K Mart thoughts

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I find it amazing that people get rabid about a company re-organizing. To me, it is simply supply, demand, and normal shrinkage in an overgrown market. Think macro-economics, not the micro-economics of your local town.

Listening to a business talk show this afternoon, the moderator said that businesses like that must concern themselves with three things, Cost, Selection, and Convenience. K-Mart has been known (by those who research those things) to have higher prices and a smaller selection of products that Wal Mart or Target. He said that the big three (KM, WM, and T) run even on convenience, so K-Mart lost on the other two, AND that this was not a surprise to the industry.

From what I have seen in posts online and heard on the radio, the quality of an individual town's stores varies wildly. In ours (well, it's 40 miles away), the Target is always sloppy and not well stocked, I can't find what I want in Wal-Mart, and the K-Mart is clean, the folks are nice, and I find what I want easily. I think local management has a lot to do with it. Hopefully, ours will be one of the ones that stays open.

-- Rose (open_rose@hotmail.com), January 22, 2002

Answers

Convenience, There close enough. issues solved. Selection, I only need 1 if the quality is good. This is a problem area for k-mart, little selection and most of them junk. Cost, This is where kmart tries to win. Cheap is not low cost.

If I want a shirt, Kmart might or might not have my size, They keep such a small seasonal selection. Heck I dont need spring wear now. I still need winter. When I do find a shirt that will fit (it might even have the right size sticker on it) I have to go through 3 or 4 of the same kind to find one that is not already torn, damaged or pre-ripped.

Now granted wallmart is not much better on clothes.

-- Gary (gws@columbus.rr.com), January 22, 2002.


If we were to list all of the lay-offs and corporate loses reported for just the one day - yesterday, it would fill a page in small print. When this snowball gets rolling, watch out. K-Mart is going broke, USAir reported it lost over a BILLION dollars and Ford lost over FIVE BILLION dollars just in its' last quarter of the year. Boeing is laying off 2,500 and on and on. The good news is that the Antarctic Ice Cap is thickening and that the assumption that we have global warming might be all wrong. Annette

-- a.eadie (a.eadie@mailexcite.com), January 22, 2002.

I my area, hunting is a great and serious sport,(many people of low income, depend of the "winter deer" to keep their families fed during the white season, suddenly K-mart stop selling weapons and all the paraphanalia for hunters, (they had good prices) and I thought "gee Waltmart is going to be very happy with this" well today our Walmart opened a new wing for hunters equipment only, and I was told they are having their "hay day"... I don't know someone was no thinking...

-- Ralph Roces (rroces1@yahoo.com), January 22, 2002.

In addition to cost, convenience and selection, there is marketing. In this area were have not had K-Mart TV ads in years. Walmart 'Rollback' and 'Employee or Customer identification' ads are on daily. You have to find something positive about your endeavor and keep that in front of people.

-- paul (primrose@centex.net), January 22, 2002.

To me this surety bond connection is troubling: Oddly, the spectacular failure of the Enron Corporation, already the largest corporate bankruptcy ever, may have had as much to do with Kmart's failure as skittish suppliers and hard-nosed bankers.

Kmart relies on surety bonds, essentially agreements by insurance companies to continue financing in case of a default, to back its workers' compensation program and to cover liabilities arising from its sales of guns and liquor, advisers and executives close to the company said.

Enron depended on such bonds, too, and after it went bankrupt, leaving insurance companies to cover its liabilities, insurers drastically raised prices for surety bonds. In Kmart's case, insurers were requiring cash collateral for the securities.

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), January 23, 2002.



There was an article in USA Today last week which mentioned that Kmart earns slightly over $200 per sq. ft. of floor space while Walmart earns over $400. The article, based on a survey, said that between Walmart, Kmart or Target anyone of them could have the lowest price depending on the item.

Kmart seems to have more stock outs than Walmart and has about three times the inventory loses of Walmart. Kmart also has about twice as many stores as Walmart.

I think it comes down to basic management. For some reason Kmart does not do a good job of maintaining inventory. If it's not in the store, you can't sell it. I see Walmart trucks all the time. Can't say that about Kmart.

The cleanliness of individual stores can be laid on the managers' doorstep. Many times the managers will skimp on that because it costs money and results in reduced profit from the store. That's where regional and upper management needs to back off the budget issues and demand a clean well kept store that customers want to patronize.

Kmart needs to review the merchandise stocked as compared to Walmart. I don't know what Martha Stewart brings to the business but for me it's a turn off. I rather see a known brand name rather than some celebrity name tag.

