K-Mart

[ynkeesfn82]

KMART is the latest store to be hit by a data breach. Will this be the final nail in their coffin?

[TRU7536]

KMART is the latest store to be hit by a data breach. Will this be the final nail in their coffin?

When are we as Americans going demand for change! It's not the stores problems, it's the credit card companies that need to change. You don't see any problems in Europe since the credit card companies over there have some chip in it to prevent these type of things.

This is more of the credit card companies that need to change and spend the extra money for updated security issues to prevent things like this.

[retailisking]

KMART is the latest store to be hit by a data breach. Will this be the final nail in their coffin?

With the plethora of data breaches affecting retailers of all stripes, I think consumers have become somewhat resigned to this "new reality." Shaw's was hit twice in recent months, and it was largely met with a shrug. Target took one for the team.

[ynkeesfn82]

When are we as Americans going demand for change! It's not the stores problems, it's the credit card companies that need to change. You don't see any problems in Europe since the credit card companies over there have some chip in it to prevent these type of things.

This is more of the credit card companies that need to change and spend the extra money for updated security issues to prevent things like this.

You know what's ironic about all this? Walmart was not hit with any security breeches, yet they were among the first retailers to announce they were going to be issuing new credit cards embedded with the microchips. First for Sams Club and then for Walmart.

[Hudsons81]

Well, today will be the last day the Super Kmarts in Southgate, Michigan and Brooklyn, Ohio as well as the Kmart (ex-Super Kmart) on Telegraph in Detroit will all be open to the public. Later this morning I'll head over to the Southgate Super Kmart for some final interior pics.

[Hudsons81]

Here it is everyone. Pictures of the Super Kmart at 16705 Fort Street in Southgate, Michigan during it's final day it ever opens to the public, today-aka Sunday, October 12, 2014. The store officially closed to the public this evening at approximately 4 PM, though it will remain open for a few more days to allow employees to clear the place out and move out, then the doors are locked permanently. There are rumors that Costco may open in this building.

RIP Southgate, Michigan Super Kmart (Store #4995)
November ??, 1998 (I think)-October 12, 2014

Exterior and grocery entrance vestibule interior:




Old produce area:



Old grocery aisles area:


In the background (from left to right): the old K Cafe, the old meat area and the old dairy area


More of the old grocery area:



Old greeting cards area:


Liquidation signs:


Years-old items finally discovered hidden beneath where shelves used to be:







Jewelry counter:


Looking towards the empty southwest corner-layaway was where the huge opening in the background wall on the left is and restrooms were in the two smaller openings to the right of the larger opening.


More of the empty back area of the store:



Look at how deserted the fitting rooms were today:


Looking towards where the toy area used to be:



The old garden center's windows:


A closer look at the fitting rooms:


The general merchandise entrance:


Cart:


Checkouts:



Clothing racks:


Shelf scar:


There used to be an eyebrow salon place here most recently:


Here's a few CDs as well as a couple copies of the same Nintendo DS game-note that during my visit, the 90% off phase of the liquidation sale started. The markdowns continued throughout the day, ultimately reaching 99% off during the final moments before closing.


Lonely vending machine:


Customer service desk:


Old Olan Mills portrait studio:


Old Sears Hearing Aid Center:

[BillyGr]

KMART is the latest store to be hit by a data breach. Will this be the final nail in their coffin?

The only line missing from the story is:

"Only 6 cards affected due to lack of people shopping at Kmart!"

:)

[d_fife]

kmarts in ann arbor (LAST ONE) and Dewitt NY are closing why?

[d_fife]

http://fox40.com/2014/10/15/k-mart-in-rocklin-to-close-doors-for-good/

[Hudsons81]

kmarts in ann arbor (LAST ONE) are closing why?

That would probably be the one in the Maple Village Shopping Center on Maple Road just off of I-94 and not far from downtown Ann Arbor, plus, it's just a short trek away from the Jackson Road retail corridor.

UPDATE: I have just published a new entry on my blog about the closure of the Southgate Super Kmart: http://motor-city-retail-history.blogspot.com/2014/10/closure-of-super-kmart-southgate.html

[d_fife]

BOzeman MT and Greenwood IN are too

[d_fife]

http://touch.orlandosentinel.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-81708997/ Winter Springs is closing too but then no one was there when I Went in there last week.

[buzz86us]

the Kmart in Albany NY on central ave is now a pile of rubble...yet somehow the Kmart in Fremont Ohio keeps on going...I never saw more than 2-3 people at the Fremont Ohio Kmart besides employees.

I think at this point Kmart just needs to spin-off into its own company... I work at a Sears with a Kmart in the same mall and while Kmart is always jumping the Sears is very dead... Maybe the outfit that runs Kmart in Australia will buy the name out when Sears Holdings inevitably dies...

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

You must be crazy if you think the U.S. Kmart stores can be saved. They have been failing since the last decade.

The Kmart stores in Australia and New Zealand have been doing well under separate ownership. They went through ownership changes multiple times under the "Kmart Australia" brand. Kmart Australia competes with Target Australia and Big W in Australia, as well as The Warehouse in New Zealand.

