Kmart Closing 283 Stores
By: Joe Francica
Editor in Chief and Vice Publisher, Directions Magazine
| (Mar 11, 2002) |
Classified Ads:
Map of the Week features a competitive analysis of 'big box' retailers
The map shows the locations of Kmart’s that the company announced were closing. This represents approximately 13% of their portfolio. The entire list can be found on the Kmart website.
FIGURE 2
Red "K's" represent KMarts; "happy faces" represent Wal-marts.
FIGURE 1
Red "K's" represent KMarts
Click here for a larger image.
Was Wal-mart to blame? As a simple, unscientific test, we looked at the Atlanta region and plotted the Wal-marts in a 50 mile radius of the downtown area vs. Kmart’s. Of the 10 Kmart’s that are closing, only 3 are within a 10-minute drive time of the nearest Kmart (Drive times represented by "blue" irregular polygons in figure 2). Does geography matter? Of course, but so many factors have contributed to Kmart's failures: price, merchandising, distribution. Convenience, represented by location, is significant and it will be interesting to see if Wal-mart's trade areas vastly expand was Kmart's closures begin to occur.
FIGURE 2Red "K's" represent KMarts; "happy faces" represent Wal-marts.
Click here for a larger image.
The map was created using Microsoft MapPoint.
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Your Comments Post a comment All comments provided in this section are those of the individual who has created the post. These are not the opinions of Directions Media, its editors, staff or owners unless otherwise noted. Directions Media retains the right to edit or delete any comments posted herein.
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| I don't know about other areas of the country, but here in Pennsylvana, Walmart prices generally are considerably higher than Kmart for the same name brand, size or model. Even the grocery section at Super K blows away the grocery section at the Walmart Super Center. While Walmart generally has a few better prices such as 45 to 70 cents per pound lower on Perdue chicken, Kmart wins out on "most" (not all) other items such as more than $3 to $4 lower per pound on select beef steaks (IE: $3.97/lb vs. 7.98/lb for bone-in Rib Steak) or 24 can Cubes of soda (4.19 vs 7.88)and many other item. Actually, you need to go to a store such as Giant or Sure-Fine to find higer grocery prices than the Super Walmart Center in York County. When Walmart is lower, it is usually only by 15 to 30 cents, but when Kmart is lower it is usually 75 cents to $1.50 average. All the popular rumors of Walmart being less is obviously not from those who have done serious comparitive shopping for items actually used on a regular basis |
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| I am sending this email because we have heard that Sunland Kmart will be sold to Home Depot. This is outrageous! If this store is closed thousands of senior citizens who visit that store for their daily needs will be without any store in a large area. They have no way to get to a store to buy their personal needs, clothes etc. We don't need another Home Depot here. There is one in Sylmar that is just a few minutes away. Please think about the little guy who depends on a small Kmart. Thank you for listening. |
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| I have heard a rumor that Home Depot will be taking over the K-Mart store in Huntington Beach, CA. This is absolutely ridiculous! The K-Mart in Huntington Beach has served the community since April 1971! The store is in an excellent location making it very convenient for all of it's shoppers. There are three Home Depots within a ten mile radius of the Huntington Beach K-Mart. It makes no sense to put another Home Depot there! As for comparing WalMart and K-Mart. I feel that K-Mart has better products, prices, and customer service. I've been to several WalMarts over the years and I never understood the hype behind that store. It'll be a sad day when the Huntington Beach K-Mart closes! |
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| If this is true, my prayers have been answered. The Kmart in Sunland, CA, has been a disgrace for years - terrible customer service, unstocked shelves, dirty conditions, no carts. I've boycotted the store for years, and will be happy to see a productive business on this site. |
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| I hope it's not true that Home Depot will replace Kmart...They rather have WalMart or Target or such kind to replace this Kmart store to meet the demands of those bargain hunters like me...Many have been disappointed learning Kmart is closing and as if adding insult to injury, it won't be replaced with another store like Kmart...We already have a good hardware store around the area-one with employees always at hand unlike HOME DEPOT (hard to find employees for help)...Please think a million times..don't let the patrons suffer... |
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| Let's see, how does this work? A Home Depot in Sunland will get 3/4ths of its business from the existing HDs in Sylmar, Sherman Way, & Glendale. The remaining business will take away from the two True Values, The Do-It Center, and OSH on Foothill Blvd. So do they really think this a profitable endeavor? |
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| I would think in Sunland, I would prefer Wal-Mart more than K-Mart. K-Mart is a fine cheap store with sometimes a garden shop. K-Mart should close their Sunland store for good. Then, if the K-Mart in Sunland closes, the people would go to Wal-Mart in Duarte or Target in Burbank. The closest K-Mart then will be the K-Mart on San Fernando Blvd. in Burbank. K-Mart closes the Sunland store for good. A Target could move in. Except too small, I think maybe an Albertsons or Home Depot could move in. The K-Mart building I think will be good for an Albertsons grocery store. |
