The rise and fall of big-box stores

[HappyGuy]

Great videos showing how retail and America is changing before our eyes.

Company Man: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQMyhr ... nRg/videos



At its peak, Sears, Roebuck was the largest retailer in the world.

[HappyGuy]

Kmart Went From Beating Walmart And Target To Bankruptcy


In October 2018, Kmart's parent company, Sears Holdings, filed for bankruptcy. Kmart first filed for bankruptcy in 2002, making this its second time in just 16 years. However, the struggling company used to be the biggest discount retailer of homegoods in the U.S. — even bigger than Target and Walmart.

[HappyGuy]

February 20, 2016
When Wal-Mart leaves small towns behind - PBS NewsHour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgJt4sArUHI

February 10, 2019
Returning to the Town that Walmart Left Behind - PBS NewsHour
https://invidio.us/watch?v=taSfSdr9vMo

March 4, 2020
‘Nobody saw this coming’: Walmart to close its Wadesboro store
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHZV-z6qGlU



Tacopacalypse: viewtopic.php?style=1&p=341930#p341930

[HappyGuy]

09-30-20
Walmart’s new store design proves browsing is dead
https://www.fastcompany.com/90557727/wa ... ng-is-dead

Oct 20, 2020
Walmart's Redesigned Airport-Style Stores Will Track Everyone
https://massprivatei.blogspot.com/2020/ ... style.html

[WanderingProtagonist]

This is depressing...I say that because I honestly do miss K-Mart. Incredible Universe was cool too, I remember when I first walked into that place it was like a video game arcade fused together with a circus. They even had live shows in there while people shopped. First thing I would do is hit the arcade floor, but the store was so huge it failed because everything in it was far too expensive compared to K-Mart before Martha Stewart ruined it and then came all the bad investments.

[MrMan]

K-Mart was a cheap place to shop and seemed like it was all over the place when I was kid. I wouldn't have thought it would have closed down. But Walmart came in doing the same thing they did, only better and cheaper, and K-Mart started having a hard time.

But I did like Sears. Autoparts stores could have ridiculous prices, and the prices could be cheaper at Sears. You could also buy weights. They had discounts on men's clothes. It was a mall store without the ridiculous prices. Back in the day, my dad would buy Craftsman adjustable wrenches and other tools for work, and when they broke, just take them back because of their lifetime warranty. The selection was good.

I heard a Marketing professor say that one thing that hurt Sears was when they merged with K-Mart, Sears would put its paint on the K-Mart shelf. It used to be the Sears shelves had Sears paint. But at Walmart, they had cheaper paint than Sears and more expensive paint than Sears, so customers could say this paint is better than Sears paint and this is lower quality. Before, Sears did not allow that comparison. He thought it hurt their brands and they drug their brands through the mud with some other decisions.

I am wondering about what happened leading up to 18. If you were earning huge profits, and you bought this dying giant, Sears, and lent it money from one of your other companies, then have Sears go bankrupt, what could you do with that? Maybe the loss of loan revenue for your other company could be a big tax write-off that offsets your taxes you owe there. But on the Sears side, you don't pay taxes on loan money that comes in, only profits, so Sears is infused with cash to pay its obligations. It could be a way of turning paying off debts from one into a tax write-off for another company. I am not sure this is the strategy, but I could see how something like that might work.

[WanderingProtagonist]

K-Mart was a cheap place to shop and seemed like it was all over the place when I was kid. I wouldn't have thought it would have closed down. But Walmart came in doing the same thing they did, only better and cheaper, and K-Mart started having a hard time.

But I did like Sears. Autoparts stores could have ridiculous prices, and the prices could be cheaper at Sears. You could also buy weights. They had discounts on men's clothes. It was a mall store without the ridiculous prices. Back in the day, my dad would buy Craftsman adjustable wrenches and other tools for work, and when they broke, just take them back because of their lifetime warranty. The selection was good.

I heard a Marketing professor say that one thing that hurt Sears was when they merged with K-Mart, Sears would put its paint on the K-Mart shelf. It used to be the Sears shelves had Sears paint. But at Walmart, they had cheaper paint than Sears and more expensive paint than Sears, so customers could say this paint is better than Sears paint and this is lower quality. Before, Sears did not allow that comparison. He thought it hurt their brands and they drug their brands through the mud with some other decisions.

I am wondering about what happened leading up to 18. If you were earning huge profits, and you bought this dying giant, Sears, and lent it money from one of your other companies, then have Sears go bankrupt, what could you do with that? Maybe the loss of loan revenue for your other company could be a big tax write-off that offsets your taxes you owe there. But on the Sears side, you don't pay taxes on loan money that comes in, only profits, so Sears is infused with cash to pay its obligations. It could be a way of turning paying off debts from one into a tax write-off for another company. I am not sure this is the strategy, but I could see how something like that might work.

I hate and loath walmart..I've only been into that place maybe once or twice, then three years ago I almost got a job working there as a cart person when I couldn't find a job nowhere else. My mom knew the manager there and she was real nice, gave me the damn job immediately. But I had a panic attack because I can't stand working around a whole lot of people so I ended up quitting even though I did security at a shopping center. Only difference is I didn't feel nervous working security except for the times I had to actually approach crappy people at night by myself even though the day shift was much worse. Either way it pains me that all the good times i had don't exist. Going into stores now especially today with the shortages is so damn depressing. Plus you see the extreme misery on people's faces, and in the state California there is so much open view theft happening you'd swear you were in a completely different country entirely.

[Taco]

After the economic collapse happens(2022) no one will be shopping anymore. That's why they don't care what happens to these stores...

[WanderingProtagonist]

After the economic collapse happens(2022) no one will be shopping anymore. That's why they don't care what happens to these stores...

I still can't believe this is for real....

[josephty2]

Walmart succeeded because they understood why Americans love radios so much.

Sears and Kmart didn't understand this. Simple.

Think of why Netflix succeeded but Blockbuster failed. Same thing really.

They understood US of America's motto, their national bird, etc.