there is impending doom for kmart, possibly more store closings and a strong rumor of TRU going out as well late this year. So who will have greenlight then? Grocery stores? Walmart? Rite aid?!

hmmmmm

K-Mart is DONE!! When a retail chain has no other option left to cut costs, but to scale back hours of operation, the writing is on the wall. I will be surprised if KM/Sears makes it to the end of the year. The only thing that they had left for real assets was real estate holdings. Now even that is worth a fraction of what it once was. If that market stays in the crapper this year, they will NOT survive 2009!!

I never shop at stores anymore. Get almost all my diecast from trades or OLD's.

Sadly, the folks who run our KM seem pretty dumb. I had a friendly chat last year with our KM store manager, about how it's hard for us to stop into KM instead of WM, because we know that the KM is going to have a lot of empty shelves and no stock of some of the things we need, so we know that we're pretty much going to have to go on to WM anyway, plus KM's stock is pretty much all over the place, a lot of their stock is not in the right places, and their sale price signs are often in the wrong places too, plus they are often out-dated and don't match the sale bill. His attitude was basically that he couldn't care less, he didn't really seem to think that any of that stuff was important. (Well, as far as I can tell, it's basically why nobody wants to shop at KM anymore.) That's sad, because when I was a kid we loved to go to the old KM store, with its great toy and model departments. We bought almost everything there, from our Murray bikes, our "Focal" instamatic cameras, to my giant Pocher Alfa Romeo kit (still unbuilt). Oh well. I think a lot of people in our area want to get a Kohl's in place of KM anyway; unfortunately I'll bet the KM bldg is too small.

I never shop at stores anymore. Get almost all my diecast from trades or OLD's.

Thumbs Up Bro!!

I've got Kmart in the 2nd quarter death pool for 09! LOL!
All kidding aside, if they were cleaner, better stocked and better managed they might make it a little longer but that is not going to happen, I am afraid the graffiti has been on that wall for a long time now.:(

I too will be sad to see KM down the tubes. Although limited, Walmart will be left with no competition and can demand anything & everything from their suppliers.

I not sure Kohls is a hobby option. We just got 2 new ones here and neither carry diecast other than Disney Pixar cars and HW & MB 5 packs.

if toyr us closes i have nothing realy besides 1 target near me in brooklyn,ny there is a k mart like 10 min away and a walmart like 15 min but omg no toy r us it will be a sad day not only for diecast but for kids around the country i guess only place to buy diecast will be online. toy r us doesint have that much now so who will it come to ? maybe walmart will becomme a union and build a store in ny lol......i think part of the problem with k mart is it all ways look like a bomb went off in there toy department it has been getting a little better when i lived in florida some of the stores had new some monthly and some had stuff from a year ago. the k mart near me in nyc it like hit or miss it weird. one toy r us near me had 12 pegs for matchbox singles and no matchbox they dont know if or when it coming. it will be a sad day if they close maybe a few good deals no more kaybee. walmart is taken over the world one store at a time and it not realy walmart fuilt i saw on cnbc walmart has stoped construction of all new years for now

i would not like to see kmart go. i'm only a mile or so from one. often go there and just walk around.
here, the management has been transformed in the past 2 years. they are really good. the store is the cleanest it's been n 10 years. the floors are always shining and spotless. the stock is not always organized though. and sale sign as said are in wrong places. problem being they keep so few permenant employees. so the people they hire never really learn how to do the job right.
they are very attentive to product quality here. if i point out poor quality, be it in clothing or the greenlights falling apart. they will take it off the shelve or hanger and send the batch back. and are very good at returns. but getting help can be difficult at times, unless your a regular customer like i. they welcome my comments.
oddly, for a store that could be closing, they are putting in alot of new areas, all new security cameras, lots of things new. lots of stock being liquidated and replaced with new brands.
if it goes, i'll miss it. but here anyway, it's getting better, not worse.

i dont care much about kmart, but im a be majorly pissed if sears closes up the doors!!!

I never shop at stores anymore. Get almost all my diecast from trades or OLD's.

I've been doing that for a little while now.

well if my kmart closes my girl is out of a job. I was downsized from kmart last year. Yeah manager to now a middle school custodian. Kmart gets what they deserve. The public only sees a store. I seen things like "lets fly every store manager in from across the country for a 3 hour meeting and send them back the same day" now thats WASTE

Everything will be gone in 2012 when the world ends, so let's not worry. :p

Everything will be gone in 2012 when the world ends, so let's not worry. :p

planet x right?

great now im all worried about planet x again, thx!

kmart fired all the district losr prevention and grocery managers today! Thats what they get!

strange. here they are actually putting in all new security cameras in the cealing, along with overhead mirrors. the last 2 weeks.
no signs of any closing here. the manager told me this morning, they have a 7 year lease, and he knows or has no word of any problems. but, as he said, it doesn't mean he couldn't show up one morning and see locks on the doors!

