Kmart merchandising

As you can see, the number of full-line (normal) Sears stores, Kmart stores, Super Kmart Centers, and some other minor brands (Sears Grand/Essentials, Sears Hardware, Great Indoors) have decreased. The number of franchisee-type Sears Hometown stores has increased, as has Lands' End kiosks inside Sears. We will see how the decision to make exclusive brands such as Craftsman available to other retailers will bode for Sears.

The exclusive Country Living home collection has replaced Martha Stewart Everyday lineup in Kmart stores. It's tough being in the shadows of Walmart and Target, especially when it comes to dealing with suppliers (for example, Walmart accounts for over 21% of sales for some consumable companies like Kelloggs), but Kmart does still have around 1,300 stores and $16 billion in sales a year. Indeed, Kmart is over a third of Sears Holdings and while Sears Holdings has lost almost a third of its share in the $2.99 trillion retail market to 1.4% last year from 2.1% before Kmart and Sears merged, it is still big. (For comparison, Wal-Mart's share jumped to 10.2% from 8.7%)

Kmart is launching an exclusive apparel line with Disney Channel teen star Selena Gomez - trying to raise the coolness factor of its clothing lineup to be more in line with popular Target or even the Miley Cyrus line at Walmart. In fact, the Gomez/ Dream Out Loud line sales are hoped to be around $100 million for the launch year!

For its exclusive adult clothing line-up, Kmart is pushing a relaunched classy Jaclyn Smith brand for women, described as “classic feminine styling, quality fabrics and ease of fit". The attention brand is for sophisticated, contemporary looks. The Route 66 brand is for jeans and vintage looks. For men, exclusive brands include golf-style Top Flite and Piper and Blue casualwear.

All in all, Kmart's clothing department seems to be getting more souped up, trying to be as "cool" as Target while boasting "Everyday Great Prices". A dedicated website, Kmartdesign.com , shows off Kmart's 250+ design team. It seems this part is working... nicer clothes at affordable prices, and for stores that are nice inside, it should be a success. The only issue would be if aging stores still remain off-putting for people to venture inside - something management does not think is a problem but most Wall Street analysts deride (lack of capital reinvestment in store remodelings). We'll see who is right...


Sources:
http://industry.bnet.com/retail/10008505/why-selena-gomez-may-not-be-kmarts-next-cash-cow/
http://industry.bnet.com/retail/10008566/kmart-bets-that-jaclyn-smith-can-kick-martha-stewart%E2%80%99s-posterity/
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/kmart-counts-on-rebuilding-consumer-demand-2010-04-15

Bigg's to close

Market Watch:
Cincinnati based Bigg's will close 5 hypermarkets and sell the remaining 6 large supermarkets to local Remke Markets. Bigg's, which some have described as a more upscale Walmart Supercenter selling everything from fresh produce to apparel, had around a 5% grocery market share in 2009 in the Cincy area, falling behind hometown giant Kroger and WM. Supervalu Corp, which owns biggs, ostensibly is selling the chain for cash given their relatively large debt ever since the Albertsons acquisition, but this also signifies that the Biggs supercenters were probably not as competitive with Walmarts and the like...
I'm sure many will miss you, bigg's!

Comparisons against Walmart

Walmart, the world's largest retailer, now accounts for 21% of the grocery/foods market share in the US, larger than the next 3 largest competitors (such as Kroger, Costco, and Safeway) combined. Almost 90% of Americans have shopped in a Walmart in the past year, an astoundingly high (and inspiring for any business) number. What about regular weekly customers? Here's something from Supermarket News:

	PERCENTAGE OF WEEKLY SHOPPERS 2009	% CHANGE 2008-09
Conventional supermarkets	43.5%	+2.4
Warehouse clubs	9.2%	+1.1
Target general merchandise stores	8.8%	+1.1
Kmart/Big Kmart/Kmart Super Center	4.7%	+1.0
Walmart Supercenter	28.7%	+0.8
SuperTarget	5.4%	+0.5
Walmart discount stores	10.5%	+0.5
Dollar stores/small-format value retailers	14.8%	+0.4
Extreme-value/price-impact supermarkets	9.3%	+0.3
Health/natural supermarkets	4.9%	+0.2
Drug stores	20.6%	-0.6
Specialty food stores/neighborhood specialty markets	6.9%	-1.1
Convenience stores — gasoline purchase	41.1%	-2.2
Convenience stores — merchandise purchase	16.4%	-2.3

SOURCE: Retail Forward ShopperScape (survey of 4,000 consumers who are primary shoppers for their households)

Parsippany NJ Kmart/Sears

Big Kmart, erm, Sears Essentials, erm soon to be kmart
808 US 46, Parsippany NJ

Well, it seems like perhaps the first new Kmart will be opened in almost a decade. Oh wait, it was a Kmart. Never mind, just converting a Sears Essentials (that was itself converted from a Big Kmart) back to the Kmart banner. (See our previous blog post on the miserable failure that Sears Essentials is/was. Great potential, terrible execution...) I wonder if this "conversion" will involve a major makeover, or just some cheap new signage. Hopefully, they will use this opportunity to explore with fresh & appealing designs (aka Walmart's "Project Impact") and add an expanded grocery section (aka Target's "pFresh"), but cross your fingers, for Sears management isn't particularly known for retail ingenuity in the 21st century. In other random news, a newspaper article from Columbia, TN states that Sears is replacing its closing mall store... with a Hometown franchisee a couple blocks away. Uh, sure a Sears Hometown store is better than no Sears, but a Hometown store is a fraction of the size...


From the Dailyrecord.com:
PARSIPPANY — Sears Holdings Corp. confirmed on Thursday that it was converting its Sears Essentials store in Parsippany back to a Kmart. The building at Arlington Plaza on Route 46 West was built and opened in 1998 as a flagship Kmart store, which was featured in a high-profile national advertisement that also included a staged parade in Boonton led by Penny Marshall and Rosie O'Donnell. It was rebranded as a Sears Essentials store after Kmart Holdings Corp. purchased Sears, Roebuck and Co. in 2005, creating the company known as Sears Holdings Corp.

"We found that the popularity of Kmart resonated better with the customers, so we are changing it back," said Sears Holdings Corp. spokesperson Kim Freely.

Freely said the store will close for two days following the liquidation sale that began on Sunday. It will then soft-open as a Kmart on March 24, with the grand opening scheduled for May 28.

"And we'll be adding a layaway program, sporting goods, hosiery and jewelry," Freely said

Nashville, TN: Nolensville Big Kmart

4095 Nolensville Pike at Harding Rd
Nashville, TN 37211

92,770 Sq Ft





This store is directly across from a Wal-Mart Supercenter (which replaced the defunct and razed-over former Harding Mall) that opened in 2006... good luck surviving! (Note: from multiple parking lot counts, obviously the Wal-Mart parking lot is almost always crowded, but the Kmart one still has quite a few cars, a good sign.) There are remnants left over from other now-closed Kmart stores here - like Super Kmart shopping carts.

I added a nearby Food Lion picture because I thought it looked neat and sort of retro.
Edit: The Walmart Supercenter effect (a killing zone for traditional supermarkets nearby) has come. The Food Lion closed in Feb 2010. (Note: we'll post Food Lion store closing pictures in another update in the next month)


The Layaway (one of the few areas Kmart offers that Walmart doesn't currently) is in the posterior right corner of the store.

A view from the front right of the store.

This is the front right corner. Looks like a former Kmart Cafe or Little Caesars area, now holds infants' supplies (strollers) and clearance items. Some of the far cashiers lanes look rather lonely.

The Pharmacy. It looked crowded with several people standing in the small aisles waiting - if there is any room to spare (probably not), it may be worth it to add a bench area. Or perhaps this way people will go shopping while waiting.