I've read comments from others that the Kmart layout differs from store to store. When I walk into a store whether it's a Walmart in MD or WV, it's nice to know where stuff is rather than waste time in a search.

-- Darren (df1@infi.net), January 23, 2002.


I just remembered this- I was working in Detroit a couple of weeks ago and I did go to a K-Mart there. It was one of those large super K- Marts, which I had never seen before. Well, my friends and were going in at wierd hours (store was open 24 hours), before or after work, and there was never a time when we were able to find anyone, in any department, to help us find anything. I also noticed that many spots on the shelves were bare of certain items which had not been restocked. What was really bizarre though, was the checkout. There were probably 35 registers, maybe more, yet any time we went in there were lines backed up and the wait to check out was 20 minutes or more. Now, this particular store had instituted self-serve checkouts- DUMBEST THING I EVER SAW, lol. In fact, as I write this I am convinced that it was that single feature which ran the company into bankruptcy. First of all, the customers could not figure out how to use the system. Then, if they managed to figure it out, it did not work half the time. We waited in line for 40 minutes one night with 3 customers in front of us because no one could get the thing to work. We were supposed to scan the items, wait for a total, then either pay by cash or credit card. Ha, what a scam. There was one attendent for 6 registers who was supposed to keep an eye on things. She could have cared less. I watched people walk out intentionally without scanning items; I watched people put several different types of produce on the scale together to be weighed (so if a red bell pepper is $3.99/lb and I put three peppers and a head of cauliflower @ $.99/lb, how does it know how much to charge me?). I watched the attendent allow people who she apparently knew, walk out without paying- it just went on and on. And I watched people try to scan items which would not scan properly. Each time we went in there I was in shock- ask my friends- I kept saying "This is the dumbest thing.......". Then one night one of my co-workers bought something which he wanted to return and when he took it back it wasn't even on his receipt- apparently he "stole" it without even realizing it. Yikes, now it all comes clear.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), January 23, 2002.

Darren, It's no wonder KMart has inventory losses-it's a wonder they have inventory at all with the way they load the delivery trucks. Hubby's a truck driver and absolutely hates delivering KMart.

I've not seen the self checkout lines around here and can't imagine using one if I did. I can't see why I'd want to pay full price to check myself out.

-- Terri in WV (mrs_swift_26547@yahoo.com), January 23, 2002.


I believe the lesson for homesteaders in this is redouble our efforts on our homesteads to insulate ourselves from the economics of the mainstream economy so that when something like Enron or Kmart troubles happen we hardly notice.Don't worry there will always be a X mart of some sort around.

-- Gary (burnett_gary@msn.com), January 23, 2002.

the k-mart here is understocked and way over priced.also no help.on the other hand, my hubby works for wal mart and i used to. i had the flu and couldnt afford to go to the doctor. walmart doesnt offer ins till your there 6 months.i called in sick and they fired me.labor board said they can do what they want. ok, whatever.right at christmas they fired a bunch of people.they let most of their night stockers go and broughtin poeple from another country,im sure you can guess. they work for less and thats all you see stocking at night, they stand around in groups of 4 and 5 and chatter when they should be working and stare at you when you come their way. its creepy.dont ask them a question, they dont speak english.they have20 something cash registers and if you find 2 or 3 open your lucky. the people that do work there are rude, dont say anything when you approach their register and most of the time dont even tell you your total. after they ring you up they just stand there,wait for you to look at he total and get you money out. no thank you either.needless to say hubby is job hunting.

-- cody (urbusted@alltel.net), January 23, 2002.


I remember 10 years ago when both Walmart and Kmart were more even with both having the smaller stores, I would go to Kmart as I didnt have to wait in checkout as nobody much was in the store. They closed it. Next closest Kmart was way out of my way. I forgot about Kmart. Few months ago I was in a kmart. Other than the "BIG" in front of the KMART sign on front of store and higher prices from inflation, it was same as ten years ago. Smaller selection than newer bigger Walmarts, but prices on what they carry about the same.

Dont take this as an endorsement of Walmart. Walmarts produce is way overpriced and I dont see any great bargains in most of the store. My answer to those dumb 'prices are continually falling' ads, is that I'll just wait til they drop to zero. Somehow I dont think that will ever happen. One goes to Walmart because there is no alternative anymore for many items they sell. I have to wait 20 minutes in line to check out unless I shop at wee hours in morning. They also have that goofy self checkout. Their old policy of getting another checker on line if more than 3 people in line at all available checkouts ended long ago along with a calculator on every cart. (As my elderly friend says: 'Sam is dead.') It also is not easy finding some small item in these Walmart behemouth stores and Murphy's Law has new corallary that the item you want will be at the furthest point from where you are in the store.

