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https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/09/business/...index.html
Home of the 'blue light' special. We had one in Escanaba, Michigan back in the day. Talk about a company that never changed with the times (along with Sears, the parent company). In its worst days in the 90s, going to the back of the dimly lit store was like walking into a dark alley in a bad part of town. I think they also pioneered 'layaway' but I'm not positive on that.
I thought they were already dead and buried...JC Penney is next.
"Obviously they are all going to be gone shortly," said Mark Cohen, director of retail studies at Columbia University. "This movie has ended, and we're watching the credits roll endlessly."
Wow, I guess so. Didn't know there were a few still hanging around. Haven't seen one in years.
How the fuck did the company that was known for the catalog not find a way to make use of the internet? Just completely mind boggling. They were Amazin before there was the internet.
I read stories that they just failed to embrace the difital age.
https://www.cleo.com/blog/downfall-of-sears
Quote: @Mike Olson said:
How the fuck did the company that was known for the catalog not find a way to make use of the internet? Just completely mind boggling. They were Amazin before there was the internet.
I read stories that they just failed to embrace the difital age.
https://www.cleo.com/blog/downfall-of-sears
I think part of the issue with this is not so much people didn't envision online sales being popular, but very few back then could comprehend HOW Amazon has done it: endless supplies of VC money. The story below is 8 years old, but it explains the HIGHLY unique circumstances Amazon has prospered in:
https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2...%20journey.
"Amazon isn't making profits simply because it is in investment mode. This may sound surprising, considering that 19-year-old Amazon is the world's largest online retailer, not a new start-up. However, for Amazon's CEO and founder, Jeff Bezos, the company is only at the beginning of a long journey." Motley Fool - 2013.
"Amazon makes a profit, but that profit stays within Amazon as a business, and doesn't get paid out to shareholders or managers. Jeff Bezos doesn't get any of that. The profit gets reinvested in the business for future growth, to be able to generate more profit. Investors believe that with this growth, over time, Amazon will generate more than a trillion US dollars in after tax profit. Hence, they value Amazon at around one trillion US dollars now". (not sure how old this quote is).
This is not how business was done in the 70s and 80s (and before). It was unfathomable to investors, business owners, etc. that ANY venture capitalists would be this patient and undemanding. The business model of same day/overnight delivery is expensive. Inventory is a huge cost in their distribution centers. They've gotten extremely lucky that along the way, USPS has assisted with weekend deliveries as contractors and using that infrastructure.
Amazon is an excellent company, but it has had a TON of money thrown at it to succeed.
Good riddance to Kmart and for me it is personal. My last name is very close to "Kmart" so I have had nearly a lifetime of teasing about it. Thought this day would never come. As it is, with Kmart's slow decline, I have not had anyone mention Kmart to me in a long time.
It's sad to see some of these stores like Circuit City, Shopko, Kmart go by the wayside but like this thread has already said, they were just too slow to adapt while companies like Target, Best Buy, Walmart were (relatively) faster.
My lasting memory of Kmart will be as a kid we'd be on the hunt for a certain action figure that I HAD to have haha, and Kmart came through a few times. I think because less people went there so they had more stock. Memory #2 is that their mens jeans section-- Lee, Wranger, I forget which brand it was-- was absurdly big. Felt like it took up a quarter of the store for some reason.
Kmart and big box/mall shopping has been dead for decades and if you can't adjust another company like Amazon will put you to rest.
Side note: This Country is going to end up being run by about 10 corporations and their political tools/fools. But we love our monopolies because we hate any government checks and balances and we glorify and reward greed.
Quote: @minny65 said:
Kmart and big box/mall shopping has been dead for decades and if you can't adjust another company like Amazon will put you to rest.
Side note: This Country is going to end up being run by about 10 corporations and their political tools/fools. But we love our monopolies because we hate any government checks and balances and we glorify and reward greed.
Yep. The town in Kansas my family is from virtually dried up after a Walmart went in out by the interstate. When I was a kid, we'd cruise main street in a thriving downtown: DQ, theaters, department stores, hardware, diners. Now everything's gone. All of it. Another couple decades and the Walmarts will be gone too, replaced by online retailers who will deliver same-day, if not within the hour.
KMart and Pennys both had a very similar problem, shortly before Walmart went ape shit building out in the late 80s we had the shopping mall craze, every town of any size had a shiny new shopping mall that would allow people a one stop experience for about everything they needed short of groceries. Most of those malls ( at least in the upper plains ) were anchored by KMart and JC Pennys, that was their downfall IMO, they locked themselves into long term high dollar leases that tied when the mall experience wore itself out, drug those one time giants down with them. Walmart would come to town, the shopping experience went back to stand alone shopping centers, and those two werent able to get out of leases to relocate to a more modern shopping experience. Then came the online thing and that was it.
I dont give a shit about KMart, about they only thing I ever remember about that place was they had really good pillows, but I do miss our local JC pennys as there isnt shit for places to buy decent affordable mens clothing around any more.
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