KMart - Bleak outlook and poor earnings are weighing down this sinking ship

[randrace]

Went to pickup the tires I ordered a few weeks back. Heard the clerk at the auto center chat with the customer ahead of me, offering him 45% off a battery. Turned out the tire center was closing this month (no signs) and they had 1 mechanic left on staff so getting anything done was planning weeks out. Got to chat a bit with him (I was interested to see if the main Sears this auto center belongs to was also shutting down, but luckily it isn't (yet)). He told me that he was interviewing with other auto centers, so I asked him if he could just move over to the retail store. He said: "Yes, but I would have to re-apply for a job and would start over again, losing all my many years of Sears service". Talking about sticking it to your employees ....

What a bummer. I'm sure when he started, he assumed that Sears was going to be rock solid for his lifetime. As a guy who has spent most of his working life in retail, I feel for folks trying to carve out a living in this sector.

[fuzzy_bricks]

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-sears-shareholders-idUSKBN1862R2?il=0

Found this tidbit interesting/humorous considering how the SYW program gets used here.

The company has not reported a profit for six years, which Lampert compared to Amazon.com Inc's (AMZN.O) early unprofitable growth. He predicted people will look back and wonder how they missed the Sears' turnaround, which he said would be driven by the Shop Your Way rewards program.

[exciter1]

6 minutes ago, fuzzy_bricks said:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-sears-shareholders-idUSKBN1862R2?il=0

Found this tidbit interesting/humorous considering how the SYW program gets used here.

The company has not reported a profit for six years, which Lampert compared to Amazon.com Inc's (AMZN.O) early unprofitable growth. He predicted people will look back and wonder how they missed the Sears' turnaround, which he said would be driven by the Shop Your Way rewards program.

[Phil B]

1 hour ago, fuzzy_bricks said:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-sears-shareholders-idUSKBN1862R2?il=0

Found this tidbit interesting/humorous considering how the SYW program gets used here.

The company has not reported a profit for six years, which Lampert compared to Amazon.com Inc's (AMZN.O) early unprofitable growth. He predicted people will look back and wonder how they missed the Sears' turnaround, which he said would be driven by the Shop Your Way rewards program.

There are several quote-worthy passages in that article. This one cracked me up the most:

Quote

"We do believe that the more points people accumulate, the more they'll shop with us," Lampert said.

Sure ... can't argue with that. But all my $0.00 purchases are not adding to your bottom line, and I doubt partner revenue counts as Sears revenue to the stockholders

In fact, reading the article I'm getting more and more convinced that Lampert and Trump are brothers.

[jay4e]

1 hour ago, fuzzy_bricks said:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-sears-shareholders-idUSKBN1862R2?il=0

Found this tidbit interesting/humorous considering how the SYW program gets used here.

The company has not reported a profit for six years, which Lampert compared to Amazon.com Inc's (AMZN.O) early unprofitable growth. He predicted people will look back and wonder how they missed the Sears' turnaround, which he said would be driven by the Shop Your Way rewards program.

Its really kinda of a smart move.  many companies have to go through years of work and round after round of VC funding to get an online company millions of users and billion dollar valuations.  Lampert has a new take on it, buy a failing retailer and use it as a host for the parasitic online venture.  Then once your online company is far enough along to run independently, just have the other companies declare bankruptcy and drop all that dead weight.

[Lego Templar]

The one closing (closest to me) hit 40% off (I called them today) all toys 40% off. Lady said she doesn't know what the next Mark down is but she said the store closes in July and every 2 Weeks or so it's been dropped 10% each time. She said next week should be 50% but no idea.

Anyway I want more opinions! The store is roughly 35 minutes south of me. Is it worth going and stocking up at 40% or take the chance and wait till next week? I'd hate to see it stocked at 40% and go at 50% and everything is gone.

For those who have gone through store closings how did you do it? Keep in mind the store is 35-40 minutes south of me I'm not going to drive daily or even weekly to it.

[Phil B]

When my closest KMART closed last year in the summer, there was ample choice at 40% and only Chima Speedorz left when they hit 50%. They also started tearing down all the shelving at that point. Luckily I had grabbed what I wanted at 40%.

[exciter1]

1 hour ago, Lego Templar said:

The one closing (closest to me) hit 40% off (I called them today) all toys 40% off. Lady said she doesn't know what the next Mark down is but she said the store closes in July and every 2 Weeks or so it's been dropped 10% each time. She said next week should be 50% but no idea.

Anyway I want more opinions! The store is roughly 35 minutes south of me. Is it worth going and stocking up at 40% or take the chance and wait till next week? I'd hate to see it stocked at 40% and go at 50% and everything is gone.

