Sears Holdings Closing Dozen Stores Including Eight Kmarts And Four Sears Outlets

[Purveyor]

Oct. 21, 2008

(Reuters) — U.S. retailer Sears Holdings Corp. is planning to close 12 stores, including eight Kmarts and four Sears outlets, in January.

The closures are "part of our normal course of business of opening and closing stores," spokeswoman Kimberly Freely said, adding, "It's not part of a greater issue."

The stores to be closed include Kmarts in Marietta, Georgia; Phoenix and Mesa, Arizona; Forest Park, Ohio; Northridge, California; Clarksville, Indiana; Sarasota, Florida and Knoxville, Tennessee.

The company will also shutter a Sears Grand in Columbia, South Carolina; a Sears Essentials in St. Petersburg, Florida; and two other Sears stores in Indianapolis and Florissant, Missouri.

REUTERS: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=31485&seenIt=1

[zbdent]

1. Ones I miss ...

Woolworth's, Hills, Children's Palace, Lionel Kiddie City, Gold Circle ...

and all of them closed in better times ...

[Blue Diadem]

2. I miss them too.

Not familiar with Gold Circle, but the others were favorites of mine.

[zbdent]

3. Wasn't that common ...

[blue_onyx]

6. I loved going to Children's Palace when I was a kid

I use to shop at Montgomery Ward for a lot of my clothes when I was younger too. So many stores that are gone and a few more to follow....Linens n Things, Mervyns, and maybe even Circuit City which I heard isn't doing well either.

[zbdent]

14. I forgot about Monkey Ward!

There's one with the big sign in Cuyahoga Falls ... been vacant for years, but the sign is still up there.

[SoCalDem]

4. Just the natural outgrowth of cannibal capitalism

KMart & Sears "merge"..KMart prices go UP, Sear's reputation/quality go down... they meet somewhere in the middle, and walmart & Target "win"...

and then the natural denouement occurs when Sears & Kmarts close down, leaving some places with nowhere to shop...except by driving to walmart & target..

[blue_onyx]

5. Yep...this merger made no sense

Just like the potential Chrysler/GM merger makes no sense. I shop occasionally at Kmart but I really don't like to....I just go if they have a good sale on something. The Kmart close to my house it the original store and is very run down. I'm not surprised they're closing Kmarts.

[Purveyor]

7. Here in Jackson, MI our eastside Kmart sucks. I only rarely find

what I'm looking for. There was a time when they had a good selection of auto parts...no more. There was a time when they had a good selection of hardware...no more.

I had hope for these stores when they merged with Sears thinking that the auto/hardware stock would return. It didn't and likewise, I rarely return to shop at Kmart.

Actually, I don't see how this store remains open...

[blue_onyx]

8. I wouldn't be surprised to see Kmart bite the dust

There was a time when this would've been sad...I usually like to see the Michigan companies do well. But when they bought Sears and completely ditched Michigan (after saying they would keep jobs here), I stopped caring about them. I've heard people on the news mention that many stores may not make it out of this recession and I could see Kmart being one of them.

[seemslikeadream]

10. Sear's reputation/quality go down...

you can say that again, what a nightmare their service is now, their appliances are crap and they lie about being "made in America" "assembled in America" google is the friend of the shopper

[blue_onyx]

11. That's why I didn't understand why they agreed to the merger

I actually haven't had many bad experiences there...other than a few cashiers that were really slow. The one thing about Sears I would warn against....NEVER go to Sears Dental. The worst dental experience ever. They said I had cavities but I refused to go back there to get fillings. When I eventually went to a new dentist, they said I didn't any decay. My dad works at a Sears, so I try to support them but nothing can make me go to Sears Dental again.

[onethatcares]

9. w.t. grants, woolworths, pomeroys, whitners,

kroll & keck, and so many others that had a distinct feeling about themselves. Twern't no mall look alike, walmart chinese buying bullshit outfits.

I apologize, I'm originally from s.e. PA and I miss those stores, I probly worked in most of them.

Peace

[Purveyor]

13. OMG...Somebody remembers 'Grants'. My grandmom(Bernice) bought me my first

riding lawnmower from Grants.

I made hundred's mowing the neighbors yards. Of course this was 'way before' kids actually worked rather than be bored and injury lawsuits wasn't a concern.

[mwooldri]

12. The remaining Super K-Marts are getting downsized here...

... to Big K-Marts. Stripping out the grocery section. In the case of Burlington, NC it would actually make sense to close the Sears in the mall (it's practically dead anyway) and take over the Super K-Mart and re-badge it Sears anyway. They might have had a car servicing part to that Super K-Mart at one point too - if so they could just re-open that.

Mark.

[EFerrari]

15. I heard on teevee news this morning that Target has been caught (eta: link)

overcharging at the cash register. I don't know if it's just local, though. Edit: In five counties here in CA.

Target, accused of overcharging, to pay $1.745 million
JONDI GUMZ - Sentinel staff writer
Article Launched: 10/22/2008 01:33:49 AM PDT

Target Corp. has agreed to pay $1.745 million after investigations in five counties into allegations of overcharging, Santa Cruz County District Attorney Bob Lee said Tuesday.

"We strive to get a meaningful civil penalty to give them a reason to pay attention," said Santa Cruz County prosecutor William Atkinson.

Target has a store in Watsonville and is proposing to open a location in Scotts Valley.

The settlement was filed Monday in Contra Costa County Superior Court. Other counties involved include Marin, Sonoma and Fresno.

http://www.mercurynews.com/centralcoast/ci_10782972

[KharmaTrain]

16. Expect More On The Way

Sears has been hurting for quite some time and a poor fourth quarter could put them under once and for all. They've been tied to big box stores...and with the big drop in consumer spending, the hurt is getting a lot worse. They have very little as far as online business...which is ironic considering the company made its fortune on the internet of a century ago...mail order.

The problems are further excelerated by the cash and credit crunch that means companies have to dip into their own reserves to cover inventory and rising expenses or cut costs...without the flow of credit, payrolls can't be met, inventories will go unfilled and the slowdown will get worse.

In essence, this economy is suffering from bad stagflation and the combination of a collapse of the stock and credit markets along with a collapsed consumer market is going to put a lot of companies in severe straits in the very near future.