If there is a store more eager than KMart to seal its own doom, I've never seen it

[Orrex]

:rant:

Every time I go into the damn place, I leave with the impression that the company is desperate to drive away customers and to make the shopping experience as unpleasant as possible. The individual grunt-level employees aren't bad, but if the store itself subjected you to an aggressive cavity search, your overall impression would be no less enjoyable.

The parking lot is a disaster. The shopping carts seem to be made of pure rust and are heavier than depleted uranium. The store is dim and disorganized. The merchandise is scattered about the shelves in damaged packaging, dusty and with the prices seldom visible, and three out of five "price scanners" don't work.

And then, when you've managed--in spite of the store's best efforts--to find the product you wanted, you have to find the one cash register (out of fifteen) that's actually open, and you have to wait in line behind a dozen people who've just endured a similarly traumatic shopping event. I'm referring specifically to my own local store, but it equally describes every other KMart I've seen in at least three different states.

Does KMart even give a shit any more? Did it ever? Are they trying to bankrupt themselves?

[miss_american_pie]

1. In my closest KMart

the grunt-level employees are that bad.

:hi:

[Orrex]

19. The one in the North Hills is pretty bad, I agree

Even more than other KMart stores, the employes in the NH actually seem annoyed when customers show up.

[Deja Q]

2. And the floors are dirty, with some tiles missing...

Didn't Sears buy them out because they were going out of business?

[Chan790]

5. yup...

as a sales associate for Sears Holdings (as the unified company is now known, having jettisoned "Roebuck" and decided it was a holdings company), I have no idea why we bought K-Mart...Sears is trying like mad to become the Wal-Mart of department stores. We suck. K-Mart sucks worse.

[Moondog]

10. I read once, somewhere, that the primary reason

that Sears bought K-Mart was for the underlying real estate.

[blue_onyx]

23. Sears didn't...Kmart bought Sears

[Orrex]

20. Ditto the ceiling

Numerous drop-panels are stained, sagging, and/or missing.

Way to represent, KMart!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. KameApart always seemed shabby and gloomy,

like you'd expect from a discount store in a Kafka novel.

[Orrex]

21. That's perhaps the most esoteric KMart criticism I've ever read

Not to say inaccurate, of course...

[DarkTirade]

4. When a company is more concerned with saving money

than earning it... there's a slight problem there.

[Orrex]

22. Excellent point!

Do they have a fixed and finite heap of cash somewhere from which they draw such trifles as payroll and store-upkeep? Certainly they don't seem to reinvest anything in the stores, so I can't imagine what they're spending money on.

[graywarrior]

6. Mr Gray used to work as maintenance manager for them about 10 years ago

He said the places were held together with chewing gum and rat shit. He could never fix anything because all their problems were unfixable. The built extra walls around walls you needed to get into to fix plumbing. Toilets would clog up and overflow every god damn day.

I can't believe their prices. At least a dollar more than what you'd pay at WalMart or Hannafords. Their clothes are all polyester and ugly shit my mother would wear in the 70's. Plus, every time I go in there to find something I need, they never have it...ever. They have the opposite or some close but not close enough to do the trick.

I wish Ames or Woolworth's were still around. KMart sucks.

[Orrex]

24. Curiously, the only good thing I can say about this particular KMart...

is that the men's room is always remarkably clean.


You're right about the prices, though. If they were the only store in town, they might be able to get away with it. But are we supposed to pay extra just because we like KMart more than Wal*Mart, etc.?

It's amazing that Ames went under while KMart somehow remains afloat.

[mainegreen]

83. Woolworth's was one of my favorite stores as a kid.

I miss Woolworth's.

[Arkansas Granny]

7. My last visit to KMart just reminded me of the reasons I don't shop there.

Not only was the checkout line 10 deep, there were employees wandering around the store in groups of two or three chatting with each other while goods were sitting around obviously waiting to be stocked on shelves and racks.

[Orrex]

25. Yes--I'd forgotten!

I routinely see four or five chatting at the customer service desk, blissfully unconcerned with the angry throng of increasingly impatient customers clustered around the one or two available registers.

