K-Mart and Sears closings in KY

Not sure if any of you have been following this, but Sears is in REAL trouble (also own K-Mart) and may just cease to exist very soon. Here is a listing of store closings in KY:

K-Mart

• 191 Outer Loop, Louisville, Kentucky
  
• 2815 West Parrish Ave., Owensboro, Kentucky
  
• 1501 Paris Pike, Georgetown, Kentucky
  
• 14662 N. US Highway 25 East, Corbin, Kentucky
  
• 1710 W. Highway 192, London, Kentucky
  
• 3010 Fort Campbell Blvd., Hopkinsville, Kentucky
  
• 2945 Scottsville Road, Bowling Green, Kentucky
  

Sears

• Kentucky Oaks Mall, Paducah, Kentucky
  

List of Sears and Kmart stores closing - Business Insider

I wonder how long the franchise Sears stores will be supported? We have one here that sells appliances, tools and yard equipment...I'd hate to see it close.

K-Mart and Sears screwed up about 25 years ago, but both were so successful at he time that it's taken them this long to sink. At the time both looked down their noses at those hillbillies from Arkansas and refused for years to compete with them, until it was too late for them and Walmart's momentum was more than they could withstand.

The marriage of the two just prolonged the misery for both, it did allow several thousand employees to continue to have jobs years longer than thy would have...but investors will in all likelihood lose everything.

There was a pretty good discussion about it in this thread...Sears sells Iconic Brand CRAFTSMAN

I didnt know Kmart still existed anywhere.

I didnt know Kmart still existed anywhere.

A little over 700 left as of the 4th quarter.

For comparison there are almost 1500 Big Lots!

That K-Mart in Louisville is a duuuump.

That K-Mart in Louisville is a duuuump.

The one in Owensboro isn't great either, at least the last time I was in it a while back. And I'm sure it hasn't gotten any better.

They have one here in Frankfort just down the road from my office. It's not bad.

Good riddance. Kmart sucks hard.

I haven't been in a Sears in 25 years.

I didnt know Kmart still existed anywhere.

Erlanger store still open.

A little over 700 left as of the 4th quarter.

 

For comparison there are almost 1500 Big Lots!

That's sad right there.

They have one here in Frankfort just down the road from my office. It's not bad.

That one is honestly probably the nicest one I've ever been in. I haven't been there since I left Frankfort 13 years ago, but it was always pretty decent.

My first job out of high school was at K-Mart. I got called in to work every time I had a day off and sent home early because there was nothing for me to do almost every day I was scheduled to work. If there was more than one register trained associate in the store, they'd start sending people home. I only lasted two months, and pretty much never want back to the Pikeville store after that.

It closed late last year/earlier this year, as the whole community basically wondered how it made it as long as it did. The only time people mentioned the store for years was to complain about it.

Erlanger store still open.

And it's a complete mess. Run down, broken, empty fixtures, stuff just strewn about, it doesn't even look like they are trying. What few employees you see, look completely miserable. I just don't see how Kmart could be anyone's first choice for anything. Sears stores are graveyards too....old, outdated, and since they whored out the Craftsman brand (which isn't what used to be anyway), there is little reason to go there for anything either. I imagine they'll keep selling off the company in chunks (of which only the real estate has any value), until they've bled everything out of the company.

Retail in general though is rapidly changing. I happened to pop iinto the Tri County Mall in Springdale last week in between meetings and was shocked at how empty it was. At least 1/3 of the storefronts were shuttered, and the only people in the mall were the older mall walkers. Many of the traditional mall based stores are in trouble and facing tough times, including the big anchor's like Macy's. Online shopping is sucking the life out of traditional brick and mortar retail.