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| After K-Mart in Sunland closes, I'd like that old store to become Target or Albertsons. If it became Target, you'll be glad that old K-Mart is gone except for people who like K-Mart. You'll buy more things from that store being a Target. If it became Albertsons, you'd buy your groceries and drinks there. No Home Depot there! It'll replace Ace Hardware on Foothill Blvd. in La Crescenta. I'd like that old K-Mart to become a Target. |
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| 11/24/04 Could you please advice what Kmart is open close to Glendale Ca? My email is rubemessner@aol.com Thank you. Ruby Messner |
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| I am an associate (employee) at Super Kmart Center #4917 located in Thornton, Colorado just north of Denver. I know what I need to know about Kmart corporation because I love my store and research it often. For those of you bashing Kmart, and praising Wal-Mart, I urge you to look at the business section of your local newspaper. Compare the stock prices of Wal-Mart, Target, and even Albertsons to the stock price of Kmart corp. You will notice Kmart stock is over 100.00, whereas Wal-Mart's is merely in the 50's. Though this may not mean much in the face of business ethics, I do know for a fact that when Kmarts prices are lower that Wal-Marts, it is by a large margin, but when the prices at Wal-Mart are lower than Kmarts, it is only by 5 to 15 cents. Customers at our store are always praising the prompt and friendly customer service that we provide them, and tell us how it is so much more enjoyable to shop at our store, rather than the cramped Wal-mart down the street. Kmart is better than Wal-Mart in nearly every way, it's too bad a 18 year old had to be the one to inform you of it, and open your eyes. SHOP KMART "Because Customers Rule" |
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| IS KMART CLOSING FOR GOOD IN CRAIG COLORADO. IF SO WHAT IS IT CLOSING FOR? ALSO IF IT CLOSES WHAT WILL TAKE ITS PLACE, IF ANYTHING.I ALSO WANT TO KNOW BECAUSE IT SAID IT WAS CLOSING AT FIVE 0'CLOCK, WHICH DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE.IT WAS A NICE DAY OUT AND THE LAST TIME IT CL0SED FOR WEATHER WAS WHEN IT SNOWED SEVEN AND A HALF FEET OF SNOW BACK IN NINE-TEEN SEVENDIES OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT. |
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| Looking to aquire operating or closed kmart stores,where can I get a list of sellers? please contact me at 1-888-280-6562 Thank You |
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| I would just like to know how you think that Kmart is better than Walmart in every way? First off, Walmart has one of the best distribution systems ever, so their shelves always remain stocked and I've never had a problem with any Walmart employee being unfriendly in any way either. So tell me again how Kmart, who claimed bankruptcy in order to save themselves from failing and also had to merge with Sears (another sad company) in order to merely survive, could possibly be better than Walmart in any way? |
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| The messages above that contain my name and business name were sent by my 10 year old son. I just found this thread of messages while doing a web search. |
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| I live in TENNESSEE, And would like to see the list of K-mart stores that are still open??My Zip code is 38242..If I have to drive 2 hours to get to one..Just tell me Where>>>?? Thank you LuAnn |
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| I work at a meijer in MI that was formmally Kmart It is 270,000 sq ft and it look a whole lot better than that damn kmart |
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| My Grandma worked at the sunland K-mart for almost tweenty years and to see a hardware store blow the only memories I have left of her away will defenitly break my heart,my grandma was the jewelery manager her name was Mickie Hammond, she died jan 6 2005 of a heart attack :( (58 years old)I suggest a place where kids can go to keep out of trouble like a bowling alley/arcade,ice skating or batting cages or something for kids to do at night.....come on think about it, when do kids get into trouble!? NO HOME DEPOT!!! |
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| kmart deserves to be bashed. they treated their loyal employees pretty bad. kmart sucks and is going to sink one day. |
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| This was bound to happen to KMart. In my region, everyone I know bashes them. Their employees have always been known as the least helpful and the most lazy. Our KMart store is dirty, the baskets are falling apart, and the parking lot looks like a carnival just left. Up until Martha Stewart, KMart was always known as a real Discount, Cheap, chain. Not even Martha could fix this. This store is an eyesore. Just about everywhere there is a KMart, there is a low-income, poor, populated area that attracts all the best that society has to offer. Good for you KMart, get outta here |
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| This store was very conviniently located, always able to find anything for the home or any clothing aticles from newborn to adults in every sizes., was very sad to see it closing. target stores does not carry as many variety of artcles as this kmart store. would like to see it open again in this area. thank you. Long time sponsor. |