I have heard TRU is going down real quick. Sears bought out K-Mart a while back and now I believe they are both doomed.

Actually, K-mart bought out Sears... Right after they (K-mart) declared Bankruptcy... Maybe they should get a government bailout?

i'm not 100 percent sure. but i do believe sears bought k-mart. as kmart is part of sears holding company on the stock market. it is not it's own entity. sears took control.
also, sears holding companies stock, right after it's k-mart takeover, went as high as $160.00 a share. todays quote is around $40.00 a share.

I actually worked for Sears right about that time. K-mart (somehow) bought them, and kept the name (most likely for brand recognition).

i looked this up under sears holding. this was a merger, based on voting by the majority share holders of each company. which, i don't understand. as that's not how i remember it. but that is how it is described on their website. sears holding controls both sears and kmart by virtue of the merger.

i looked this up under sears holding. this was a merger, based on voting by the majority share holders of each company. which, i don't understand. as that's not how i remember it. but that is how it is described on their website. sears holding controls both sears and kmart by virtue of the merger.

Nope. K-Mart Holding Company bought Sears, changed the name of the parent company to Sears Holding Corporation, and then merged K Mart and Sears. The buyout was 11 billion dollars.

I certainly hope sears sticks around. I buy most of my tools there.

all i can tell you is look it up. it's not as you say. nor as i say. i'm not claiming to be right or wrong, or anyone else right or wrong, or start a nasty argument. just trying to help clarify. and what i wrote is just what it says under the website explanation i found in business on the web from 2005..
although, i do remember your figure of 11 million dollars involved. and sears bought alot of closed kmarts from kmart, paid millions for the properties also, giving kmart alot of cash. which would justify what your saying. kmart buying sears and then merging.
although it's strange kmart pushes sears credit cards. not vice versa. here they push sears credit cards heavy at kmart. why wouldn't it be the opposite if kmart ruled? kmart has it's own credit card here also.
our kmart looks more like a sears everyday. craftsman tools all over. sears flyers and credit info at all registers.
i know alot of people, friends at kmart got the shaft. their stock they had earned for like 20 years was worthless, now of course gone. one lady was retiring after 30 odd years, and had depended on her stock, but it was worth 15 cents a share when she retired. it was pretty nasty.
after they merged it got put back on the stock market under sears holding, and soared from 15 dollars a share to over 160 dollars at one point. i remember as i almost bought it. but felt it to big a risk.
as i said, now it is worth about 40 dollars a share. that's today.
no matter. it would be interesting if they go under, how it would play out. would someone buy them? who knows.

I think the confusion is that despite K Mart buying Sears it is still technically a merger in the everyday sense as evidenced by the parent company remaining in the old Sears headquarters and changing their name to Sears. Really though, to Joe Consumer, doesn't the name Sears sound better than K Mart? The name "Sears" added quality to the previous K Mart Holding Company.

Here's a couple of links though on the matter
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid={078CA0F8-DE4C-49BE-8ABC-6BCBA922A280}&siteid=mktw&dist=
http://www.twice.com/article/CA514820.html
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2005/03/21/daily25.html
http://www.calder.net/plim/2004-12-28-kmart_sears.html

lets set it straight.
kmart bankrupt
multimillionare eddy lambert bought up kmart stock
sold the closed stores real estate to whomever
eddy turned the stores around and made money
eddy bought SEARS
merger
new management
failing stategies- like cutting out jls for two yrs
to much invested in store transformations
to much stock on hand
no money coming in
stores will be closed

the cameras are from a slushfund put out two years ago. Upgrade from analog to digital.


i know many regional mgrs. Its all the same. Big buyouts for mgrs who are leaving.

Whats kind of funny is that K Mart spun off Office Max a few years before Lambert took over. Now I have been seeing some stories that Lambert might reacquire Office Max.

i didn't even know office max was still around. the one here was closed years ago. and i just bought some tape and packing tape dispencers in office max packaging at ollies for almost nothing.

i didn't even know office max was still around. the one here was closed years ago. and i just bought some tape and packing tape dispencers in office max packaging at ollies for almost nothing.

There are tons of Office Max stores here in San Antonio and Austin. See new ones all the time. But, no Kmarts here.

take it to the max! Office max!

Sears Holding Company Stock is still going strong, up around $45 I believe. The use of rumors is not something I like. If you don't have hard facts, lets not start rumors. I have heard nothing about either company (sears/kmart and TRU) going under. All retail is way down.

Everything will be gone in 2012 when the world ends, so let's not worry. :p

December 21, 2012 to be exact. Enjoy NOW...it's over soon:(

Sears Holding Company Stock is still going strong, up around $45 I believe. The use of rumors is not something I like. If you don't have hard facts, lets not start rumors. I have heard nothing about either company (sears/kmart and TRU) going under. All retail is way down.