I should therefore amend my OP to say that generally the grunt-level workers are pretty good, but there are significant exceptions.

[XemaSab]

48. I love it when you go into a store

and the merchandise is just piled into shopping carts in the aisles instead of neatly stacked on the shelves. :P

[Mopar151]

8. They carded me when I bought spray paint

BTW, I'm 52 and generally wear overalls.

[Orrex]

27. Sound like the typical huffer to me

They were right to blow the whistle on you.

:rofl:

[Mopar151]

53. The dweeb at the checkout said it was "tagging" n/t

[Orrex]

71. You should have uncapped it and sprayed him right in the face

Well, probably you shouldn't have, but it's fun to think about.

[UTUSN]

9. They keep store locations open with ZERO customers, close down busier ones.

In their round of store closings a few years ago, they did (what the Subject says). Hugh!1 empty parking lots in the ones they left open, lonely employees inside who still don't go out of their way to assist. It takes more cash just to OPEN THE DOORS, lights, air con.

However, they *did* have something I was looking for that wasn't in 3 other places.

[Orrex]

29. The store near me typically appears to have a semi-full parking lot

But maybe that's because it's in such disrepair that people just can't drive out again, and they abandon their vehicles.

[JonLP24]

11. lol, the local K-Mart has been out of business for 5 years

They weren't bad, I liked them better then Wal*Mart but not enough as Target which went out of business long before K-Mart did.

[Orrex]

30. There was one in State College PA, where I used to live

And I'd lived there for six years before learning that the store existed, so effective were their cloaking techniques. It was almost invisible from the town's main street, hidden behind a dense phalanx of trees. However, once I finally managed to get inside, I had the pleasure of a shopping experience uninterrupted by the sight of employees or other customers.

I swear that I saw a tumbleweed go skittering down the main aisle.

[latebloomer]

12. Prices higher than you'd expect

and god-awful ugly shit= at least Target has some style!

[Orrex]

31. I have two sons, aged 5 and 2.5

The store has a "girls' apparel" section about twice as large as a polo field, while the "boys' section" would just about fit on top of the desk at which I'm now sitting.

And why would I pay $6.50 for a kid's t-shirt when I can get literally the identical shirt elsewhere for $3.50? Does KMart's business model rely on a the unlimited largess of its oh-so-wealthy patrons?

[Captain Hilts]

13. They laid off about half of their most competent managers in an economy move about 8 yrs ago.

It shows.

[Orrex]

32. I wasn't aware of that, but it's certainly consistent with what I've observed

In retrospect, I'm sure it seems like a great plan to the higher-ups. :eyes:

[lizerdbits]

64. Didn't Circuit City do that?

And then went bankrupt?

[Deja Q]

73. But everybody keeps saying that if you prove yourself to continue to be marketable, you have no fear

:shrug:

[madmom]

14. I would say our meijers store is in contention as far as the management goes. Every time I

go there I come out saying never again. The ONLY reason I go is they caring a couple things I can't find elsewhere. When I do go I buy in bulk, so it's not very often.

[Orrex]

34. The only reason I go is because it's marginally more convenient that Wal*Mart

I hate to say it, but they're the only other general retailer within 20 miles, so if I need to buy any two random items, I don't have a lot of options.

[old mark]

15. The local Target seems to be doomed, too, but with different

amibance - they are a brand new store as of last fall, great lighting, large staff, constantly changing displays, no customers.

If you have fewer than 25 cars in a Target parking lot on Saturday aftenoon, you are in trouble.....
They have never been crowded once since they opened.

mark

[femmocrat]

17. The thing that drives me crazy about Target...

they hardly ever have the items they advertise. If you see something on sale in the Sunday morning paper, and drive there on Sunday morning, they will be out of it!

Some DUer actually jumped all over me for mentioning this once! So, DISCLAIMER: This has been MY experience with Target! Yours might be different.

