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Thread: Sears or JCP who will die first?

  1. #126

    Default Re: Sears or JCP who will die first?

    Quote Originally Posted by bchris02 View Post
    I do think its possible for a chain to find a sweet spot between the two models in which they don't go too crazy with store openings to maximize the amount of profitable locations. In addition, unprofitable stores would be closed.
    Part of the problem is once a company is public that encourages to CEO to keep a growth model if at all plausible, once they you lose an evaluation as a growth stock, it's price gets hammered. Which also negatively impacts it's ability to get new capital and erodes company moral, which was often declining for a long time before that.

  2. Default Re: Sears or JCP who will die first?

    Quote Originally Posted by Soonerman View Post
    I believe Shawnee still has a Kmart.
    This is correct. Also, there was one in Edmond for a while in the late 90s (former Venture). That spot is now the Academy on Broadway.

  3. #128

    Default Re: Sears or JCP who will die first?

    Quote Originally Posted by bluedogok View Post
    The only time that I remember K-Mart in OKC was after they bought out Venture, there may have been one in Yukon or El Reno. I know there was one in Tulsa and Lawton. We still have a few open here in the Denver area, i Have been to it once or twice.
    There was never one in Yukon, I know there was one in Clinton (granted not exactly the OKC area).

  4. #129

    Default Re: Sears or JCP who will die first?

    There was a Kmart for only a couple of years around 1999-2001 (???) at NW 36th & May where Pole Position is now. They closed a ton of Kmart stores during bankruptcy reorganization and it was gone.

    On edit I have found an old story about the nationwide closings which show the Oklahoma stores (including the 36th & May store)
    http://www.foxnews.com/story/2002/03...-to-be-closed/

    Here's a pic of the closed Oklahoma stores listed from the story above.



    Kmart shows nine locations still open in Oklahoma.
    http://www.kmart.com/stores/oklahoma.html

  5. Default Re: Sears or JCP who will die first?

    The stores didn't close until around 2003. I actually worked at the MWC one just before the closings. Terrible company to work for. Bad management (store managers that were drunk or couldn't even manage to figure out how to schedule people), bad supply chain management (took 2 weeks to get an order for stock), bad treatment of employees (told us we were replaceable in 24 hours), etc. But all for a store, as said here, had no market. No one went to KMart unless they lived closer to it than Wal-Mart or Target. It was an in-betweener and really has fallen below Wal-Mart. Places like Shawnee and Clinton that didn't have a Target still attracted KMart customers because the alternative wasn't there.

    And the absolute worst idea possible, happened. They merged with Sears....another bankrupt store with an inability to create a modern place for itself.

    JCP at least has tried to reinvest in itself. They closed crappy locations and built new ones. For OKC that meant tossing the one at Crossroads and going to Moore/MWC. Both of those stores are nice. Although it does feel like you're walking inside the Kolhs next door...no real difference. The "no sales, discounter" thing was idiotic and doomed to failure so I'm glad they got over that one quickly. But i'll say this, the brands you carry in your store are what define how you are going to survive. Those brands have to balance both an adult contemporary and youth market. If you try to stick to old models, you're going to retain your elderly market, but guess what....those people die more quickly. I hate to make it sound harsh, but it's just true. A brand can't afford to be loyal to an aging population if they want to survive. Next you have to decide if you're a discounter or a middle-market store. Kohl's is what Penny's was...100% middle market. Penny's is on the lower end of that middle market, but I would still say they are most definitely NOT discount. That's Marshalls (probably down the street in the same shopping center). The Ross to your Old Navy.

    As for stores, they have missed an opportunity in places like Quail for reinvesting in the store. Look at places like McDonalds. How many times have the chain-owned stores been torn down and rebuilt over the last 15 years? The tax advantages that come from that are realized relatively quickly and you can guarantee they wouldn't be doing it if they didn't think there would be some sort of return on that. It's that constant work of reinventing yourself. Heck, look at Wendys!! That's a company that was teetering on collapse after Dave Thomas died and they've managed to come back strong. If you haven't been in a new store yet, it's VERY different and actually very nice. The new McDonalds...meh. They feel small to me. For them, the calculus was focused on more drive through than dine-in. Not for me, but apparently I wasn't who they were focusing on LOL.

  6. #131

    Default Re: Sears or JCP who will die first?

    The JCP in Fayetteville was completely redone and nicely but the work was done as the Apple guy's pricing strategy backfired and they reduced lots of SKUs. Sears has misfired on the softlines time and again. They'd buy a Lands End and squandered it, they'd great decent names to license and it was crap quality. Heck, all Kenmore is a collection of products branded for sears by other manufactures. Lowes and Home Depots push into appliances along with Best Buy hurt bigtime. Some one mentioned going hardlines only, That's a maybe and going softlines only for KMarts. Lord those stores need extensive capital investments. When did anyone see one remodeled in the past two decades?