Any stock is based just as much upon perception as it is in reality. Any retail "giant" that cuts hours of operation to cut costs is only doing so as a LAST resort--there's no other corners left to cut! It's Retail 101 and it's usually the Kiss of Death.

December 21, 2012 to be exact. Enjoy NOW...it's over soon:(

Its already over.

December 21, 2012 to be exact. Enjoy NOW...it's over soon:(

Maybe I should park the Mustang in the garage that week huh?:thumbsup:

Our Kmarts are notorious for not lowering prices on out of date diecast. Three year old stuff or older is still full price. Their Christmas clearance items were only 50% off when everyone else had theirs for 75% off.:freak:

Predicted to close this year are Kmart/Sears, Lane Bryant, Linen & Things, Sea Ray Boats Inc., and Mervyn's.:(

Our Mervyns, Linen's & Things, and Office Max's are long gone.

if walmart start closing stores then i think the world is over. but if walmart is still open then we are safe. lol yet there is no walmart near me so i hope toy r us doesint close

sears holding may be holding at 45. 40 when i checked friday. but it wass initially offered at $15.00 and went over $160.00 at one time. so you got one heck of a loss there if you bought it.

if walmart start closing stores then i think the world is over. but if walmart is still open then we are safe. lol yet there is no walmart near me so i hope toy r us doesint close

LMAO! The world will end when Mattel buys out Johnny Lightning;)

ok its a real strong rumor and i cant pull more info out of my manager friends. There was a big meeting last week about this and i dont know the details....yet. Target is restructuring and so is macys.


if we all pool together we can buy the johnny lightning line out.

ok its a real strong rumor and i cant pull more info out of my manager friends. There was a big meeting last week about this and i dont know the details....yet. Target is restructuring and so is macys.


if we all pool together we can buy the johnny lightning line out.

I will contribute $1

Sears Holding Company Stock is still going strong, up around $45 I believe. The use of rumors is not something I like. If you don't have hard facts, lets not start rumors. I have heard nothing about either company (sears/kmart and TRU) going under. All retail is way down.

A hard fact: $45 a share, 52 week high $112.00 a share.

LMAO! The world will end when Mattel buys out Johnny Lightning;)



There would be better distribution of JL cars if Mattel bought out Johnny Lightning (Learning Curve).

There would be less O/T threads because collectors would be posting about their new JL finds.

Hey Pierre I scored another sneaker! This one is for you.

go back more than a year, like 2, or a couple months after it went public, you'll see it was around 160.00. i was about to buy the stock at $140.00 a share, it was going up so fast.. luckily i did not.
see below. the facts.

for your records: sears holding.

52 week trading range. 26.00 to 112.00.
current price 41.42
hit a high on july 19, 2005 of 163.11 per share.
52 week predicted price estimate about: 22 dollars a share.

look it up. it's all there.

things are tough i just took a 50 percent pay decrease to keep health insurance.
and if i didn't have a free connection, i'd have no internet, unless i used the library.

I just read an article on the 10 most likely companies to go out of business this year & KMart & TRU were NOT among the listed companies ... Many were regional places like Rite Aid drugstores , & Sbarro restaurants ..( none of those by me ) Dont remember any big national chains being mentioned ... But they did list Chyrsler Corp as being in danger !! Rumors here are our local JCPenny might close , but its just rumors ... Most everyone ios hurting .. Where I work is slower than normal too ..

A major retailer reducing their hours of operation in a last ditch effort to cut costs is a MAJOR deal! Ask any economist. It sends a message to customers that they can no longer meet their needs like they once did. The first time a customer has to go somewhere else because the store is now closed (when it was once open at that time), they are less likely to come back/more likely to go somewhere else the next time they need something. Those are FACTS! The cycle now begins to perpetuate itself until they cease to exist.

Before X-Mas (in the fall), K-Mart cut their hours of operation to pay for their National Holiday Advertising. Now for the first time they have "Winter Hours". What are they going to do this spring and summer?? This ISN'T rocket science. History is NOT on their side!!

LMAO! The world will end when Mattel buys out Johnny Lightning;)

I would like that.Maybe we could walk in a store and see it on a shelf

I actually pass by a K-mart quite a bit and go in there.
However I`ll pick up something for $5 and know for a fact the same item at WM is $2.97.
This is on most items they have.I went looking at TV`s and the same TV at KM was $80. over WM`s price.
When you do look for an item you end up having to go to WM anyways because KM doesn`t carry it or the shelf is empty.
If they had equal prices I`d definately shop KM because I went there as a kid however I don`t have time or money to waste so I end up going to WM.

Anyone with any knowledge of retail knew Kmart was headed for the crapper when they got bought by Sears. Sears has a history of buying companies and running them into the ground.