[Orrex]

39. I've had that happen, too

And they haven't simply been out of it; it's been out of stock by Sunday morning, and there's no visible place for it on the shelf.

:wtf:

[old mark]

52. They do that a lot! They advertise great deals, have maybe 2 in stock

in only a few stores, sell them out in 40 minutes. If you check the circulars, you may find small print stating "not all items available in all stores" or something similar - in other words, it's bullshit marketing.

Funny, people here will bust your ass if you are pro Walmart or anti Target....Progressive shopping?

mark

[Orrex]

35. That's weird. Well, at least they get an A for effort

KMart, in marked contrast, seems to have pulled the plug about 20 years ago, and they're still just waiting for the heart to quit beating.

[femmocrat]

16. Our K-Mart is the same way!

We have been predicting its demise for about ten years, but it's still open. It is about a half-block away from a Walmart.

I only go there in the spring to look at the plants in their garden department.

[Orrex]

36. I don't know what keeps them alive--certainly it can't be brand loyalty!

Even before Rainman, everyone knew that "KMart sucks." So what's their secret? What could it be?!?

[jmm]

18. I got carded during one of my last trips to KMart.

When I was in school I had a seasonal job at a toy store. Once a week somebody would come in to work on bikes. One day my manager asked me to go to a nearby KMart to get some WD40 for him. It took me forever to find since it was about as far away from the entrance as possible and of course there was nobody around to help. When I finally got to the register I was told I'd need an ID. I asked to speak to a manager since I left my wallet at work and I didn't see a posted policy. The manager came over and told me she needed to see my ID since I was just going to use it to get high. I let her know if I wanted to get high I could afford something better. Normally I wouldn't have gone back but since my job was involved I asked them to leave it up front so I could get my ID and come back. Minutes later when I get back they had already put it away so I get to walk all the way to the back of the store then up front to the only cashier again. When I showed her my ID she claimed the only reason they needed it was to copy my social security number but since mine didn't list it I needed to give it to her. After an exchange of words and a taser worthy fit they finally sell it to me. I've only been to two KMarts since and those were store closing sales.

[Orrex]

37. They wanted your social? That's fucked up.

And it's equally fucked up that they didn't know that it wouldn't be on your license, which means that they weren't exactly in the habit of carding people at all.

To be honest, I probably would have made one up.


With ten digits.

[blue_onyx]

26. Sears/Kmart have been doing surprising well

"Sears Holdings Corp. reversed a year-ago loss and posted a profit of $26 million for its first quarter on Thursday, sharply ahead of forecasts as it worked to manage inventory in its stores."

"The company said same-store sales in its U.S. Sears stores - an important retail industry metric of sales in stores open at least a year - dropped 11.7 percent. In Kmart stores, it fell 2.1 percent. "

http://money.aol.com/article/sears-earns-26-million-in-first-quarter/494703

[Orrex]

28. That astonishes me

If anything, the stores seem to have intensified their customer-repellent efforts in the past few years. I can't imagine how they can be posting a gain.

[mentalsolstice]

33. Exactly

We'd go into our neighborhood KMart and literally have rats coming out from the bottom of shelves. It went out of business and now it's a Wal-Mart. While there are no rodents, it's the highest crime area in our police precinct.

[Orrex]

38. It now attracts a different species of rodent, apparently!

If there were any store of comparable inventory within five miles, my local KMart would vanish by the end of the week. Haven't seen any rats, but of course that only means that I haven't seen any...

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

40. That is exactly the feeling I get when I walk into my local

JoAnns.

Horrible, horrible service, always long lines.

[Orrex]

41. We don't have one around here anymore--it closed about a month after we moved into town

But I've gone in several times in the past and had to wait literally 20 minutes at the fabric counter when I'm the fourth person in line, or so. I'm simply at a loss to understand what could possibly be so difficult about cutting four yards from a bolt and slapping a Telxon sticker on it!

Also, the check-out lines are indeed brutally slow. No matter how few people are in line, the cashier always appears to be wholly overwhelmed.

