Posted on 01/14/2003 12:48:20 PM PST by RCW2001
DETROIT -- Kmart has announced that it will close another 326 stores in 44 states, and cut up to 35,000 jobs. The company also released a list of stores it plans to close.
Chief Executive James Adamson also said the discount chain plans to emerge from bankruptcy by the end of April.
The new round of closings will leave the company with around 1,500 stores.
Kmart needs to close stores while under bankruptcy protection to allow it to get out of leases. The stores targeted for closure include those with unprofitable leases, money-losing locations and those that are being pressured by nearby rivals, including Wal-Mart and Target stores.
The company will return to bankruptcy court in Chicago to seek approval to close some of the stores on Jan. 28, television station WDIV reported.
Kmart lost more than $4.4 billion in the last two years. Experts said that the company definitely needs to close more stores to survive. Another tactic may be to shut down warehouses and for the company to get out of the grocery business altogether, the station reported.
Experts said that the stores will probably close for good at the end of the year.
A friend's wife figured out what K-Mart is good for though...if you don't have time to put on make-up or a bra and have to go get a flashlight and jumper cables, pronto, go to K-Mart: ain't nobody gonna see ya anyway.
The company lost $2.4 billion in 2001, as top executives under then-Chairman Chuck Conaway were spending billions to improve the company at the same time they were slashing prices and cutting back on advertising.
Under Conaway, Kmart hid its 2001 losses from investors and employees in its quarterly financial reports, forcing the company to later restate its numbers for three quarters.
And, weeks and months before the bankruptcy, Conaway and his top advisors arranged for 25 executives to receive $28 million in loans that they wouldn't have to repay, even if they were fired.
Kmart's collapse is now the subject of three federal investigations - by the FBI, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Kmart's lawyers are conducting their own ``stewardship review'' of the company's financial demise that could result in lawsuits against former executives to recover the $28 million in loans as well as relocation benefits paid to executives with short stays at the company.
Most of the 25 executives who received loans have left Kmart.
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These guys were vultures on a dying carcuss trying to get the last bit of morsel of flesh before it completely decays... They are closing the Dearborn KMart near me. Good. The place was the worst store I had ever been in. Isles were crammed, dirty, empty boxes all over the place. At least 3 times a week there was some sort of Police Activity there that was reported in the local paper...
Having frequented this store many times in the 90s, all I can say is "good riddance". I was actually scared to shop at this store after dark - not because of the neighborhood or the customers, but because of the employees.
The last time I ever set foot in that location, the night shift in electronics had X-rated gangsta rap music blaring from the stereo section so loud, it could be heard from the service desk at the store entrance. And the checkout clerks were laughing about it. I asked the clerk in from of me for the names of the people working in electronics (she seemed to know them, based on comments she made inbetween customers) and she rapidly shut up, guessing what I was going to do with the information. I never found out.
Now I don't need to. Management failed to fix the problem, so Corporate will be fixing management. Permanently.
Devon has become blighted over the last decade, and I feel bad for the people who were there before, when it used to be a clean (and safe) place to go shopping. Now, it's giving the worst sections of Bridgeport and New Haven a run for their money.
But Devon residents can always cross the bridge into Stratford and go shopping at the newly built Wal-Mart and Home Depot. They should consider shopping for new housing while they're at it.
couldn't resist...sorry.
FMCDH
BTW, I'm also told Father Panic Village in Bridgeport is now a huge sports arena/stadium.
Glad I'm in the mountains in SW Colorado.
FMCDH
Sadly, I found that to be true this Christmas. I felt bad for K-Mart, which has virtually no business here since Wal-Mart opened, so I bought a small gift there. The lady ahead of me (only one person ahead) was having no end of trouble. Seems she had been charged five times for the same item and had signed her charge slip before she realized it. "Oh, yeah, there's something wrong with this register. Better go to Customer Service," said the indifferent clerk. When my turn came, the register likewise kept ringing up my item repeatedly (probably because of the "skill" of the clerk at holding it over the scanner repeatedly). I insisted she fix the problem, and I did finally see a charge for just my one item on her screen. I also saw the large-print message, "Ask the customer, Do You Want A Gift Receipt?" so I said to the clerk, "Yes, I do want a gift receipt." "Huh?" she said. When I told her to read her screen, she pulled out a Gift Certificate for me to buy. "No, no, no," I told her, and I explained what a gift receipt was. "Oh, I think we did those at Thanksgiving," she said. "If you want one now, I guess you could go to Customer Service." I told her I guessed I could go home instead, and I just walked away--not at all surprised at what is happening to K-Mart.
Trying to twist this into a 'wanking' thread, eh??
I vowed to NEVER shop there again after the sickening behavior of the vultures that pirated the company. I felt terrible for the employees, but vowed not to line the pockets of the so-called executives.
They're not closing the Lake Orion K-Mart (dang it! I'd rather have a Target!), but the Big K in Auburn Hills on Joselyn is shutting down.
Good Riddance.
a) showing the regular price (not the sale price), of items scanned at the register, until the entire sale was completed, and
b) being utterly unable to printing out an interim receipt, proving you received the sales price due to the odd accounting method above, until AFTER generating the credit card invoice. And, of course, if it failed to show the proper price (which you couldn't see until after signing the charge slip), I was told I could take my purchase to the friendly Customer Service counter for an adjustment.
This happened once when the difference between the regular price and sales price on a series of items I was buying (jeans, I believe, at "buy one get one 50% off") was around $40.00. I refused to sign (and therefore couldn't see the receipt), so I asked for the manager to step in and verify that my purchases reflected the "sales price" before I would sign anything. The assistant manager's advice was for me to trust that the clerk was ringing it up properly I made then re-ring my entire sale, manually entering the sales prices for each item.
Devon, CT K-Mart. Good riddance.
Mr Kresge made it seem so easy, because it was easy, and the current idiots have no idea how to run a retail store.
I could take this company and make it profitable.
And pretty soon, the company's value will drop far enough that this might become a viable option for you.
I want to phrase this very carefully. My observation of that store is that the customers were mostly, uh, Dearbornites, and the help was all, uh, Detroiters. Neither group ranks high on the list of best sales help or most polite shoppers.
Not me. I grew up near the Kmart on Highland Road in Waterford. Even as a kid, I recall the sales people were surly. The odd times I'd go to other Kmarts as an adult, the help was all the same: surly. If Kmart had some kind of surly employee hiring quota, they more than met their numbers.
Around 9 years ago the one in Waycross Georgia closed, now the one in Hinesville, and Valdosta are closing. I am a little surprised that the one in Jesup is still going to stay open since they opened a Wal-Mart Supercenter there only a couple of years ago.
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