What's Going on with Kmart?
By Jeff Moffitt
@moffittjc (128835)
Gainesville, Florida
July 30, 2016 7:06am CST
After a quick glance at Twitter this morning while making my morning coffee, I saw that the hashtag #AttentionKmartShoppers was trending. Wondering what was up, I clicked on the hashtag and read through several dozen tweets about the retailer. As I suspected, most of it was making fun of Kmart, but I never really got a true sense of why it was trending.
Hopping over to Google, I did a quick search on Kmart to see if there were any major announcements about the struggling retailer. The search results yielded mixed information, which left me no closer to finding out why Kmart is trending on Twitter than when I started.
Some articles talk about Kmart's restructuring; some talks about it's new retail strategy; some talk about going out of business; some talk about re-branding it's business. After scrolling through all those articles, I'm left scratching my head wondering: is Kmart going out of business, or not?
Does anyone know for sure? Does anyone even shop there? We have one Kmart in our city, but it is on the complete other side of town from where I live, so I never venture over that way (not that I would ever want to shop at Kmart anyway), so I have no idea if our local store is even open or not.
14 people like this
14 responses
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
30 Jul 16
Many locations are closing, they have been having sales for a month or longer. If you don't have a 'store closing' sing on yours then it is not closing. This has been on the news, tv, FB many times!
2 people like this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
30 Jul 16
Well that's just the thing...it seems like every month there is some major news story that Kmart is closing. How many freakin' times can one company keep going out of business? LOL
Our local Kmart is on the complete other side of the city from where I live, so I'm not about to take a drive over there to see if they are closing up the store. Considering nobody shops there anyway, they could close up today and no one would probably notice! lol
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
30 Jul 16
@moffittjc We do grocery shopping next door to K-Mart or I wouldn't pay attention either.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
30 Jul 16
@AbbyGreenhill That's how it was in the town I grew up in...the grocery store we shopped at was right next door to a Kmart. But I still don't think we ever shopped at the Kmart though!
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
31 Jul 16
I can only remember two occasions in my life where I was a Kmart shopper. One was when I was in high school, and it was winter time and I was meeting friends to play basketball at a local park. It was freezing outside, and I was in shorts. There was a Kmart across the street, so I ran over there and bought a pair of sweatpants. The second occasion was when I was walking around in a pair of flip flops, and the strap on one of them broke. Again, there was a Kmart across the street, and so I ran over and bought a cheap pair of flip flops!
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
31 Jul 16
@LoriAMoore Very yucky! Although Wal-Mart's not too far behind in that department! lol
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@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
30 Jul 16
That's the first comment I heard from anyone where they mention their Kmart store is busy! Most say their store has either closed, or is always empty of shoppers.
1 person likes this
@velvet53 (24417)
• Palisade, Colorado
30 Jul 16
@moffittjc They don't get the traffic that Walmart does but there is always cars in the parking lot. Now watch, in a week I will see a closed sign there.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
30 Jul 16
@velvet53 Yeah, hopefully you just didn't curse them into going out of business! lol
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
31 Jul 16
It's been years since I've stepped foot in our local Kmart, but I remember back when I did that all their shelves were bare. How can they make any money if they can't stock their shelves with things for people to buy? It was disgraceful. And that was years ago. I imagine it's even worse now.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
4 Aug 16
@CRK109 If you ever go into their stores, their shelves are mostly bare, so I don't know exactly what it is they are selling. I mean, I guess if it's the closest store to you, or you don't have transportation to go anywhere else, then I guess Kmart would be your only alternative.
1 person likes this
@CRK109 (14556)
• United States
5 Aug 16
@moffittjc We have a van that goes over there every other Monday morning. I've been thinking that maybe I should just go for the ride and see what's there. Maybe I can get some yarn for my knitting or see if there are any towels for my bathroom. I'm sure they're cheap enough! What the heck! It's a day out! lol
1 person likes this
@HazySue (39265)
• Gouverneur, New York
30 Jul 16
@moffittjc We did have 2 Kmarts in our area until one of them closed last year. I have no idea why it would be trending.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
30 Jul 16
I just wasn't sure if it was trending because people just happened to be making fun of Kmart, or if the company had made some big announcement.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
30 Jul 16
@HazySue Maybe they made a big announcement that everyone was making fun of their stores! lol
Well, that wouldn't necessarily be a big announcement, because everyone already makes fun of them!