Additionally, "Experience The Creativity" is one of the all-time worst slogans I've ever heard. If anything, it should be "Experience Your Creativity" or maybe "Express Your Creativity" or perhaps "Explore Your Creativity." Who's the idiot who green-lighted that moronic catch-phrase?!?

[MountainLaurel]

65. Craft stores in general are like that

I once stood in line at a Michael's and listened while the woman at the customer service desk bitched about her manager on the phone, all the while ignoring the growing line of customers at the checkout.

[Blue_Tires]

42. Rose's and Woolworth's to a lesser extent...

[Orrex]

44. Haven't seen either of those in decades. Do they still exist?

[Blue_Tires]

49. Woolworths had a famous bankruptcy about a decade ago

there are still a couple of Rose's here and there...most of them are ratty and going in them is like stepping in an 80s time warp

[mitchum]

43. I am convinced that they are a money laundering operation

[Orrex]

45. That makes more sense than any other explanation I've heard

So, while I've been buying my CFLs there, I've unknowingly been helping los narcotraficantes?

Who knew? :shrug:

[Shine]

46. I totally agree. They're completely lame.

:eyes:

[Orrex]

61. I remember being mocked, as far back as 1976, for wearing KMart-brand sneakers

It seems that even at the tender age of five, my peers knew that the brand was sub par.

[XemaSab]

47. All the KMart's I've been in

look like some horrific combination of post-meltdown Chernobyl and pre-riot Watts. x(

[kid a]

50. Billings MT - Both Kmart and Target renovated, clean, and crowded

The Target seems a bit busier, but KMART just got a face-lift, new pharmacy and frontage.

Walmart is ALWAYS packed - i never go there.

[yellowdogintexas]

66. I agree, the KMarts I have visited in the Montana/NorthDakota/Wyoming area

have been quite different from the ones down here. ( Of which we now have none ...our KMart is now an LA fitness center ! They built an indoor pool in the old KMart!) but the upper Midwest stores are cleaner, neater and seem to have better stuff.

However in our area Targets are fantastic, and up there not so much. OUr Target is right by the Costco and both are quite busy all the time.

[SoxFan]

59. Post-riot Watts

[Orrex]

63. What a horrifying and not inaccurate description!

:rofl:

[Lorien]

51. The one closest to me in Florida is just like that

the fluorescent lighting is almost blinding, shelves are poorly stocked and it's really hard to find what you're looking for. At least there aren't dead frogs and lizards on the floor (ones that have been there a looong time) and pantry moths everywhere, like there are at the WalMarts around here.

[Orrex]

58. My local store doesn't have any visible vermin, at least

My sons are big fans of Matchbox-type cars, and I'm always amazed at how much of the inventory in that aisle is just lying loose on the shelves, with the hanging-pegs empty. Wal*Mart, for all its faults, at least makes an effort to keep the store presentable.

[Lorien]

80. That may just be the Walmarts in Ohio

the one's here in Florida are just plain vile!

[KG]

54. they closed a kmart in valdosta ga a few years a ago. people couldn't understand why, it was always

busy.

turns out there was a major accounting error, and when it was discovered, the store was reopened.

seems the best and brightest aren't working for kmart uppper mngt.

[Orrex]

57. That's astonishing and yet unsurprising

If I were a cashier at that store, I would never again worry about a discrepancy in my drawer's total at the end of my shift.

[undergroundnomore]

55. Kmart seems

to run on a skeleton crew. I seldom find someone to help me when I need help finding something. I agree that they hardly have registers open. I don't know how much longer KMart will be around but they do seem to be acting like the end is near.

[Orrex]

56. I routinely complete the online surveys using the "transaction number" on my receipts

One of the questions deals with the availability of employees in whatever departments you happened to visit. I usually enter "n/a" because I seldom ask for help when I shop there, but I really wish there were an answer along the lines of "I wasn't aware that any crewmembers were on the sales floor."

[AngryAmish]

60. Personally, the nearest KMart to me is fantastic

Never anyone there, clean and the staff is helpful. I love it.

