It honestly doesn't surprise me that K-Mart is going to die, the one here has always sucked. The Sears Grand isn't doing much better either as the internet is just kicking the shit out of them.
As a Brit, K-mart seems like a shitty version of Woolworths but bigger and without even half the charm. Not surprised to see its going down the pan, its offering seems all over the place and fuck that must be one of the ugliest looking shops in existence.
Kmart is like ghetto Walmart here.
And that's saying something.
I'm surprised Kmart is still barely limping along, and didn't die off in the early 2000's like Bradlees, Ames, and Caldor.
It probably would've had it not been for Sears buying them out, but now that ship's sinking as well.
EDIT: The crawl through the darkened store with all the alarms going off was pure nightmare fuel.
[QUOTE=Genericenemy;52164850]As a Brit, K-mart seems like a shitty version of Woolworths but bigger and without even half the charm. Not surprised to see its going down the pan, its offering seems all over the place and fuck that must be one of the ugliest looking shops in existence.[/QUOTE]
They never updated the look, it's like genuinely stepping into the past going into K-Marts.
K-Mart hasn't had a place in the world for at least a decade. Target outdoes their shopping experience and niceness of the stores, while Walmart has far more variety and cheaper prices. I'm kind of shocked K-Mart has stayed around this long.
The last time I went into a K-Mart they had already cut down on half the electronics section and the in-store diner place (that had great hot dogs!) was shut down and some random merchandise was put in there. Everything is kind of disorganized and the layout is bizarre compared to most other stores.
Pretty good video, but it doesn't do enough to explain exactly [I]why[/I] SHC (Sears Holding Corporation) is dying. And it's all cause of this guy:
[T]https://files.catbox.moe/u1dwpe.png[/T]
Good ol' Eddie Lampert.
See, Eddie owned a hedge fund that had a majority share in Kmart's debt back in 2003. Some complicanted financial talk, and a few months later, Eddie emerges as the new CEO of Kmart Holding Corp. Jump to 2004, and KHC decides to buy Sears for [B]11 billion dollars.[/B] Henceforth becoming Sears Holdings Corporation. About 5 years of poor sales go by, and now we're at the part where he says "Sears hasn't been profitable since 2010".
Hundreds of store closings. They sold Lands' End (a clothing subcompany of SHC) to get some quick cash, and more recently they sold their Craftsman brand to Stanley Black & Decker for $525M, and $250M after 3 years (lol implying). But that still can't keep SHC above water. Gracious Eddie has pumped over $500M of his own money in order to keep the company afloat. Basically, it's fucked.
The video also doesn't do justice as to why SHC is failing. Let me put it in a short way: Eddie loves the internet. He thinks e-commerce is the way to go. So back in about 2009, they launched "Shop Your Way", re-branding their loyalty system and creating a new subcompany. I'm sure none of you have ever heard of this, and for good reason. It's absolutely dreadful. Want a hard drive? [URL="https://www.shopyourway.com/search/products?filters=availability%3A1&allowRedirection=true&q=2tb+hard+drive"]Here you go.[/URL] Oh, you mean you didn't want some shady third person "marketplace" seller with ridiculous prices? Welllll, we've gotta make money some how... So those contracts with marketplace sellers sounds good. Who cares about the user experience. We've gotta keep this company going!
I won't get into my personal fits about the UI/UX of the site itself (tagging is horrible, their catagories suck), but it just irritates me how some hedge fund baby is single-handedly managing to drive a name brand into the ground. And if you think I'm exagerating his influence, let me just make a list of changes he's made since he took ownership.
- Eddie [I]hates[/I] retail "jargon". So, he's [DEL]forced [/DEL]recommended associates refer to customers as "members". He also hates the word consumer. Why? /shrug
- Eddie doesn't [I]attend [/I]conferences with his board. He skypes.
- Eddie loves the internet. Did i mention that? He also loves selling rewards card "member" data. That's right, that "rewards card" you signed up for in store? Thanks for the name, email address, phone number, and street address.
- Eddie decided that normal company structures suck. So, what if we made [I]every part of running a retail business it's own partition[/I], and then [B]MAKE THEM COMPETE FOR FUNDING[/B]. I'm not kidding. Ever wondered why Kmart paper ads look so bad? it's because each department has to place bids to put their products on the ad. i'm fucking dying.