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| Where I work, we bust our humps to keep the store clean and we try to keep the shelves full. We have to put up with alot of nasty Customers that just come in the store to try to get things for free. As for Walmarts, the Walmarts nearby me is a complete mess. You can never find anything you want and it's dirty, as for the employees there, I think people better take a good hard look. When I asked where the boy's Jeans were, they looked at me with a dumb look on there face, and said, I don't know. The funny thing is, the pants were right behind him. Hello wake up. KMARTS has come along way, and we associates bust our butts everyday. So before you complain about KMARTS and the associates you should go there and take a good hard look at all the abuse we get, and what I get paid to work there is not enough from all the crap we get from the customers. |
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| I am going to do an analysis of K-mart parking lots compared with Walmart using aerial photography. Should be very revealing. Here in Tampa Bay, there are quite a few Kmarts across the street or down the block from Walmart that I pass regularly. The Walmart lots are always full, and I always think the Kmart is out of business (but they really are open). |
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| Is the Store in Danville, IL going to close that is the rumor in champaign. |
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| I get sick and tired of going to Danville Kmart and seeing harldy nobody working there or cashiers a lot of new faces. I don't understand why they can't get more help their or hire more people to do stuff. Like for example they need someone in layway full time instead of having someone else do because if they are with a customer it is hard for us customers to wait on someone coming to layway. Also they never have their assoicates in their own Department at all. Kmart is going down hill many years ago Kmart was wonderful now it is going down hill. They need more help!!!!!! Walmart their is someone always in layway all the time. You don't have to wait for someone to come to layway and they have their employees in their own Department and that is a major plus they have the ass who is in charge of there area mataing there own area and making sure that it is straighten at all times. Plus their is alot walmart does than Kmart... I hope the Kmart in Danville Closes and Walmart takes over. I drive to walmart one every other week to shop I live in Champaign I visit my family they hate Kmart also that is why we shop at walmart Because on how Kmart treats their employees, and also because of being short handed. You never see their Managers on register but you go to Walmart you see their store managor on register. |
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| In my opinion I would rather support K-Mart before Wal-mart.I am an ex-employee of both companies and i can tell you K-mart not only treats their employees better but their customers too.I personally think that Wal-mart is a bunch of crooks and their game plan is to have the lowest prices around so everyone buys from them and they knock out the compition.Then after they put everyone out of business they are going to raise their prices because there will be no where else to shop.I will always shop K-mart before Walmart. |
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| i worked for k-mart and wal-mart i like k-mart more the people are nice and u can move up in k-mart faster than wal-mart. i worked for k-mart for 6m and wal-mart 6 years. k-mart treates me better than wal-mart. the superwal-mart is so big u have to shop at night to find anything. the saveing are the same. but the people are not i go to wal-mart sometimes. when i'm in there nobody uses the tenfoot rule nobody sayes hi. can i help u. i'm getting so i hate to go in there i like wal-mart colthes they do have more to look at. but i would still look at k-marts frist. I Love K-Mart and thats it.(7356) |
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| I love wal-mart k-mart deservs to go down Ya wal-mart rules. |
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| I am an department manager at Kmart #7636, I am 19 and have worked for kmart since 15. Any bashing of Kmart is by clueless idiots!! I personally have been treated like crap from management, but, that is the way retail works. You will always have that one person that is a pain to work with. Corporate headquarters has tons of programs and special events for the customers and employees, it is the store manager that often times aids the problem. In fact, I went to a Wal-mart store to buy last minute groceries after work. I was still wearing my uniform and red smock; the entire time I was in there they harassed me security followed me and to top it all off personally saw a manager tell 4 cart pushers or stock boys to follow me into the parking lot and harass me, I ended up getting the crap beaten out of me. Kmart has served this country since 1899 and to this day carries mostly American made merchandise. At one point in time Kmart/Kresge stores accounted for 1/3 of the currency flow in the U.S. Wal-Mart is a cheap takeoff on the original Kmarts with a sort of costco thing. They have 80% imported low Quality products. Most people now only care about what is cheap and easy to get. kmart was bankrupted by a corrupt CEO; who hired wal-mart and target managers to run our stores. Since then people have had little faith in us. Most kmarts are understaffed, dilapidated, and receive little business due to no one giving us a chance to survive,remember most of these buildings are from the 60's/70's. we were "sick" and it takes a while to get better. Wal-Mart has been Known to run small companies out of bsinesses,controll most the economy in some towns, not promote women into management positions, force employees to work off the clock, give few hours to employees, not hire full time to avoid paying benefits, hire illegal aliens, illegally sell hunting/fishing licenses, and the list goes on.