Last full size K-Mart store in Mainland USA closing

[nickaluch]

Normally. I’d totally agree with that.

But then I see people some affluent folks doing some real shopping at Dollar Tree is kinda telling……

I highly doubt that in my area I went once with my friend couldn't get out fast enough there's nobody with money shopping there

 

[nickaluch]

I sure do miss the K-Marts and the Sears stores. Just thank hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert for their demise.

When I was a kid my dad did all his shopping at Sears for guy stuff. Tools, tires, barbeques, AC units, dehumidifiers , appliances, lawn equipment.

 

[daves87rs]

True; DG has popped up in some surprising places where I wouldn't think they would normally be at. Here by me they've been taking over former Family Video stores.

I'm not sad at all about kmart disappearing. Home Country Buffet on the other hand....I miss

I miss the HCB too…..

 

[SeaJay]

Bridgehampton is a serious money town the rich play there probably the reason it survived not much places to buy normal day to day stuff there it's all high end designer stores

Rather unique in that the farther east past the Bridgehampton store you go until the end of the Island (25 miles or so) there isn't much in the way of regular stores in that extremely wealthy stretch of prime land.

 

[gfh77665]

I'll never understand the "good riddance, I am glad they are dead" attitudes. K-Mart, Sears, Woolco, TG&Y, etc. all have good memories for me. They all employed real people, too. Felt much more "homey" than the China-mega-marts.

Sure they were all imperfect, but what isn't? Is WalMart perfect???

 

[SeaJay]

I'll never understand the "good riddance, I am glad they are dead" attitudes. K-Mart, Sears, Woolco, TG&Y, etc. all have good memories for me. They all employed real people, too. Felt much more "homey" than the China-mega-marts.

Sure they were all imperfect, but what isn't? Is WalMart perfect???

I seem to recall that the Bridgehamption Kmart building used to be a Woolco when it was first opened.

The difference between Walmart and the other bankrupt stores is basically that they almost always are highly profitable, something the other stores couldn't always do.

 

[SC Maintenance]

I seem to recall that the Bridgehamption Kmart building used to be a Woolco when it was first opened.

The difference between Walmart and the other bankrupt stores is basically that they almost always are highly profitable, something the other stores couldn't always do.

K-mart is an interesting case study. Sam Walton said S.S. Krege - the founder of K-Mart, was one of the greatest retailers in history. Mr. Walton modeled his stores after K-Mart - organized, well stocked, breadth of goods, etc. Thats the way K-Marts were originally.

Mr. Krege retired in like the late 60's and the new idiots in charge ran it into the ground.

 

[Gebrekkend]

K-Mart started the mega store concept:

https://www.kmartworld.com/2011/06/special-report-american-fare-or.html

https://dekalbhistory.org/blog-posts/kmarts-hypermarket-days-american-fare/

 

[Nessism1]

I lived in NE Ohio during the mid-late 90's, and the Super K-Mart in my area was the hub of civilization. It was a massive store. Well kept, clean, well stocked. The Walmart on the other side of town was like Walmarts are; messy, disorganized, NOT a pleasant place to visit. I wonder what happened? I don't remember K-mart prices being high, but they must have been or Walmart wouldn't have put them out of business?

 

[Dave Hess]

I will be at this Kendall store maybe next week to take some final photos and buy something so I can show my grandkids the cash register receipt of a once great company.

 

[ATex7239]

I'll never understand the "good riddance, I am glad they are dead" attitudes. K-Mart, Sears, Woolco, TG&Y, etc. all have good memories for me. They all employed real people, too. Felt much more "homey" than the China-mega-marts.

Sure they were all imperfect, but what isn't? Is WalMart perfect???

I definitely don’t have a “good riddance” attitude. However, I do have a “well, stay relevant or die” attitude. People don’t need to adapt to business, business needs to adapt to people. Just because there are fond memories for some doesn’t make it a good business model. I have fond memories of picking out movies at Blockbuster with the family as a kid. Doesn’t make it a viable model in today’s streaming age though. Add to it there’s a shortage of service workers right now so clearly these places shutting down is not causing too much of a riff in the world.

 

[Charmet37]

My family exclusively shopped at Kmart back in the day, I remember the store in my area closing and had a sale on everything, I purchased a lot of tools and automotive items during the closing for dirt cheap.

 

[GON]

I wonder what happened? I don't remember K-mart prices being high, but they must have been or Walmart wouldn't have put them out of business?

Numerous things, all come down to incompetent leadership.

Kmart's kiss of death is that they opened businesses that directly competed with Kmart, in the same area. One example is Kmart opened a chain of pet food/ supply stores. These stores sold the same merchandise that Kmart sold. They competed with each other. And if you needed a bad of pet food and went to the pet supply store- you no longer went to Kmart and purchased non pet food items while you were grabbing a bag of pet food. What the heck was Kmart leadership thinking......

 

[andrew_j]

Our AMC Eagle wagon got all its servicing there in the 80s till a wheel feel off driving away. They forgot to tighten the lugs.