Honestly, there's so much more shit I could talk about, but I'm just thankful my store is one that does decent business, and everyone is in a sort of "well, we're in the shits now, so i guess we'll just make it the best time of our lives" mode. If you want a really in-depth and great article about how much of a scummy person Eddie is, Business Insider wrote [URL="http://www.businessinsider.com/sears-failing-stores-closing-edward-lampert-bankruptcy-chances-2017-1"]a great catch-all article[/URL].
/end retail rant
edit:
here i made a picture of Eddie
[T]https://files.catbox.moe/wg4zjm.png[/T]
I fucking love these videos. This particular video is like a goddamn spiritual retail journey, you get to see K-Mart go through the various cycles. In sheer denial it attempts to make the best of a bad situation by liquidating, but it doesn't work. Things only get worse by February. As the final day of closing nears, the K-Mart appears serene, but hollow. Empty inside. Soulless. It's given up, though it seems somewhat peaceful. This takes a dark turn right away however, as you see K-Mart's shriveled husk stirs restlessly in death, flailing in the dark for eternity.
Corporate mismanagement, nostalgiac consumerism, urban decay, all wrapped up in one video. [i]The pinnacle of aesthetic.[/i]
yet K-mart Australia is kicking ass over here. i don't get why the american version never took up our changes.
Reminds me of when Target closed here. The store only survived for a few months before they had their liquidation sale, place was ransacked near the end and someone drew all over the walls with makeup.
Wish Target would have made it in Canada :frown:
i havent been to k-mart since the early 2000s and the one in this video is already giving me a nostalgia i didnt even know existed. it looks the same
[QUOTE=teshok;52167585]yet K-mart Australia is kicking ass over here. i don't get why the american version never took up our changes.[/QUOTE]
Aus Kmart and Target aren't run by morons and their marketing department knows how to market cheap stuff to make it look somewhat high class while keeping the prices low.
Also Target sells new games cheaper than EB games :v:.
[QUOTE=Whomobile;52167684]Aus Kmart and Target aren't run by morons and their marketing department knows how to market cheap stuff to make it look somewhat high class while keeping the prices low.
Also Target sells new games cheaper than EB games :v:.[/QUOTE]
Who isn't cheaper than EB Games for games now days?
Oh man I remember when we had a K-mart, then in 2005-ish Walmart came in and within 2 years Kmart had a closing sale.
Jesus that in-store music is loud.
I've never heard anything that loud over here, we don't even really have in-store music in my town.
Actually now I'm not sure I've ever really heard any proper in-store music anywhere here, I remember a local K-Citymarket having these TVs hanging from the ceiling that would play their ads, and the ads had music, but that doesn't really count now does it.
[QUOTE=nikomo;52168170]Jesus that in-store music is loud.
I've never heard anything that loud over here, we don't even really have in-store music in my town.
[/QUOTE]
The audio was put through a compressor so don't worry, it actually doesn't sound exactly like that.
I'm fairly certain the music is added in, for aesthetic impact.
the music's added in to avoid possible copyright with whatever's playing on the store radio
No joke, I have not walked into a K-Mart since the late 90's, my parents and I hated it. The one we went to was always almost devoid of employees save for a cashier or two and someone dying of boredom at layaway. I remember the store near us being really musty and everything was yellowed from age, it felt more like a thrift shop than a huge corporate store.
The K-Mart in the video looked way better maintained, even with that Mold damage on the walls at the end. I was a bit surprised.
[QUOTE=Lolcats;52166126]If you want a really in-depth and great article about how much of a scummy person Eddie is, Business Insider wrote [URL="http://www.businessinsider.com/sears-failing-stores-closing-edward-lampert-bankruptcy-chances-2017-1"]a great catch-all article[/URL].[/QUOTE]
Holy shit, is this guy literally made of Slime?
[QUOTE=jazxsora;52168676]I'm fairly certain the music is added in, for aesthetic impact.[/QUOTE]
in the first section it was added in, I was thinking it was about the second section where he's walking around the open store with a friend.
[QUOTE=J.Barnes;52168915]No joke, I have not walked into a K-Mart since the late 90's, my parents and I hated it. The one we went to was always almost devoid of employees save for a cashier or two and someone dying of boredom at layaway. I remember the store near us being really musty and everything was yellowed from age, it felt more like a thrift shop than a huge corporate store.