-- HermitJohn (Hermit@hilltop_homestead.zzn.com), January 23, 2002.


It wouldn't surprise me to see Wal-Mart in the same situation some time in the future. Their original premise was to go into towns too small to support something like a K-Mart, then kill all of the local competition (can you say dead downtown?). Now they are going head to head with the other major competitors K-mart and Target. Wal-Mart plans to open at least 600 new stores in the next two years, Target 100. I have seen the number of stores K-mart may close range from 300 to 700, out of the current 2,100. Thus, Wal-Mart may open more stores than K-mart closes.

K-Mart's focus the last couple of years has been catering to the mother, developing exclusive brands (such as Martha Stewart) and to cutting costs. Look for K-mart to deemphasize food and other consumable items, and to focus more on their pharmacy products and services.

Local Wal-Mart story. A group of women approached the manager asking if the store couldn't open an hour earlier so they could shop after dropping their kids off at school. Wal-Mart now opens at 8AM rather than 9AM.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), January 23, 2002.


I stopped shopping at K-Mart when they stopped carrying the things that I bought; like yarn, fabric and other handicraft items.

Although I greatly dislike what Wal-Mart has done in most small towns, mine being a prime example, they do respond to the customer. Some yuppie someplace got the bright idea of selling only pre-cut fabric, all packaged up. (this was after they had managed to underprice and drive out every fabric store for 25 miles.) Hundreds of us called or wrote and they brought back bolts of fabric.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), January 23, 2002.


One comment I keep hearing from people concerning K-Mart is how they usually only have one checker and a huge line of people backed up. Doesn't seem to matter which part of the country you live in. That is so annoying to know it will be this way anytime you walk into a K- Mart. I think my sister-in-law was right when she said "they don't seem to have a clue".

25 years ago when I worked at a K-Mart, a large amount of the items that were in their sale paper was not in their store - distribution problems. Wouldn't you think that by now they would have been able to correct this? I never bother to look at their sale paper because I have to drive 20 miles one way to get there and just know that they probably will not have the item and I don't want a raincheck and have to come back again.

-- Terry - NW Ohio (aunt_tm@hotmail.com), January 23, 2002.


I think most people are just angry with the poor management of such a reputible and old company. Out Kmart stopped selling hunting stuff, too, so we went to Wam-Mart. They lost a lot of money with that bad decision. They also started charging people for lay-a-way. It is not applied to your purchase. I stopped going there for that exact reason. I'm not going to give them extra money for lay-a-way. Wal- Mart doesn't charge, so they got all my business. That may sound pettey, but I have better things to spend my money on. They apparantly didn't apply those charges towards something usefull.

-- Wendy A (phillips-anteswe@pendleton.usmc.mil), January 23, 2002.


K-Mart already had two major problems going into this recession. The recession was the straw that broke the camel's back. Those two problems are: 1. For years they relied on their weekly sale circulars which cost them 13% of their revenue in advertising costs (as opposed to Wal-Mart's 4% for blanket advertising) not to mention the nightmare of distribution headaches trying to keep all those sale items in stock in the right places. Years aago, Wal-Mart simply began advertising that they simply had the lowest prices. 2. K-Mart got itself embroiled in the gun control/Rosie O'Donnell issue. You simply cannot be the marketer to the "Heartland" and espouse such liberal trash. It insults the very people you hope to sell to. Pulling guns and ammo from the shelves of a K-Mart store in Oklahoma makes about as much marketing sense as selling hog troughs and mineral blocks in Saks Fifth Avenue or Bloomingdales. Apparently, K-Mart never learned that "When in Rome...." instead they tried to apply a politically correct, liberal marketing strategy to the whole country. So they were already on the ropes due to their advertising debacle and the gun control boycotts when the recession started.

-- Steve in So. WI (Alpine1@prodigy.net), January 23, 2002.

My husband and I quit shopping K-Mart 20 years ago because we got tired of the waiting in line for ever. He used to swear "to work at K-Mart you had to pass a test in being slow". From reading the numerous posts here I think he was right, it sounds like they were slow all over the country.

-- Anna in Iowa (countryanna54@hotmail.com), January 23, 2002.

hi to all in this forum. I live in a small town in upper michigan called marqette one of the iron ore mines is closing permanently and will layoff a little over 850 people, because of this the trickle down will be several thousand. my wife is temperarly off and i do what ever it takes to put food on the table we have 40 acres so the garden will get bigger. We have all three of stores here and k-mart and target are realy bad wal-mart is expanding to put in more food items we buy all our cereal there its alot cheaper than the grocery store all these things that are going has only made one thing clear its time to be self sufficent.