    Oh, on Wendys, this is a newer one


    Heck, have you seen the Sonics that conform to walkability zoning requirements with outdoor fireplaces

  7. #132

    Default Re: Sears or JCP who will die first?

    Sears is wasting Land's End away after Land's End wasted their purchase of Willis & Geiger. The (re)spin off of Land's End is probably too late I am afraid. The few K-Marts that are (still) open here in Denver look like they haven't been touched since they were built in the 70's.

    They have done a good job with the new Wendy's, quite a few here have been redone.

  8. #133

    Default Re: Sears or JCP who will die first?

    The K-Mart is Shawnee is definitely a time travel experience back to the 80's. It makes Wall's Bargain Center look upscale lol

  9. #134

    Default Re: Sears or JCP who will die first?

    Pretty spot on story printed early last year about K-Mart.

    Is it time to close Kmart?- MSN Money

  10. #135

    Default Re: Sears or JCP who will die first?

    There is only room for one retail bottom dweller and Walmart has that market cornered. In the race to the bottom Walmart already won. Everyone else should give up.

  11. #136

    Default Re: Sears or JCP who will die first?

    Quote Originally Posted by Just the facts View Post
    There is only room for one retail bottom dweller and Walmart has that market cornered. In the race to the bottom Walmart already won. Everyone else should give up.
    I find Walmart stocked much better than our local Targets and I hate shopping at Walmart. Our Targets look barren for half the year. It's the same back home in Memphis.

  12. #137

    Default Re: Sears or JCP who will die first?

    Quote Originally Posted by WaywardMemphian View Post
    I find Walmart stocked much better than our local Targets and I hate shopping at Walmart. Our Targets look barren for half the year. It's the same back home in Memphis.
    Targets are better staffed though. I can't stand Wal-Mart because there are usually only a few registers open in the entire store, meaning long waits to check out.

  13. #138

    Default Re: Sears or JCP who will die first?

    Quote Originally Posted by bchris02 View Post
    Targets are better staffed though. I can't stand Wal-Mart because there are usually only a few registers open in the entire store, meaning long waits to check out.
    Almost without fail if you ask employees at Target where something is, they stop and take you there. At WalMart, you're lucky to get a grunt and a finger pointed in a general direction.

  14. #139

    Default Re: Sears or JCP who will die first?

    Quote Originally Posted by 5alive View Post
    The K-Mart is Shawnee is definitely a time travel experience back to the 80's. It makes Wall's Bargain Center look upscale lol
    I went to Kmart in Lawton and I felt like I was back in 1991 and there was hardly anybody in there on a Saturday. I would figure they would update that store especially considering the fact that Lawton has a Target now. I wouldn't be shocked if that Kmart is on the next round of closings.

  15. #140

    Default Re: Sears or JCP who will die first?

    I can't even tell you the last time I was a in Kmart. The last time I remember being in one was 6 years ago but I didn't buy anything. The last Kmart purchase I remember was a shovel in 1996. I bought a belt from Sears about a month ago.

  16. #141

    Default Re: Sears or JCP who will die first?

    JTF...you crack me up


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  17. #142

  18. #143

    Default Re: Sears or JCP who will die first?

    I think the writing is on the wall for their department stores as well as K-Mart. As has been discussed, both are a victim of their own complacency and basically being squeezed out of the market.

  19. #144

    Default Re: Sears or JCP who will die first?

    One of my crappy college jobs was at Sears. They never put any money into their stores, in either decor or upkeep. The mens employee bathroom had some issues, so they just locked it and labeled the women's as unisex. That was a decade ago, and I know a current employee. It's still that way. They also changed their commission plan quarterly, and somehow, you always made less money under the "new and improved" plan.

  20. #145

    Default Re: Sears or JCP who will die first?

    Sears is closing at the Arrowhead mall in Muskogee leaving that mall empty and apparently closing in Enid as well.

  21. #146

    Default Re: Sears or JCP who will die first?

    I wonder how much longer Heritage Park Mall has.

  22. #147

    Default Re: Sears or JCP who will die first?

    Sears has also been borrowing cash from the CEO's hedge fund. That can't hold out, their suppliers will bail.

  23. Default Re: Sears or JCP who will die first?

    Quote Originally Posted by bchris02 View Post
    I wonder how much longer Heritage Park Mall has.

    The mall is closed. Has been for quite some time. But the Sears usually has quite a few customers.

  24. #149

    Default Re: Sears or JCP who will die first?

    The Sears at HPM is pretty busy compared to the Sears in South OKC on weekends.

  25. #150

    Default Re: Sears or JCP who will die first?

    Quote Originally Posted by SomeGuy View Post
    The Sears at HPM is pretty busy compared to the Sears in South OKC on weekends.
    I can see that. The next OKC store to close will probably be the standalone one at S 44th and (Western?).

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