The Garden Shop in January was closed. They should spruce up the looks and add new signage, as this is the most visible corner of the store from Harding Road, and it doesn't look that appealing to non-Kmart fans.

Some stylish (for Kmart) clothing!

Looking from the middle back of the store towards the entrance.

Kmart now owns and operates its own shoe department. Previously, Footstar Corp owned the inventory but they went bankrupt.

The restrooms in the back. Some old signs!

Furniture!

More furniture!

There are new signs on the walls of the electronics department - a nice touch. A helpful salesperson was also hanging around on this visit - great job! Granted, Kmart's electronics department still has a ways to go, especially with Walmart devoting more and more space and promotions to this category.

The Craftsman tools aisle. Some empty spots, but pretty decent overall.

Note the linear fluorescent lighting and white linoleum (?) tiles. Target does a much better job with ambience by having "splotchy" lights on the ceiling instead of long straight lines.

Note the new signage on the top of the walls with national brands. I wonder if the brands had to pay for the pseudo-ads, or if Kmart is just happy to be able to carry them.

Kmart is doing a decent job in stocking the shelves and uncluttering, but somehow the vintage 1970's store feel still hangs over it sometimes. Not that it's a bad thing, but Walmarts are generally moving toward a more "upscale" wooden-floor-type airy feel.

Please don't do drugs, people!

The very first thing to welcome shoppers is a sign-up table for the loyalty card program Shop-Your-Way rewards.

That's all for now!

A view from the air of Harding Rd at Nolensville Pike. The Kmart is on the left, with decent number of cars, while the Walmart supercenter (formerly Harding Mall) is on the right.


Competition: Directly across the street, a 192,968 sq ft Walmart Supercenter opened January 2007, replacing Harding Mall. It was the 91st WM Supercenter in TN, not including 16 regular stores, a handful of Neighborhood Markets, and 16 Sam's Clubs.

Update: The Nolensville Pike Kmart was partially damaged by floods in Nashville in May 2010.

Photos taken 2009 and 2010

.

Craftsman, Sears Auto Center to be farmed out

Update [2/23]: Link to list of store closings: http://www.searsmedia.com/tools/close_022310.pdf
For the year, domestic comparable store sales declined 5.1%, and included a slight decline at Kmart of 0.8% and a decline at Sears Domestic of 8.7%. The flat store sales at Kmart are a good sign, but still concerning since it includes shoe sales (which were taken over last year from a 3rd-party supplier, Footstar) and since the number of Kmart stores has dropped by almost 1/3 in the past 8 years (there were 2,114 Kmart stores open in 2002, and now slightly more than 1,300 remain) meaning usually the most underperforming stores have been cut and cut, so same-store sales declines should decrease as well. Plus, "peers" Target and Walmart have generally seen both same-store sales growth as well as new store openings.

62 Kmart/Sears stores were closed fiscal 2009 and 46 in fiscal 2008. Already at least 21 store closures have been announced this year. There are now only around 2,200 remaining Sears and Kmart stores, not counting franchisees such as Sears Hometown and smaller formats such as Sears Outlet centers.

[End update]

Some pictures of Sears Essentials (what I think of as examples of the numerous miserable failures of Sears Holdings) collected from around the internet, as a sign of what might be more common in the future:









So in addition to offering franchisees the DieHard and Sears Auto Center brand, now the Craftsman brand seems to be being gradually sold and divested for short-term cash. Ace Hardware stores will start carrying the once-mighty and once Sears-exclusive Craftsman tool line. While still the supposed #1 tool brand in America, Craftsman's reputation probably took a little hit when it moved into Kmart stores, but it helped boost Kmart's offerings and appeal, so that move was overall probably a boon. But now, Craftsman will be in other retailers - will this negatively impact Sears/Kmart sales? (It will be good for the contracted tool manufacturer, for sure, but will Sears reap a rich reward?) Also, the Sears Hometown Stores franchisees will probably be royally angered, as they are often in direct competition with other local smaller hardware/tool stores like Ace, and one of their key assets is brand quantity, quality, and exclusivity. (They were pretty mad when Craftsman went into Kmarts, but this one will hurt even more. Do I sense a lawsuit?) Once again, it seems like Sears has failed to capitalize on their strengths and is selling off the company piece by piece. If only five years ago when the Kmart-Sears merger happened, that Sears re-invested and upgraded its stores nationwide (many analysts encouraged and predicted a whole ditching of the Kmart brand for a new Sears store type - instead we got a miserable, haphazard Sears Essentials failure), perhaps today it could compete better against the well-run Wal-Mart, Target, and other retailers. The number of stores has fallen by the hundreds in the past decade, and even the revamped Sears.com and MyGofer sites, while quite impressive, will ultimately face extreme difficulties competing with the established Amazons of the e-retailing world. Indeed, it may already be too late to save Sears/Kmart, and spinning off or selling the best-performing assets like Craftsman, DieHard Auto, and Kenmore may be in the investors' best interests. A previous press release, "creating value rather than solely building market share or sales", makes clear the obvious truth that Sears is not investing in its stores and retail business, but seriously, the cost-cutting and bare-bones capital spending probably has hurt the reputation too much with market share loss nearly irreversible - the so-called death spiral of stores. But for retail fans, we wish you the best of luck in actual retailing, SHLD!

Story:

Craftsman, America's most trusted tool brand, will now be sold through Ace Hardware stores. In May, approximately 100 Ace stores will begin selling Craftsman products.

Under the first phase of the agreement, qualifying Ace stores will be able to sell the Craftsman brand including hand tools, portable power tools, compressors, wet/dry vacs and tool storage. As the number one tool brand in America, Craftsman continued to increase its popularity in 2009 among Americans who want to take on DIY projects with a tool they can trust to get the job done.

In June, Ace will promote a number of Craftsman products, giving all 4,500 Ace stores the opportunity to offer the Craftsman brand to customers.
full article http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/CG58107.htm

More store closings

Sadly, apparently around 13 more Kmart and 8 Sears stores are going to be closed by May 2010. News has been popping up with Sears closings in North Carolina, New Hampshire (Sears Essentials), Texas, Georgia, Tennessee, Wisconsin and New Jersey (2); and Kmart closings in states including Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Washington, Georgia, Texas, and California. No press releases from the company website, though. Either they will release it later or they're trying to keep the bad news more hidden, though there is a PDF with a list of stores closed last year. Still no brand new stores...

Also, the DieHard brand is going to be sold outside of Sears/Kmart stores, to generate more revenues from royalties, etc. Is this the first step in dismantling the Sears portfolio of brand assets? We all know they are not investing in actual store retailing...

Next week: A brief example look at cross-town rival Target!

Update from Chicago Tribune:
Kmart plans to close 13 stores by May 9, including two in Illinois, according to parent Sears Holdings Corp.

The closings were announced to employees earlier this month and include Kmart stores outside Chicago in Woodstock and Crestwood, according to Sears spokeswoman Kimberly Freely.

Among the other stores to close are five Ohio Kmarts in Dayton, Milford, Cleveland, Eastlake and Wadsworth. Also slated to be shuttered are stores in Bremerton, Wash., Longmont, Colo., Cornersville, Ind., Bainbridge, Ga., Jacksonville, Fla., and Austin, Minn.

The Hoffman Estates-based retailer has been gradually closing underperforming Kmart stores for the several years.

Kmart operated 1,343 stores nationwide as of Oct. 31, down, from 1,378 stores as of Nov. 1, 2008. There were 1,445 Kmart stores 2005, the year that Kmart acquired Sears.

Separately, Sears is cutting 60 jobs at its Dodgeville, Wis.-based Lands' End division, announced internally in January, Freely said.

Also, Sears will franchise new Sears Auto Centers, with the first one opening soon in New Jersey.