-- bob vadnais (robertvadnais@aol.com), January 23, 2002.

Going back to the original question, a commentatory was quoted as saying K-Mart must go back to cost, selection and convenience. What about customer service as most of the post above alluded to.

This is a suggestion, not a recommendation. K-Mart has brought on- board a new CEO with a reputation for turning around failed companies. K-Mart stock is selling near its 52-week low. If you have some money you don't mind potentially losing, K-Mart might be a good speculation stock.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), January 23, 2002.


Kmart relies on surety bonds, essentially agreements by insurance companies to continue financing in case of a default, to back its workers' compensation program and to cover liabilities arising from its sales of guns and liquor, advisers and executives close to the company said.

Enron depended on such bonds, too, and after it went bankrupt, leaving insurance companies to cover its liabilities, insurers drastically raised prices for surety bonds. In Kmart's case, insurers were requiring cash collateral for the securities.

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), January 23, 2002.

BC our K-Mart does not sell alcoholic beverages. Got to run over to Wal-Mart for that. BC I think you've read a few "Anti-Gun's" propaganda. The Supreme Court Ruling was pretty much to the point about the Wal-Marts and K-marts being Not-liable after doing due dilegence on gun sales. AS far as I know that ruling has not been over-turned. Wal-Mart, K-Mart and other stores of that type usually only carry rifles, shotguns and accessories. As stated above K-Mart once had the upperhand on accories for hunters. Then Rosie O'Shi**ead stepped in it. Look at the response to JEEP's crappy commercial that offended Hunters nationwide. Over 100,000 hunters have written Jeep and many more are a little more on ther active side.

All in all K-Mart was a decent store. Now it's a poor reminder of yet another "Good Ole Day's" thing. :o(

-- Kenneth in N.C. (wizardsplace13@hotmail.com), January 23, 2002.


Our KMart never has what is advertised in the circular and what is with the 10 checkouts and no checkout people? Why should I have to wait 15 (minimum) to 45 (maximum before I am fed up and leave) minutes to pay for my stuff. Our Kmart is clean, but never well stocked. Can you say "Hide! the Customer is coming!"? Either that or they just open the store with no one to run it, cause I never see salesclerks in any department except the electronics dept. Kmart is going to go bye-bye and then we're going to be stuck with Wally World which then will be able to charge just about whatever and sell us whatever quality they can get away with. I use Wally World for lots of stuff, like cat food or dog food, or wild bird food and some electronic stuff, but not clothes (they won't last and are not good quality).

Maybe we should send this thread to the new CEO of Kmart so he'd get a clue what those of us have been complaining and staying away from for the last twenty years. I won't spend $$ in a store that doesn't care if I am there or not.

-- Cindy (colawson@mindspring.com), January 23, 2002.


I like K-Mart and hope our local one doesn't close. As for higher prices than Wal-Mart, I think it depends on a specific item. My biggest beef with Wal-Mart: - I resent being labeled a thief just by walking in their doors! (No I'm not a shoplifter, they treat everyone this way.) Although our "new" local Wal-Mart in a small town is not near as rude as the old one in a nearby larger town, it still annoys me to the point that I'd rather not go there.

-- sherry (sherrylynn08@hotmail.com), January 24, 2002.

If you want to write to K-Mart the address is:

Mr. James B. Adamson, President, Kmart Corp., 3100 West Big Beaver Road, Troy, MI 48084-3163

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), January 24, 2002.


all right , heres my gripes , i live in north dakota, to get to the "closest" store , i have to go to jamestown , about an hour drive from me , they have a k mart , and a walmart , i shop both, the lcearance stuff at both of them , well most of it is junk , there are 3 major things i buy from the k and the wal , diapers dog/cat food kitty litter , walmart beats k mart , every time on prices for these 3 thigns

on other stuff, i try to avoid walmart , and k mart both , but heres my problem , i live , as i said an hour from them , my hubby gets home at 6 pm, we drive up there , get there at 7 , now this is provided we eat on the drive up , we can start shopping, all the stores i would rather shop , ARE CLOSED!, i would much rather , drive to the mom and pop feed store , and then to the hardware store , than to ever shop at these mega stores , but i dont have much other chice ... i know stores have to remain competitive , and profit is the king of it all, but , where am i supposed to go if i have no other option ???

-- Beth Van Stiphout (willosnake@hotmail.com), January 24, 2002.


HELP!!!!!!!! K-Mart is the ONLY store we have here. We will have to drive 100 miles to next shopping town. Oscoda MIchigan

-- (dougalice@hotmail.com), March 08, 2002.

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