Do you know of a Sears/Kmart store that's thriving?
Asked by
ibstubro (
18804
)
February 9th, 2016
I was in my local Sears store recently, and the entire inventory of the men’s wear department would have, literally, fit in a full sized pick-up truck.
The sock display was (literally) ½ empty, but I liked the socks I saw there – Silvertoe by Gold Toe. I looked the socks up online and I can find no reference to them. I suspect they may be obsolete inventory – buy 3 pair at $13 and get 3 pair 25% off.
Kmart here is within an easy walk of Sears. I visit Kmart a lot, because they have a huge clearance section and I can buy ½ off.
Both stores are in poor repair and need paint and lot resurfacing. Well, they haven’t been updated since the 80’s, and it shows.
The only other Kmart I know of is already closed.
Is there a reason Sears is hanging on?
Are things better in your neck of the woods?
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It’s pretty much the same here. The local Kmart looks like it somehow survived the apocalypse. The local Sears is doing better, but only because (a) it is an anchor store in the only mall for 100 miles, (b) it has aggressively tailored itself to the local market (specifically, the large number of automotive and horse enthusiasts in this city and the four surrounding cities), and (c) it leases space to two different car rental companies. And even still, it’s constantly on the verge of closing down.
I like shopping there because the store is always empty and peaceful. It also reminds me of my childhood.
”survived the apocalypse” pretty much describes both our Sears and Kmart, @SavoirFaire.
I’ve got a more or less fully-stocked Sears or two near me, though I don’t know that I’d say “thriving”.
Sears abandoned Hawaii completely a few years ago. I do not know whether KMart has done the same.
The Mexican restaurant we like ($1 taco Tuesdays!) Is between a Kmart and a Radio Shack and I’ll often walk around both and see what they have that I can’t live without.
Once I needed a new battery pack for my son’s handheld game. Neither had one. HDMI cable? Nope.
Most recent successful Kmart purchase: a package of full size CD cases, and a pair of toe socks.
So, basically, this shopping center exists only in 1998.
I live about 10 minutes from an upscale mall, and there’s a Sears in there. I go there maybe once or twice a year. I will browse clothes for my daughter and I’ll browse Lands End (which is owned by and sold in Sears, in addition to online).
Kmart is in a town about 15 miles away, also upscale, and so the Kmart is pretty decent. I go there maybe twice a year to see what’s new. There are two Kmarts closer but I usually head toward Connecticut and those are the ones I know – Sears in CT and Kmart in CT.
No. The two Sears that are near me are always empty – not just of merchandise, but of customers.
And sales people? Forget it.
Two of the three K-marts that were near me have closed.
Peaceful, yes, @Lawn. Unless you need some help. But, yeah, Kmart takes me back to being a kid.
Fully stocked seems to equal thriving when I comes to Sears, @Zaku.
I can see Hawaii is all torn up about the loss, @Hawaii_Jake. ~
Wow, @Seek. You have a Kmart and a Radio Shack? Both our Shacks disappeared overnight. I think all three were more like ‘88.
Well, I guess it’s good to know that there are successful store somewhere, @jca, even if only in densely populated, high scale areas.
Yeah, @elbanditoroso, it’s a ghost town in Sears here. At least there are no “high pressure” salespeople. Seems like I might have seen a new Kmart somewhere, but it could have been anywhere from St. Louis to the Atlantic.
Maybe Sears and Kmart could capitalize on the “Zombie Apocalypse” motif??~
My local Kmart is desolate. There are tumble weeds in the aisles. Which is why I like to go there. In and out in just minutes.
But isn’t stuff outrageously expensive, there @chyna?
There’s a deodorant I like that I mistakenly thought was discontinued. I saw it at Kmart and bought it, for, like, $3.88. Later I checked Walmart and it was, like, $2.65. Regular prices.
Kmart’s food is so ridiculously overpriced that I have to do a double take to see if the ½ price expired food is cheaper than Walmart/grocery.
I recently bought expired Chips Ahoy for $1.99 at Kmart only to see them at both Walmart and the grocery for $2.00. Fresh. Any variety.
