KMart's imminent demise has been discussed here before, but CNN Money posted an update yesterday for their 2015 earnings report.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/08/investing/kmart-sales-decline-sears-eddie-lampert/index.html?iid=SF_LN

 

Sad to see the decline. I remember as a youngster going to Kmart with grandma and getting popcorn in the cafeteria at the back of the store. With those translucent yellow panels. Now it's just. depressing.

Annnd...

http://www.westernmassnews.com/story/31787582/kmart-sears-closing-78-stores-holding-liquidation-sales

8 minutes ago, Achilles said:

Annnd...

http://www.westernmassnews.com/story/31787582/kmart-sears-closing-78-stores-holding-liquidation-sales

Well, I escape the cut again. Whew!

9 minutes ago, Achilles said:

Annnd...

http://www.westernmassnews.com/story/31787582/kmart-sears-closing-78-stores-holding-liquidation-sales

Are those liquidation sales any good? My "closest" kmart is on the list - can combine the 30 mile drive with a visit to another store I frequent if the LEGO liquidation discounts are worth it... 

Yes, the sales can be very good. What's weird though is that Clearance stuff gets marked down SLOWER than regular stuff. But basically they'll start out discounting everything every couple of weeks 10%, then movie it an additional 10%, etc etc. You can eventually get some very good deals. My region closed 5 K-Marts a couple years ago. I did pretty well.

 

 

12 minutes ago, Achilles said:

Yes, the sales can be very good. What's weird though is that Clearance stuff gets marked down SLOWER than regular stuff. But basically they'll start out discounting everything every couple of weeks 10%, then movie it an additional 10%, etc etc. You can eventually get some very good deals. My region closed 5 K-Marts a couple years ago. I did pretty well.

 

 

The article mentions may 12 as the day of the liquidation sale. I thought that was one specific day, or is that when the staggered sales start and would I have to drive out multiple times over the next weeks to get any deals?

Amazingly the remaining stores in SoCal made the cut.

And then they just sent me a "$10 back in points when you use the points you already have and spend another $15" coupon and next quarter they'll have to report another loss. I know they are just trying to get me to spend in their store, but when I'm getting $50 sets for $15 followed by $15 sets for $5, there is not much profit they'll make. Those discounts are better than most WM stunt clearance prices.

Here's a list of the stores being shuttered.  Not that I really care, as the one's around me kind of constantly suck.

http://fortune.com/2016/04/22/sears-kmart-stores-close-where/

11 minutes ago, fossilrock said:

Here's a list of the stores being shuttered.  Not that I really care, as the one's around me kind of constantly suck.

http://fortune.com/2016/04/22/sears-kmart-stores-close-where/

Same here.  The two stores around here have a terrible selection for toys and I wouldn't miss them if they were gone.

Wow, more closures? When I started searching for LEGO deals in 2013 there were 5 stores within a 45 minute drive. 3 years later and there's only 2 left, and one of them is on that list. I guess the upside is that the one surviving store is in the middle of the ghetto and is always busy, so it probably won't be closed until the whole company goes belly up. 

Sears CEO Eddie Lampert said in a press release that the company is doing what it can to return to profitability, but that the Sears and Kmart apparel businesses "continue to be negatively impacted by a heavily promotional competitive environment."

Selling their top brands would seal their impending demise.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/26/investing/sears-kmart-kenmore-craftsman/

Sears CEO Eddie Lampert said in a press release that the company is doing what it can to return to profitability, but that the Sears and Kmart apparel businesses "continue to be negatively impacted by a heavily promotional competitive environment."

Selling their top brands would seal their impending demise.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/26/investing/sears-kmart-kenmore-craftsman/

Ouch, Fast Eddie is in some serious trouble if they are forced to sell the last remaining brands worth anything. Sears and K-Mart will soon be akin with Big Lots and Tuesday Morning.

20 minutes ago, thegooch49 said:

Ouch, Fast Eddie is in some serious trouble if they are forced to sell the last remaining brands worth anything. Sears and K-Mart will soon be akin with Big Lots and Tuesday Morning.

You mean you think they will survive and become like Big Lots and Tuesday Morning? I think they'll be more like Circuit City and Linens 'n Things .....

31 minutes ago, exciter1 said:

Sears CEO Eddie Lampert said in a press release that the company is doing what it can to return to profitability, but that the Sears and Kmart apparel businesses "continue to be negatively impacted by a heavily promotional competitive environment."

Selling their top brands would seal their impending demise.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/26/investing/sears-kmart-kenmore-craftsman/

The entire sears/Kmart train wreck is nothing more than a way for Mr. Lambert to line his own pockets at the expense of the two once well respected companies and their share holders. 

Need to keep them alive yo...  If they are closed I have nowhere to practice my SYW points magic

 

13 minutes ago, Darth_Raichu said:

Need to keep them alive yo...  If they are closed I have nowhere to practice my SYW points magic

 

You just need to keep flippin' em until they go out of business - it's like pass the hot potato from now on.....

A Kmart about 30-40 minutes away from me is going out. The end of July is when it is closed for good. Right now they have all toys (including Lego) marked at 40% off. Their stock is about 1/4 of an aisle. Should I buy sets now, or try and wait a week or two? I bought some yesterday just as a spur of the moment type of thing.

Just now, bbarker3 said:

A Kmart about 30-40 minutes away from me is going out. The end of July is when it is closed for good. Right now they have all toys (including Lego) marked at 40% off. Their stock is about 1/4 of an aisle. Should I buy sets now, or try and wait a week or two? I bought some yesterday just as a spur of the moment type of thing.

If there is anything there you want, I'd grab it now.  From other reports, it appears not much lasts past 40%.  You're also lucky if anything there is still good past 30%.

If there is anything there you want, I'd grab it now.  From other reports, it appears not much lasts past 40%.  You're also lucky if anything there is still good past 30%.

I will probably go back. They have some larger sets, 400-600 pieces between ninjago and Lego city I may buy

Is anyone familiar with the liquidator's markdown schedule? Does the percentage off keep dropping until the store ultimately closes?

$0% is when to go.  IT will get to 50% but by that time everything is pretty much gone.  They closed the one near me in April and May.    They had a bunch of Hulk Buster Smash s  that got down to 50%   But that was because the started at100%  The only other thing that made it down t50% were Chime and some Ninjago. 

8 hours ago, damnsanders said:

Is anyone familiar with the liquidator's markdown schedule? Does the percentage off keep dropping until the store ultimately closes?

yes, but it's not based on a schedule so much as how well the items in the department are selling at the current % off. If toys are selling well at 25% off, they'll stay at that percentage longer than say dog food, which may have stalled sales at 25% and need to be bumped to 30% to encourage sales.

Closing stores get all of the clearance inventory from stores within a certain distance, so stuff that hasn't been selling from a variety of stores will be sent to your store and marked back up to retail before being fed into their close-out % drops. Around here, when the K-Mart closed last year I saw stacks and stacks of the same toys with multiple different types of clearance stickers and prices over a sign for the item that reflected none of those prices. LEGO also sold out at 30% off for that store too.

2 minutes ago, thoroakenfelder said:

Closing stores get all of the clearance inventory from stores within a certain distance

This is true as a Kmart Manager told me the same thing when I went in and asked why they had no clearance items.

How does any business try to stay afloat when it lost 580 million in 1 quarter?
Shut them all down like Sports Authority. 
Another step to fleece the stock holders $$.
IMO, The only way for them to survive is to close all Kmarts and for Sears to downsize and sell only their Craftsman & Kenmore line.