K-Mart

[shakethis1234]

Kmarts lease was till 2016 or 2018 but college let them out of the lease so they could expand the school

[buzz86us]

kmart in Albany is closed going to be turned into car dealership... like Albany needs another one of those...

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

Stick a fork in Kmart, it's done. Kmart has been losing money and closing stores.

[BillyGr]

kmart in Albany is closed going to be turned into car dealership... like Albany needs another one of those...

I believe this is going to be one of those Used Car Superstore type places, as opposed to a new car dealer.

So, a little bit different.

[d_fife]

no store closings have been announced since October, GREAT! as every month it was 3-5 stores per month

[katnapped]

no store closings have been announced since October, GREAT! as every month it was 3-5 stores per month

Keep in mind chains rarely will close store locations during the holidays...time to start biting your nails again once early January rolls around.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

Years from now, people will remember Kmart, like how most of us remember Ames. The writing will be on the wall for Kmart once the last group of stores closes.

[d_fife]

Years from now, people will remember Kmart, like how most of us remember Ames. The writing will be on the wall for Kmart once the last group of stores closes.

what of Saving Kmart?

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

Years from now, people will remember Kmart, like how most of us remember Ames. The writing will be on the wall for Kmart once the last group of stores closes.

what of Saving Kmart?

Yes, Kmart and Sears will cease to exist once the last group of stores close. No one at Sears Holdings will be able to save Kmart or Sears. I do not think Kmart is worth saving.

[d_fife]

Years from now, people will remember Kmart, like how most of us remember Ames. The writing will be on the wall for Kmart once the last group of stores closes.

what of Saving Kmart?

Yes, Kmart and Sears will cease to exist once the last group of stores close. No one at Sears Holdings will be able to save Kmart or Sears. I do not think Kmart is worth saving.

I hope your wrong and I hope they can be saved, its worth a try.

[Ames Newington]

I hope they can be saved too. However, if it's inevitable, they should just go out in some sort of a dignified way before they really become terrible or no one will miss them at all. With Ames, Bradlees and Caldor, it was sort of a sudden thing, and each of those chains went out while the stores were still good.

[zonemad96]

I hope they can be saved too. However, if it's inevitable, they should just go out in some sort of a dignified way before they really become terrible or no one will miss them at all. With Ames, Bradlees and Caldor, it was sort of a sudden thing, and each of those chains went out while the stores were still good.

It's a little too late for that, if they wanted to do that they should have gone out business about 8 years ago or so.

[d_fife]

I hope they can be saved too. However, if it's inevitable, they should just go out in some sort of a dignified way before they really become terrible or no one will miss them at all. With Ames, Bradlees and Caldor, it was sort of a sudden thing, and each of those chains went out while the stores were still good.

It's a little too late for that, if they wanted to do that they should have gone out business about 8 years ago or so.

why do you say that? they should just revive it!

[bubcolbert1952]

It's a real shame Kmart didn't spend more money on the Builders Square and PACE Wholesale divisions for the short time those two were in business in the 80's/early 90's. Home Depot is perfectly able to do well in old 70's Kmart store sites, so I don't get why Builders Square didn't last, because a lot of Builders Square stores were former Kmart stores that were completely gutted inside but had no money spent changing the outsides. You would think the money Builders Square saved on construction costs would have given them a competitive advantage over Home Depot and Lowe's, but due to Kmart's financial troubles going back long before their bankruptcy in 2002 (or even long before their many store closings in 1994), Builders Square was sold to Hechinger, a chain which shut down anyway because it bought HQ, a competitor which was heavily in debt and failing when Hechinger bought it.

Also, if Walmart does such a good job running Sam's Club stores, why didn't PACE (which was sold to Sam's Club 20 years ago) do well under Kmart? The way Kmart stores are looking these days, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Kmart eventually sells all its bigger, more modern 90's stores to Walmart, and closes the rest of the stores... Two Guys (a major rival of Kmart in the 60's and 70's) closed all their stores over 30 years ago, but the company still exists under the name Vornado as a real estate company who continued to own the Two Guys store sites after companies like Bradlees and Jamesway filled a lot of them, and still is in the landlord business now that Walmart, Stop & Shop and other companies are in these buildings.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

If Kmart U.S.A. goes under, then the stores owned by Kmart Australia (also found in New Zealand) will be the only Kmart stores left on earth. Kmart Australia was once 51% owned by S.S. Kresge Co. (later Kmart Corp., now Sears Holdings) and 49% owned by G.J. Coles & Coy (later Coles Myer). Coles Myer (later Coles Group) bought back the other 51% which they did not own in the 1990s. Kmart Australia is now owned by Wesfarmers Ltd.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

Kmart Logo Timeline:

[Pikapower]

Kmart Logo Timeline:

They all started with the same logo, but the Australasian K-Mart kept the same red K and teal/blue mart in the logos while the American and Canadian logos just kept the red k!