1969: G.J. Coles & Coy (49%)/S.S. Kresge Co. (51%)
1978: S.S. Kresge Co. exchanged its 51% stake in Kmart Australia for a 20% stake in Coles.
1994: Coles buys back all shares held by Kresge.
2007: Coles sells Kmart Australia to Wesfarmers; considers selling all or part of Kmart Australia, or converting some of the stores to the Target Australia brand.
2008: Wesfarmers decides to retain the Kmart Australia brand.
2012: Kmart Australia's first multi-level store opens up in Adelaide's Rundle Mall inside a former Toys "R" Us store.

Kmart Australia has 170 stores (as of Seprtember 2012) trading across Australia:

New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory: 50 stores
Victoria: 43 stores
Queensland: 36 stores
Western Australia: 21 stores
South Australia: 13 stores
Tasmania: 5 stores
Northern Territory: 2 stores

Kmart Australia has 15 stores in New Zealand.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

Current store concepts used by Kmart Australia:

* Kmart Australia (1969-present)
* Kmart Tyre and Auto Service

Former store concepts used by Kmart Australia:

* Kmart Garden Super Centre (1999-2007)
* Super K Mart (1982-1989)
* Holly's Restaurant (located inside Kmart, last restaurant closed in 2010) (1980s-2010)
* Girl Xpress
* Kmart Clearance Centre (2006-2007)
* Kmart Food (Kmart Australia opened at least one location alongside the first store in Burwood East in 1969.)

[d_fife]

Bloomington il is closing http://www.videtteonline.com/index.php/2014/10/19/bloomington-kmart-to-close-doors/

[Hudsons81]

yet somehow the Kmart in Fremont Ohio keeps on going...I never saw more than 2-3 people at the Fremont Ohio Kmart besides employees.

The removal of groceries from the Kmart in Fremont (which opened in 1993 as a Super Kmart) may be to blame for the decline in customer traffic.

[d_fife]

http://www.al.com/business/index.ssf/2014/10/kmart_on_memorial_parkway_in_h.html huntsville al and Iron mt are closing http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/news/story.aspx?id=1111867

[Hudsons81]

The road signs at the former Super Kmart in Southgate have now been painted over in black. Meanwhile, all exterior signage on the building has been removed.

[d_fife]

centre al and warren pa are closing too

[d_fife]

http://www.al.com/business/index.ssf/2014/10/kmart_shutting_down_another_st.html

[Hudsons81]

Yet another Kmart is closing. Schoenherr and 13 Mile in Warren, Michigan. It's mentioned along with the three already-mentioned Michigan closings here.

http://www.freep.com/story/money/business/michigan/2014/10/28/sears-kmart-michigan-store-closings/18051009/

[TheFugitive]

Kmart has also announced no-fee holiday layaways with no minimum purchase required.

The last throes of desperation I'm afraid.

[retailisking]

Kmart has also announced no-fee holiday layaways with no minimum purchase required.

The last throes of desperation I'm afraid.

Before that Target started offering free shipping with no minimum purchase. Misery loves company. I think a greater sign of distress at SHLD is the decision to break off the company's real estate holdings into a REIT.

[david121]

Ever since like 1999/2000 every Kmart I have been too hasn't been stocked very well or was extremely dirty. OK, maybe the last ten years but it's been in decline. It's sad but I am not too bothered.

[jason83080]

I do miss the vintage one that used to be by Midway Mall in Elyria, OH. I don't know what it was prior to being a Kmart, but the brown/orange '70s signs, the '60s-era snack shop/eatery in the front, and the general retro-ness of it were nice for the few years that I knew of its existence. Pity that they closed it when they built the new Super K over in Sheffield, then closed that one two years later "because sales weren't up to expectations."

[Ameskid]

Speaking of retro Kmarts, here's a very rare neon sign (and a HUGE one at that) found in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Possibly the only one of this sort remaining in the country.  Sadly I didn't get a chance to see if the store was as awesomely retro as the sign.

[Hudsons81]

Speaking of retro Kmarts, here's a very rare neon sign (and a HUGE one at that) found in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Possibly the only one of this sort remaining in the country.  Sadly I didn't get a chance to see if the store was as awesomely retro as the sign.

That one is at a Kmart that was undergoing a conversion into a Super Kmart when it stopped suddenly following the bankruptcy. The logos on the building, however, still use the 1990 logo.

[retailisking]

The cost of insurance against bankruptcy is apparently to blame. Are you seeing this at your local Kmart, or is article just hyperbole?
http://seekingalpha.com/article/2729985-photos-empty-shelves-at-sears-and-kmart-as-vendors-get-squeezed

[Kmart4life]

No empty shelves here but I can say that since the closing of the Winter Haven store there has been an increase in business here in the Lakeland store, and it's nice to see that our store is doing well. Although around Christmas I was in the Mall and and decided to take a stroll through Sears and I counted 13 customers in the store which looked really bad because I was at Kmart which is on the other side of town 45 minutes earlier and it was packed. I guess it depends where the stores are located because ours is past Walmart and on a different street then Target and it does well against them. 8)