For those who have gone through store closings how did you do it? Keep in mind the store is 35-40 minutes south of me I'm not going to drive daily or even weekly to it.

I agree, make one trip and make the best of it.  40% is a safe bet that Lego will start selling quick. Try to load coupons to your account, etc. to sweeten the deal.  Stay as long as you need to make the most of the trip with multiple checkouts.

[cardkid]

I agree, make one trip and make the best of it.  40% is a safe bet that Lego will start selling quick. Try to load coupons to your account, etc. to sweeten the deal.  Stay as long as you need to make the most of the trip with multiple checkouts.

Do coupons apply to closing store clearances?

[exciter1]

7 minutes ago, cardkid said:

Do coupons apply to closing store clearances?

They scanned coupons for a few weeks at my store and then stopped.  Once you loaded coupons to your account, they'd apply also, so that's what I did until they closed.  You can also use points on top of that.  I used $10 off $50 pretty consistently then and also collected a bunch of catalina gas coupons.

[Lego Templar]

I agree, make one trip and make the best of it.  40% is a safe bet that Lego will start selling quick. Try to load coupons to your account, etc. to sweeten the deal.  Stay as long as you need to make the most of the trip with multiple checkouts.

I never really shop here and don't know much about shop your way etc. any coupons you can think of or do I have to google them? A site? Mailed to me?

[exciter1]

2 minutes ago, Lego Templar said:

 

I never really shop here and don't know much about shop your way etc. any coupons you can think of or do I have to google them? A site? Mailed to me?

Check out the first post in the Daily Deals  or Shop Your Way threads for the mobile coupons.

[Lordoflego]

One of my local kmarts is fighting back. Clearance (only bionicles left) Lego went from 50% off to 30% off and now its 15% off. Wth 

[MinifigW]

1 hour ago, Lordoflego said:

One of my local kmarts is fighting back. Clearance (only bionicles left) Lego went from 50% off to 30% off and now its 15% off. Wth 

Mines remained at 50% with 75% back. They pulled some new bionicle which I bought. I doubt they will go higher than 60% off with the 75% back promo remaining in affect.

[MinifigW]

Well if if they can get every store looking like this they may have a fighting chance. The 2-3 Kmart's in NYC quietly got a remodel recently, lack of competition from Walmart has apparently served them well.

Photo credit: Flickr user Styertowne: https://www.flickr.com/photos/115637162@N02/

[jay4e]

well this is not going to help:

http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/kmart-credit-card-breach-what-you-need-know-n767161

millions more down the drain...

[exciter1]

Some major changes probably coming to their online presence.

"Stephan Zoll, president of Sears' online operations, is also stepping down from the company, effective June 15, Sears said Tuesday in a separate 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In an internal memo to employees, CEO Eddie Lampert added that David Pastrana, president of Sears' apparel division, and Eric Jaffe, senior vice president of Shop Your Way, will be departing the company after a brief transition."

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/13/sears-to-cut-400-full-time-jobs-as-part-of-ongoing-restructuring.html

[mizeur]

The inventory blowout was over at the store where I collected a pickup order today.

[pcaster]

Sears Canada preparing to seek creditor protection

https://www.reuters.com/article/sears-canada-restructuring-idUSL3N1JI099

 

[exciter1]

http://www.businessinsider.com/sears-is-closing-more-stores-2017-6

[CM4Sci]

7 hours ago, exciter1 said:

http://www.businessinsider.com/sears-is-closing-more-stores-2017-6

Oh, the one Sears near me is on that list. I wonder what'll take its place. The mall it's associated with is dying... the last few times I've been there I've legit felt uncomfortable and over 10+ stores have been closed. They even got rid of my favorite pretzel stand! I no longer like going there. ?

It's a shame.

[Furious_george]

When my family and I visited Montana a few years ago, one of first stops was Walmart in Boseman (never seen a Walmart before). Anyway , across the road was a Kmart . A SUPER  Kmart no less , so we had a look. This shop was so big , and so empty , my kids actually filmed a zombie movie in there while we looked around. To top it off, the lady that served us at the checkout, had a BEARD. 

[Lordoflego]

On 6/24/2017 at 2:27 AM, CM4Sci said:

Oh, the one Sears near me is on that list. I wonder what'll take its place. 

Maybe this?

[Alpinemaps]

I just saw today that the Kmart in the town I was born in is closing. Sad, because my mom worked there in the early 70s and met my dad while she was working there.

[mizeur]

Season 3 of Fargo is really the story of Sears Holdings Corporation.