(this is not at all wal-marts-remember, the store manager and his/her assistants play a huge roll on how things are run. Kmart says that their company is made by it's associates. They would rather go out of business after 105 years than disrespect their employees and give in to todays market of buying cheap imported products just to save a buck!!!Also,this Kmart/Sears merger most people have all wrong. We were not forced to do anything. After selling about 40 stores, we had surplus funds and it is not good to have that sitting around. so, the plan was to refurbish the stores and fix things up a bit. A few people sitting on our board of executives also sit on sears' board. WE decided to BUY Sears and then merge...look at our stock now! If customers would just come back we would have a higher profit margin which would help; clean up some of our almost 40 year old buildings, hire more employees to help you, hire more market researchers to find out what is in style and what your demands are. At one point in time, Sam Walton founder of Wal-Mart said, "I do not think my Wal-Marts could ever compete with the powerful Kmart or meet up with their grandeur." A Kmart store is based on the customer, we will carry what you want and our store appearance will be based on how you treat it. Kmart was,is, and will be YOUR nieborhood store! p.s. my apologies to former Kmart customers who really did receive poor service, I have seen it happen and it truthfully does not go unnoticed. |
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| Hey ur an idiot, at k-mart we can't just have someone waiting around for you we need to stay productive and try and make the store better. We put the call buttons there so we can be there when you need us. If we waited around for you we would be wasting money and time so fuck you. |
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| i wish kmart did not close we need more stores other than the walmart everyday the same thing.... |
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| I have to say you people who are posting all of these complaints, don't you have anything else to do with your time? I was online looking at Kmarts ad, and just happento run across this mess, and thought I'd just ask what is your problem? I worked for Sears for a long time in manaement. Sears is a great place to work, they take care of their employees in everyway possible. They also are a business, and sometimes in life you have to do things that are appropriate for the business. I believe they have. Sometimes these decisions are not happy decisions, but that's life this is business, not personal, the merger with Kmart was what both companies voted on, and all of the shareholders voted on, it was truly a joint decision. A decision that if you don't like then keep your comments to your self. Look at it from this point of view, you do things to take care of yourself/your family, that's what these people are trying to do is to stay in business. So, the next time you want to complain, and grump about a store, that you don't own, that what they do is really none of your business, then think about breaking it down to your own level of life, and how you would handle it any different, and remember it is not personal, just business. |
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| Itdoesn't matter wal-mart good or kmart. But 283 kmart stores have been closed. Meaing that kmart has bad customer services plus many other areas. Kmart, wake up and don't get mad about customers complain about you. But wake up to see how wal-mart run its business, since wal-mart is getting bigger and bigger and cleaner and cleaner. Finally, wal-mart will kill everyones. Wal-mart is killing you (kmart) every day one by one untill you (kmart) you are totally dead. Pay attention what you are doing and watch out and study how wal-mart super Centers have been doing. Wal-mart Store #948 in Hickory, NC has been very successful and it's the second in the nation who earn the big money. wal-mart makes $20 billions for profit. K-mart store in Conover, NC is dying day by day and hour by hour after wal-mart #948 has been openned since March 28, 2005. If you don't wake up and still being doing the way you doing business then, someday you all will be killed by wal-mart. Wal-mart existed as a small discounted store with little money. But its business is getting bigger and richer every ever since and you even existed before wal-mart but you go nowhere. You have been merged with SEARs, but you two guys get nowhere either. I am associate of wal-mart and thanksgiving, christmas, and weekend, people are everywhere in wal-mart supercenter. |
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| Kmarts are being closed meaning that you are not smart to run business. Wal-marts are expanding everywhere and getting bigger and bigger meaning that they are smarter and they are serious about customer services to best serve their clients. When they are bigger and you are dying and you are still don't know why? then you are dead and so stupid of runing business. Wal-marts are building new supercenter every day, but how about you (Kmart)? As an wal-mart associate, we have been paid for a little money per hour and work very hard but wal-mart get the most and it hurts for wal-mart to kill other stores, including you. SO WAKE UP RIGHT NOW MAN. Pay a visit to wal-mart #948 in HIckory, NC and you find out that what I said it's true. |
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| I am glad k-mart is going down they are cheap and just plain Stupid and people who like them blow off dorks! |
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| 12/16/05: This article is about the geographic scope of K-Mart in 2002. We have no inside information on the chain's plans in 2006, nor those of Wal-Mart! Unless comments relate the topic, they will not be approved for publication. |
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