Kmart management denies they are about to screw their workers

[zinfamous]

Kmart was very much a johnny-come-lately to where/when I grew up in western Pennsylvania.

We had G. C. Murphy (later just Murphy's), of course, which was probably well established even before my grandmother was born. They were in downtowns everywhere, then in indoor malls when malls became the rage in the 1960s and later.

Then there was W. T. Grant (or just Grants), which opened up in the new shopping center just up the street from where I grew up. I'll always remember the huge candy counter in the middle of the store and the smell of popcorn. When Grandma took us there we made a beeline for the candy and she'd buy a little of everything by the 1/4 and 1/2 pound. Most, or maybe all of it was Brachs, I remember. The store had a large attached restaurant with a lunch counter with stools. I remember having the best chocolate milkshakes that I've ever had there. This was before a single McDs, Burger Krap, or any other fast food chains had polluted the area.

Grants went out of business in the 1970s and the one near us was replaced by a McCrory's. Very similar store.

About that same time, the first K-Mart opened in a new expansion in that same shopping center. The only thing I remember about it was that one of my friend's mom worked there for years. I recall her walking up and down the street to work many days. It wasn't nearly as large as the McCrory's store, but it was clean and a bit newer.

But the real discount store in the area, was Gee Bee. It was the first anchor in the first strip shopping center in the area. It had the most outrageously cheap and crappy goods that you could find in any store in the area. My mom was a little bit of a snob, and in all the thousands of times she took me and my siblings out shopping, I don't remember ever going into Gee Bee with her.


.

GC Murphy was great: they sold the 40-packs of Garbage Pail Kids.

Hey, anyone remember Brendle's, or Rose's?

Brendle's was more of an electronics specialist...and also luggage and home goods, I think.

 

[Elixer]

There are just too many Kmarts out there in unprofitable areas.
They can't keep on taking heavy losses that these stores bring, so it makes sense to get rid of the ones that are unprofitable.

They should make those stores into distribution areas, and offer their services to whomever wants it.

 

[Gunbuster]

Was in a Kmart last month. You could have told me I was in 1995 and I'd have believed it. Store infrastructure had not been touched since then. Boxes in isles, clutter everywhere.

 

[Nashemon]

I bought my Wii from K-mart on release day. The line at Target was wrapped around the building since like three days before launch, so we drove to K-mart around midnight the morning of the launch and were first in line. They had a grand total of 3 Wii's that morning, and none of the games I wanted to buy, so we went to Wal-Mart and bought Zelda.

 

[spacejamz]

Buying and trying out c64 games at our k-mart, and the dinner wasn't that bad back in the 80's

I remember my parents buying our geranimal outfits (where you matched the animals on the tags to get matching shirts/pants combinations) and under-roos (batman was my favorite) from Kmart...

 

[smitbret]

I remember my parents buying our geranimal outfits (where you matched the animals on the tags to get matching shirts/pants combinations) and under-roos (batman was my favorite) from Kmart...

I always knew the K-mart smell from the mixed Deli+Popcorn thing they had going on in the 70s and 80s.

Ours just closed a couple of months ago. Thank goodness. It was a mercy killing.

 

[SearchMaster]

Uncle was a senior pharmacist for KMart the last ~40 years, and they've been shuffling him around to take over/close out stores, jerk around with his pension for the last 10 (dragged out his retirement for that long).

He's finally done as of ~3 months ago and not nearly as miserable as he used to be.

But from what I know, KMart has effectively been shutting down for about 15 years now.

These are the people I have empathy for in these situations - he has a lot of time and work invested in the company and could potentially lose everything. The person who has been there since things went bad....well you knew it was coming and you can probably get another retail job elsewhere when KMart finally shuts down.

I'm nearing 50 so as a kid there was no Walmart, Target, or any other big box retailers. We had Sears, JCPenney, Service Merchandise, and KMart (and a store that did S&H Green Stamps, my mom spent so much time on those things). My biggest KMart memory was when my mom was checking out I went over to walk on this little ledge next to the windows. I was 4 or 5 and fell and split my head open. The manager offered to pay the medical bills and called several times over the following week to make sure I was ok. I don't know if he was afraid of a lawsuit or people just cared more back then but I do remember that. My mom wouldn't let the store pay for anything because it was my own dumbassity that got me hurt.

 

[dr150]

when you gotta go, you gotta go.

if your life depended on working at Kmart, you are screwed anyway.:whiste:

Pretty much this.

Fortune 500 companies are no different when they blindside employees with annual layoffs due to bad quarters created by management's incompetence.

 

[rudder]

How are Kmart employees not surprised if Kmart declares bankruptcy? Every Kmart I have been in looks like a third world county. This is what happens when your store looks like a clusterfuck and no one wants to shop there.