I swear, it’s like the toilet is already flushed and someone is holding the handle down so the drain spin just never stops.
I usually shop in the discount aisle. I have bought 3 twin size comforters for 10.00 each. They are for my dog and I never see them that cheap. I usually get kitchen towels there too.
There is a Sears at the local mall, here in Pleasant Hill CA. I parked near it at Christmas because there were lots of spaces near that end of the parking lot.
As I walked through it to get to Macy’s, I noticed it well stocked and lots of families shopping. But I have not bought anything at a Sears in 6 years, when I was buying appliances for a house going on the market.
My local Sears closed six years ago in a mall, they had 25% off appliances. We needed a new oven and over the stove microwave. Both pieces were floor/display but top quality and a brand that does not discount.
I was wrong. There are 3 Sears stores in Hawaii. There are 2 on Oahu in malls outside Honolulu, and there is a store in Hilo on the Big Island.
To be fair, Radio Shack has been bought out and, while the new management has been allowed to keep the name, it’s very openly a cellular phone retail chain rather than anything involving radios or their component parts, whatsoever.
There is a K-Mart a few miles from me that seems to be thriving. I buy my kitty litter there and some personal products like Advil and shampoo etc.
It is always packed. It must be because it is in a rural area and tons of people come in from all the outlying areas methinks. It is in a shopping area that also has a Pet Smart, hair cutting place, Strings Pasta, a CVS and a yogurt shop, a smoke shop and a Michaels craft store.
I haven’t been in a Sears in over 25 years now. They were very popular in the 60’s and 70’s and early 80’s.
Ah. I have all the ‘stuff’ I can stand, @chyna, and I had to stop shopping clearance (but for food) for the most part. My Kmart has a big aisle of that, too.
The other anchor at our mall was Penny’s, and it went out this year. Feeble Sears and Bergner’s are all that’s left, @zenvelo.
We had a tiny local Sears (in another town) that took the franchise away from the owner, moved overnight, and then went out of business and I never did see a real appliance bargain, @Tropical_Willie.
I hope your Sears are better looking than what I’ve seen in the states, then, @Hawaii_Jake. (I remember there was a great Salvation Army on the big island, lol.)
Our Shacks disappeared overnight, @Seek.
That’s amazing, @Coloma. I can’t imagine a Kmart thriving any more.
My grandmother retired from a local Sears accounting department. I was raised on everything Sears…she got a discount and dibs on damaged stuff.
@ibstubro The Sally Shop in Hilo is indeed very good. (That’s the Salvation Army’s retail store for their donated goods.) I’ve bought lots of jeans there and a few aloha shirts.
I bought so much stuff there I had to buy another bag to carry it in! @Hawaii_Jake
I shop at both. It’s that you just have to know prices. My daughter’s father bought all his tools there at Sears. He used them at work.
Yeah, Sears is known for their Craftsman tools, as they have a lifetime guarantee.
You can now buy them at Kmart, too. At least select ones.
What do you find cheaper at Kmart, @foxglove? I haven’t really found anything. Or are you talking about sale items?
Sale things, like after Christmas. I got some new towels and sheets. You have to go on the day that their ads come out. If you wait all you ever get is a raincheck. Then when they come back in, they cost more. If you look at some of the clothes racks, sometimes kid’s clothes are marked down at the change of seasons. You just have to guess what size they will be next year.I buy up one size.
Ah. Yes, The clearance I get, @foxglove.
It’s amazing how long Kmart has gotten by with that ‘raincheck’ gimmick. They were pulling that crap back in the 89’s when I bought my first VCR.
As I understand it, the guy who is the majority stockholder in Sears/Kmart doesn’t care at all about retail and sales – he’s a real estate guy and feels his major asset is in the real estate (buildings, land) that the company owns.
The issue, I think, is that the land and buildings only have value if they house stores that are making money and making the shopping centers more attractive. Empty stores are not increasing value for real estate.
A few years ago I got a great winter coat for $27 at Kmart, after Christmas clearance. That’s what makes me go back every now and then – you never know what’s going to be on clearance.
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