never seem to get anything new in, & the toy shelves are clogged with old stock no one wants that never gets clearances out. Sadly if & when they close, it'll just be another empty retail building sitting idle for years. There's one a couple towns over that closer about 10 years ago, and the plywood over the windows got torn off, kids use the place as a party hangout.

[megocrazy]

When you come right down to it, it's business. K-Mart has been mailing it in for years. I too, am surprised they've made it this long. It's tough to support a store like K-Mart when you usually can't find anything you're looking for when you go there.

[HapSlash]

But if you read that article, it almost sounds like they did so as to jump ship and grab a life raft. The company was renamed Sears Holdings, and is based at the Sears headquarters... As if they used up what was left of the Kmart holdings to purchase something that might be more profitable.


I remember when my local Kmart went under. I could see it coming as well, mostly in the way that their prices stopped being competitive, but also the way that they failed to keep up with current products. I would constantly go in there and find things that should have been clearanced out long before, still at full price with a layer of dust on it. And the selection seemed to lean farther and farther towards the type of inventory you find at dollar stores. It was sad, but what was worse was that Kmart took the local mall with it. It's like walking into a ghost town now.

[jwyblejr]

It's their own fault. Back in the late 80's they were warned about Walmart but chose to ignore it.