 

[Puffnstuff]

These are the people I have empathy for in these situations - he has a lot of time and work invested in the company and could potentially lose everything. The person who has been there since things went bad....well you knew it was coming and you can probably get another retail job elsewhere when KMart finally shuts down.

I'm nearing 50 so as a kid there was no Walmart, Target, or any other big box retailers. We had Sears, JCPenney, Service Merchandise, and KMart (and a store that did S&H Green Stamps, my mom spent so much time on those things).

You're just a little younger than me and I remember when Ben Franklin and Woolworth were the big hitters close to me. Kmart was a long drive away but once I got a taste of big city life, Philly, large retailers abounded. As I moved all over the country I encountered a plethora of large stores and I've watched them come and go. I remember when Walmart was a seemingly local store in Leavenworth, KS and then it expanded into what they called a Hypercenter back in the 80's. Those things sprung up like weeds all over the place running local businesses out and in many rural communities they didn't last leaving them without anything.

 

[Dulanic]

I'm always surprised any are still open.

 

[Ichinisan]

I had a K-Mart "Christmas Bear" from the '80s. Anyone else?

 

[AreaAffect]

You're just a little younger than me and I remember when Ben Franklin and Woolworth were the big hitters close to me. Kmart was a long drive away but once I got a taste of big city life, Philly, large retailers abounded. As I moved all over the country I encountered a plethora of large stores and I've watched them come and go. I remember when Walmart was a seemingly local store in Leavenworth, KS and then it expanded into what they called a Hypercenter back in the 80's. Those things sprung up like weeds all over the place running local businesses out and in many rural communities they didn't last leaving them without anything.

I grew up in Northern Illinois. We didn't have Walmart when I was a kid... The stores existed but we just didn't have one. Back then people still shopped at department stores. We had places like Venture, Montgomery Ward, JC Penny, Sears, etc. I think in '88 or '89 we got a Best Buy which was "new and exciting". Best Buy really was the beginning of the end for the old guard. The sales people at the department stores wore button up shirts and ties. The Best Buy people wore cargo pants and polo shirts. We also had K-Mart and Ben Franklin.

In the days before the Internet, we used to get the Sears catalog at Christmas and it was like a phone book. I can remember spending hours and hours thumbing through every page over and over again.

I knew when Sears was absorbed by K-Mart is was getting close. Frankly I didn't expect them to last this long.

K-Mart and Sears are both American institutions, founded in 1899 and 1886 respectively. When they go, and they will, a connection to those times will be gone. But that's life.

 

[midnight growler]

This thread inspired me to visit one of the few Kmarts in my area the other day, out of sheer morbid curiosity. It was almost exactly the same as the last time I went there, about a year ago, again just to look around. I walked around the main 'racetrack' aisle once just to look around briefly so this just my memory. I've also worked retail for years so this post has turned more in-depth than I originally intended. Anywho.

It was Sunday around 6pm, granted it was turning into dinner time, but a store should be *busy* around this time. I was greeted by a rack of dead plants in front of the entrance. Their cafe was gone, replaced by sports jerseys (at least that's easy to find). The electronics counter was gone, only 7 or 8 small 30" or so TVs on the wall. The store had a pharmacy, but taking a casual walk around, I didn't actually see it. If they had food, I didn't see it either. I saw a shelf of gatorade and that's all I remember. The plants inside the (decently big) garden section looked alright, but it was almost all just small flower packs.

I think I saw some backpacks but no "back-to-school" area. For this time of year, this is insane.

I did see a few employees, one at the service desk, two cashiers and 3 elsewhere in the store. They all looked busy, but I wasn't close enough to interact with them or vice versa.

To be honest, the store looked clean. I barely noticed any unfolded or misplaced clothes, which amazed me because there were many, many racks of clothes. It all looked well organized. The flip-side to this is because nobody is shopping here, even on a weekend!

They have collections from Adam Levine and Nicki Minaj, but I saw their names on 4 or 5 medium signs and that was it. I saw Blake Shelton's face on a few pairs of pants, unsure it was because of Kmart or the brand of jeans. You'd think they'd be shouting about celebrity designers from the rooftops.

I also didn't see much at all in terms of advertising. Show me signs of attractive people wearing your clothes like Target. Tell me I'm saving money like Walmart. Give me a reason to buy your stuff!

This store is hemmed in by the fact that its in a dead strip-mall Other than Kmart, there is a gym, dollar store and a Taco Bell to take up a half-mile row of basically empty buildings. A store can't make money if nobody is there to spend it. Then again maybe they've survived this long because the competition is miles away.

Again, having been in retail, I'm sad that thousands of hard-working employees have, are now or will have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.

26 years ago this company was bigger than Walmart.

The only constant is change.