OTOH, all the others I've been to suck eggs.

It is run by financial, hedge fund guys, not retailers.

[Orrex]

62. You must have found the only one!

But that's a good point about the hedge fund guys. When a business is run by people with no understanding of its basics, they're setting it up for failure

[Blue Diadem]

67. The Super Kmart was pretty decent the last time I was there

which was, now that I think about it, a couple years ago. The regular K-mart is exactly like you describe and has been for years. We very seldom shop with them because it became of habit with them not having what we wanted from their ads and the overall atmosphere of the store was just depressing.

[Orrex]

70. I've never been in a Super KMart, in part because I refuse to enter oxymorons

But also because I've never even been near one. The stores in my area are the standard sub-standard outlets, with nothing "super" about them.

[spindrifter]

68. It's not just K-Marche that is committing suicide.

Virtually every clothing store has ridiculous stuff. Who was the brainiac that thought short sleeves on coats were cool? Last time I looked, my arms were a normal length and I want the sleeves to protect them when it's chilly out.

[Orrex]

69. LOL! Wasn't aware of that brilliant trend!

But you can be sure that, if it's a bad idea, then KMart will endorse it wholeheartedly before too long.

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

86. not to mention the maxi dresses you are seeing everywhere....

I mean, get real. Yes, they are cute in the right circumstances, but I hardly think a maxi dress for a day in the office is appropriate, and they just don't look good on you unless you are very tall and very skinny and maybe 17. Or if your name is Rhoda Morgenstern :)

[TK421]

72. There is a "Super" K-Mart about five minutes from here, and the last

time I was there it was fairly crowded. I'm sure other K-Marts are lousy, but this one is actually clean and has a good selection ( some of their prices are not bad, too ).

Of course, last time I went to that one was to get a cd shelf and that was about six-seven months ago.

[Orrex]

76. That makes several votes in favor of the Super KMart model

That's encouraging, but the continued anemic presence of their neglected non-super stores can only hurt them. As I mentioned upthread, I've never even been near a Super KMart, so they have no impact on my impression of the company.

I've been in dozens of the non-super kind, though, and they all suck!

[JitterbugPerfume]

74. when our K Mart went out of business

they didn't put a damn thing on sale

so I didn't buy anything

[Orrex]

77. LOL! Did your community notice their absence once they'd closed?

If ours were to close, the biggest immediate effect would be the dissipation of the cloud of suck that currently hangs over that dilapidated parking lot.

[JitterbugPerfume]

79. Not very many even admitted they knew it was there

let alone noticing its' absence . It is worse that Walmart , and you have to really work at it to be worse than Walmart

[many a good man]

75. Most people only shop there for the Chili Dogs w/Nacho Cheese

You get the full psychotropic shopping experience that way.

[Orrex]

78. I've had a few Icee's in my day, but I've never eaten the food in a KMart Kafe

:scared:

[begin_within]

81. But it's still the ideal place to go just after you've committed a murder.

Just to blend in to a non-background where nobody will notice you. And then have a quick bite at the Denny's next door where the desultory waiter doesn't care anyway.

[Orrex]

82. You had me convinced until "desultory"

Talking like that in a KMart will blow your cover in a heartbeat.

[lazyriver]

84. You should see the local one here...

Everything you described plus falling ceiling tiles, missing floor tiles, leaking roof, overhead lights out and faint but constant and noticeable screeching feedback noise coming through the PA system. I think the PA sound has burned out the cerebral cortex of every employee due to the empty blank stares on all their faces. My wife and I stopped going there two years ago but popped in to look for camp stove fuel last Friday. It was exactly the same as the last time I was there, same mess, same screeching sound, same blank stares...and I never did find the camping goods nor a single employee who could.

[arbusto_baboso]

85. My local K-Mart seems to be a Tagalog-Speaking-Only store, which is odd....

because most of the folks in the neighborhood around it speak Spanish.

But yes, all that you said applies to this store, too. Abysmal customer service, the aisles are always a shambles. Like WalMart on meth (which is kinda redundant).