@HazySue (39265)
• Gouverneur, New York
30 Jul 16
@moffittjc I don't know it could be either one.
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@Elizaby (6902)
• Pensacola, Florida
31 Jul 16
the closest Kmart to me is in Ft. Walton and I think the Milton one is still open at the moment. We use to have 3 here in Pensacola but they have been closed dwon with the last losing over two years ago and I am hearing it may not be long beofre we lose Sears too,
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
31 Jul 16
Yeah, we had 3 Kmarts here in Gainesville too, and two of them closed down about 4-5 years ago. The one that is still open has been struggling for years, I'm not sure how it can even make enough money to stay open. Not sure how our Sears is doing, but it is part of a very busy mall, and it looks like it is always pretty busy.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
1 Aug 16
@Elizaby If I were Sears, I would try figure out a way to divorce Kmart as fast as I could! lol
@Elizaby (6902)
• Pensacola, Florida
31 Jul 16
@moffittjc I bet the KMart coporation wishes now that they had not bought out Sears several years ago and created Sears Holdings as KMart stayed going down hill and Sears held steady
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
31 Jul 16
Yeah, Sears bought Kmart many years ago, but has not been successful in turning the company around. In fact, it has really put a strain on Sears' business, dragging down their profits.
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (91116)
• United States
30 Jul 16
We have a Kmart about 20 minutes away but since I'm never in that area I wouldn't even know if it was still open. It wouldn't surprise me though if they all closed.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
30 Jul 16
I have the same issue here where I live. There is one about 15-20 minutes away, but I would never know if the store was open or closed because I never go to that area of town! lol
@akalinus (44366)
• United States
31 Jul 16
@moffittjc Sears moved in with Kmart where I live. Now, they are both gone.
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@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
31 Jul 16
@akalinus I know that when Sears bought out Kmart years ago, they tried to merge many of the stores together. Another big mistake. Sears should have just closed down all the underperforming Kmart stores and slowly rebuilt from the ground up. Now Sears is struggling too as a result of Kmart dragging it down.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
30 Jul 16
That's the thing that I think spelled their doom. They carried the exact same merchandise as Wal-Mart, but Wal-Mart's prices were 20-30% cheaper. We have a Sears at our local mall, and it looks like it is always busy, so hopefully at least the Sears will stay in business, even if the Kmart here closes.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
30 Jul 16
They closed their stores here years ago.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
30 Jul 16
The one Kmart we have left in our city is in a really bad location. I don't mean bad like ghetto area of town, but bad in that it is off the beaten path and not easy to find or get to. If there's not quick and easy access to your store, it's only a matter of time before you go out of business!
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@JESSY3236 (22245)
• United States
1 Aug 16
Sears is partners with Kmart. Sears was closed down where I live. We do have a Kmart, but it might shut down too.
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@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
1 Aug 16
I'm surprised the Sears shut down before the Kmart. In many places, it was the other way around, with Kmart closing down before the Sears.
1 person likes this
@Deepizzaguy (122171)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
3 Aug 16
I used to shop at K Mart but the distance from the store in my area is too far compared to buying my needs at Wal Mart.
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@fishtiger58 (29819)
• Momence, Illinois
30 Jul 16
The Kmart we had closed a few months ago. I have no idea what's going on with them.
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@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
30 Jul 16
Personally, I think when Sears bought them out they should have either closed all the stores, or completely rebranded them to something entirely different. I think Sears dropped the ball on this one, but it isn't surprising because Sears is struggling too.
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@fishtiger58 (29819)
• Momence, Illinois
3 Aug 16
@moffittjc They are, and I very much agree with you.
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@Chellezhere (6421)
• United States
31 Jul 16
Kmart has been struggling for years. They can't keep up with the other big box stores.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128835)
• Gainesville, Florida
31 Jul 16
But yet they are doing absolutely nothing to fix their situation! If they have been struggling for years, they need to rebrand themselves; reinvent themselves; and re-discover a new retail niche where they can be successful. Doesn't look like they're trying to do any of this.