[bubcolbert1952]

I get the feeling Walmart will buy the Aussie/Kiwi Kmart stores someday and convert them to the ASDA (pronounced "asda") Supercenter format popular in the UK. There still is plenty of immigration from the UK to Australia and New Zealand and the other way around, so plenty of Aussies and Kiwis would already be familiar with ASDA.

Also, maybe if Sears wants to make up for the suffering of its Canadian division, it could buy the Target stores in Australia.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

I get the feeling Walmart will buy the Aussie/Kiwi Kmart stores someday and convert them to the ASDA (pronounced "asda") Supercenter format popular in the UK. There still is plenty of immigration from the UK to Australia and New Zealand and the other way around, so plenty of Aussies and Kiwis would already be familiar with ASDA.

Also, maybe if Sears wants to make up for the suffering of its Canadian division, it could buy the Target stores in Australia.

The problem with that is that Kmart is doing great in Australia/New Zealand, and Australia already has a Walmart equivalent called Big W, and New Zealand has its own Walmart equivalent called The Warehouse. I do not think ASDA/Walmart will have any interest in entering Australia or New Zealand. I doubt Sears will have any interest in buying the Target stores in Australia or expanding into Australia with the financial problems they're facing in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Myer is a department store and is Australia's equivalent of retailers like Sears and JCPenney. Coles and Woolworths are supermarkets similar to the likes of Safeway, Market Basket or Hannaford. I'd prefer to keep Australia and New Zealand's retail landscape the way it is for future generations no matter where they came from, whether they're from Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, or the United Kingdom.

[EddieJ1984]

According to that logo chart, big kmart wasn't a thing lol. But cmon we all know it was.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

According to that logo chart, big kmart wasn't a thing lol. But cmon we all know it was.

Yes, I decided to skip all the minor logo changes (Big K, Super K, green/gray K, etc.) to focus on the major logo changes, otherwise the timeline would be too big and more complicated than it already is.

[d_fife]

Ok does Kmart changing a store hours from 8 am to 9 am starting next week and closing at 8 pm mean its in danger of closing? or are the hour change temporary.

[d_fife]

still no closings.

[d_fife]

Kmart is closing stores in Bad AXE MI, Fergis Falls MN, and PORTAGE WI

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

The Kmart stores in my area that are still open:

*Green Bay (West), Wisconsin (near Lambeau Field on Lombardi Avenue, lease on property set to expire 2018, land to be sold to the Green Bay Packers organization, future of property after 2018 currently unknown.)

*Shawano, Wisconsin (Shawano Plaza)

*Menominee, Michigan (one of the few Kmart stores left on Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and the closest Kmart to the Wisconsin/Michigan border.)




The Kmart stores in my area that closed:

*Green Bay (East), Wisconsin (Near East Town Mall, closed in 2008, along with other underperforming Kmart locations.)

*Appleton, Wisconsin (closed in 2002 following the announcement that Kmart was filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection)

*Manitowoc, Wisconsin (formerly a Copps Discount Store until 1983 [Copps now focuses on the supermarket business as "Copps Food Center", a division of Roundy's Supermarkets], became a Kmart in 1985 which closed in 1994 along with other underperforming locations. The building was torn down, and replaced with a Copps Food Center in 2008.)

*Fond du Lac, Wisconsin (closed in 2002)

[d_fife]

The Kmart stores in my area that are still open:

*Green Bay (West), Wisconsin (near Lambeau Field on Lombardi Avenue, lease on property set to expire 2018, land to be sold to the Green Bay Packers organization, future of property after 2018 currently unknown.)

*Shawano, Wisconsin (Shawano Plaza)

*Menominee, Michigan (one of the few Kmart stores left on Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and the closest Kmart to the Wisconsin/Michigan border.)



will the Kmart in Green bay close????

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

will the Kmart in Green bay close????

Maybe this video can help shed some light on the story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJzlq1dWOvQ

[katnapped]

Ok does Kmart changing a store hours from 8 am to 9 am starting next week and closing at 8 pm mean its in danger of closing? or are the hour change temporary.

Not necessarily.  They've done similar here during the winter.

Then again, knowing who we're talking about, who knows...

[katnapped]

Roof collapse!

http://www.minbcnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=990851#.Usr6yBzqg4Q

100x100 section of roof plus a broken pipe.  Me thinks that store isn't long for business.

[retailisking]

http://www.jsonline.com/business/kmart-to-close-3-stores-eliminate-over-300-jobs-b99178509z1-238950551.html