Fall Rivers, MA Big Kmart

New Harbour Mall Big Kmart 372 William S Canning Boulevard, Fall River, MA 02721

After reading a good Labelscar blog post on it, we had to share. Why? This is (supposedly) the only shopping center in the country with both a Wal-Mart and a Kmart sharing the same building! See our Mesa, AZ post about a Target and a Kmart in the same plaza (though separate buildings), and a Big Kmart and a Wal-Mart Supercenter sharing the same parking lot (literally feets from each other) in Gilette, WY. But supposedly this is the only example of Wal-Mart and Kmart in the same building... very surprised the Kmart still exists. The mall opened in 1970 with two anchors; Kmart opened in 1976 replacing Grant City, while Walmart opened around 2002, replacing the defunct mall anchor Bradlees.
The Labelscar post: http://www.labelscar.com/massachusetts/new-harbour-mall

Some pictures from websites:
An old (2001ish) one:


From the mall management website, note the Wal-Mart on the left and Kmart on the right.


There are more cars on the Wal-Mart side.

Other Cool Sites

Super Kmart pictures!
http://grocerying.blogspot.com/2009/11/last-super-kmart-centers-of-north.html
and
http://grocerying.blogspot.com/2007/10/super-kmart-center-southern-pines.html

And, for oldies, pics of a Big Kmart sign being removed:
http://www.morningsonmaplestreet.com/northadams34.html

Houston: A Sign of Things to Come?

Kmart exited (as in surrendered to the astounding numbers of Wal-Mart Supercenters and even the occasional SuperTargets) the Houston and southeast Texas market in its bankruptcy restructurings and massive store closings of 2002/2003. Here our blog takes a brief look at what is left now... mainly Sears stores! We are the Super Kmart Blogspot, but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to wander astray into a brief glimpse at Sears as well as some former Kmart locations.

Here is a former Big Kmart at Beltway 8 and Beechnut. It is now a thriving Asian shopping center anchored by VietHoa International Supermarket and Sun's Wholesale Club. Less than a block down the road, an Auchan Hypermarket also closed down, but don't worry, a Wal-Mart Supercenter has opened to replaced both... sadly.

A better pic from their website:



Here is a former Big Kmart in Sugar Land, next to First Colony Mall. The location is fantastic, as it is now also next to the Town Center, but I suppose the Kmart just did not attract enough crowds compared to the SuperTarget a couple blocks away, or perhaps it might've been profitable but was closed due to the entire Houston market exit. It is now subdivided into a bridal store, a shoe store, and others.



Here is a Sears Hardware store in Sugar Land/Stafford. The Randall's next to it closed a few years ago, as did an Albertsons across the street (when Albertsons also exited the entire Houston market several years ago), but a Wel-Farm supermarket still operates and a new H-E-B opened on the last street corner. Did you know that Sears is America's #1 volume tool retailer?


We didn't take pictures of the Sears at West Oak Mall or the Sears at Beechnut & US59 (the remains of a former Westwood Mall), but you can find some of those stores on LabelScar blog.

Finally, here is the Sears on Main/Fannin Downtown, a vintage look with a giant sign on top, complete with a really aging autocenter. Inside it's a little better, luckily.









Did you know that the only major retailer to offer all the top 10 brands of large consumer appliances is Sears? Well, kind of cheating since Kenmore is a proprietary brand...

Note the ads for Layaway on the TV screens; something Sears has re-implemented as a result of its supposed successes at Kmart.

Did you know that as America's #1 appliance retailer, Sears sold more major home appliances than Lowes and Home Depot combined in 2008? Quite surprising! Granted, Sears doesn't come close to owning almost 50% of the market which it did as little as 15 years ago, but it still is #1 as of now.
Kind of odd for a store to have a clock (see upper right corner, below):

Only a small number of pictures (none of the clothing sections, Craftsman tool headquarters, etc) because this isn't a Kmart, haha!

Next time: more Kmarts and the KmartWorld photo contest we entered!