 

[Puffnstuff]

The local Kmart down the street from me is set off the main road about 1/8 of a mile across the street from an abandoned shopping center. The store itself is dimly lit with an old smell to it, kind of reminds me of a stale musty odor that's unique to many Kmarts I've visited. With that said I don't want to see regular people lose their jobs but the store failed to keep pace with the times. When sears started selling their proprietary items there it was too little too late. I believe they see the writing on the wall by expanding the craftsman line to Ace hardware which remains viable in many communities.

 

[kranky]

But the real discount store in the area, was Gee Bee. It was the first anchor in the first strip shopping center in the area. It had the most outrageously cheap and crappy goods that you could find in any store in the area. My mom was a little bit of a snob, and in all the thousands of times she took me and my siblings out shopping, I don't remember ever going into Gee Bee with her.

Eastland? Braddock Hills?

Also, you forgot Gold Circle.

 

[Golgatha]

Wow. Very smart. That was exceptionally well played on his part. Dick move, for sure, but ... God damn ... I"m impressed, which is rare.

Landlords typically must give 30-60 days notice to raise rent by amounts greater than 10%. This prevents dick moves like this for the most part.

 

[Ns1]

Landlords typically must give 30-60 days notice to raise rent by amounts greater than 10%. This prevents dick moves like this for the most part.

solution: jack up rent 10% every other month

 

[Carson Dyle]

Eastland? Braddock Hills?

Also, you forgot Gold Circle.

Nah, a little more to the east - Greensburg/Hempfield/Unity/Latrobe. The strip mall is Eastgate, near where Westmoreland Mall was later built. There's a Giant Eagle now where Gee Bee had been. I don't recall a Gold Circle in area.

 

[manly]

Went to Kmart last week. Man that place is depressing. It was so deserted I could scarcely believe the difference between it and Target/Walmart. Their electronics section has been stripped down and their gaming section is gone altogether. Almost all they sold were old dvds and 32" range LCDs. Much of the merchandise I saw I think I vaguely remember still being there when I visited a year or so ago.

I Got a Star Fox figure on clearance for my desk and went to pay when they had all of one employee in checkout during prime time hours. All the spaces that once had mini specialty shops built into Kmart were all dark and locked up. Every inch of the place reeked of imminent death. Though it is popular to laugh at struggling businesses and mock them as they go into bankruptcy I take no such delight. This reoccurring trend can only mean the further consolidation of power between Walmart/Target and fewer options for consumers.

I agree, Kmarts are ghost towns. Having said that, is this really an "option" for consumers? Nobody goes, nobody still cares, hardly anyone even bothers to mock SHLD's inevitable failure.

I'm not a fan of what Walmart has done to all other retailers, or what Amazon has done to B&M retailers, but you do have to applaud them both for execution.

“Sears Holdings is highly focused on restoring profitability to the company, and Kmart remains a key piece of our asset portfolio," Sears spokesman Howard Riefs said.

Ha, as if Sears isn't headed down the same drain in the not-so-distant future. All that company has of value is their real estate and the Craftsman and Kenmore brand names.

It kind of makes you wonder if Sears was better off not selling itself to Kmart. Probably not, but Sears really picked a sinking ship to go down with.

The Craftsman and Kenmore brands are owned by a wholly-owned subsidiary, if I'm not mistaken. People theorize that they will still be viable businesses after SHLD dies, but I don't know enough to agree; or to comment on what happens to Craftsman's legendary warranties on USA-made tools.

 

[Golgatha]

solution: jack up rent 10% every other month

Right, that's an option every 30 days, but the doubling of rent with no notice isn't something they can do without warning. That was my point.

 

[ElFenix]

Was in a Kmart last month. You could have told me I was in 1995 and I'd have believed it. Store infrastructure had not been touched since then. Boxes in isles, clutter everywhere.

i had the same impression last week. first time i've been in a kmart since ~2006 (the one in NYC), and the store looked about the same as it did in 1983.

so, while walmart and target have been building new stores across the country, kmart has been plodding along with rusting out infrastructure.

 

[poofyhairguy]

And yet Dollar Generals/Family Dollars and the like are booming. They just didn't compete.

 

[Carson Dyle]

And yet Dollar Generals/Family Dollars and the like are booming. They just didn't compete.

Dollar stores move into areas that a Walmart won't touch. Mostly small or dying towns or more urban areas. Usually into old buildings with low rents, and into much smaller spaces. Prices are higher, many of the products are crappier and/or off-brands. But they're convenient for some people, especially the elderly or those with no personal transportation to get out of town to the shopping centers on the fringes. I don't think Kmart would be doing itself any favors by going that route.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

In the days before the Internet, we used to get the Sears catalog at Christmas and it was like a phone book. I can remember spending hours and hours thumbing through every page over and over again.

+1 that brings back really fond memories. The big wish book.

KMart has been a zombie retailer for years. I have no idea how they have lasted this long.