The K-Mart in the video looked way better maintained, even with that Mold damage on the walls at the end. I was a bit surprised. [/QUOTE]
The K-Mart we had in town closed really early into 2002. It was definitely not a nice place. I never saw too many employees and the place was always dirty and haphazardly stocked. It's like nobody cared about it at all. You'd be better off driving down the road and going to Wal-Mart or heading to the next city over to check out the mall.
The other K-Mart in that very city held on until 2014. It was in one of the busiest intersections in the state and it still couldn't get any customers.
[QUOTE=Lolcats;52166126]- Eddie decided that normal company structures suck. So, what if we made [I]every part of running a retail business it's own partition[/I], and then [B]MAKE THEM COMPETE FOR FUNDING[/B]. I'm not kidding. Ever wondered why Kmart paper ads look so bad? it's because each department has to place bids to put their products on the ad. i'm fucking dying.[/QUOTE]
I don't think you emphasized this heavily enough.
Sears [i]literally[/i] has departments in direct competition. Referring someone to another department hurts your department's sales, and commissions. Employees have direct incentive to be underhanded and unhelpful to anyone not buying from them specifically.
It's like a corporate lord of the flies. Instead of a corporate overlord coming down and forcing them to work together, he just cut them loose to fend for themselves, and the result is a bickering war of passive aggressive back stabbing. The employees fight each other. They shit on the customers. The customers leave, so the employees fight harder.
There used to be a K-Mart in my town like.. 20 years ago? It was replaced by a Zellers I think in the late 90s or early 2000s (and now that is a Wal-mart). I don't even know if K-Mart even exists in Canada anymore.
[QUOTE=Tuskin;52170577]There used to be a K-Mart in my town like.. 20 years ago? It was replaced by a Zellers I think in the late 90s or early 2000s (and now that is a Wal-mart). I don't even know if K-Mart even exists in Canada anymore.[/QUOTE]
They were in fact replaced by Zellers in 1998, so Kmart hasn't existed in Canada for almost 20 years now.
[QUOTE=elevate;52170768]They were in fact replaced by Zellers in 1998, so Kmart hasn't existed in Canada for almost 20 years now.[/QUOTE]
Oh well then. That explains it.
I mean just look at the difference in how you feel in each store.
[B]Winn-Dixie[/B]
[t]http://i.imgur.com/fNghxp0.jpg[/t]
It's an old store, but the updated stores have a very welcoming feeling and a lot of fresh food on display. I can enjoy shopping there.
[B]Wal-Mart[/B]
[t]http://i.imgur.com/Bh2Vn1K.jpg[/t]
It's got the warehouse aesthetic it's always had, but you're probably going to find what you want here. Stuff is usually kept very orderly. Pretty standard and isn't going anywhere.
[B]Publix[/B]
[t]http://i.imgur.com/1FE9Ppt.jpg[/t]
Really nice looking colors and fresh food.
[B]Target[/B]
[t]http://i.imgur.com/cEyrsAp.jpg[/t]
Kinda similar to Wal-Mart but with a strong theme of vibrant red going on. Visually interesting to look at.
[B]K-Mart[/B]
[t]http://i.imgur.com/YMqKAfM.jpg[/t]
This place is old, boring, and kinda filthy looking. I really want to go home.
The Wal-mart near me, since it is in the old K-Mart/Zellers building, it looks like that K-mart :v: just tidier.
I don't even think they replaced the old shelves.
My friends and were actually wondering a few weeks ago what the inside of a k-mart looked like, so we looked it up and all we found was this shitty video of some kid "lip-synching" some ke$ha song as he walked through the store.
it was then we decided we didn't actually want to know what the inside of a k-mart looked like.
Honestly to me KMart has always felt like a shittier Wal-Mart. There was a KMart in the town that my grandparents lived near that was better than we have here, but it closed years ago and it's building now houses a car dealership.
We only go to KMart as a last resort and I can't even remember the last time we were in Sears, I think we used to go there to get fridges, microwaves, and ETC before they became Sears Grand and after that we just stopped going there and just get our appliances from Lowes.
All the malls around here are dying out as well because their owners keep driving up their rents, chasing out all their stores which are/were already struggling to compete with the internet including a hobby store that I liked where I got HO scale rolling stock for my trains and that was the only true hobby store around here that wasn't Hobby Lobby, although luckly for me there's a florist store in the nearby town that sells HO Rolling Stock as well.
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