Kmart Shutdown Imminent?
Store-level employees who spoke to Business Insider said many of the remaining 941 Kmart stores now appear to be in the midst of liquidation.
Stores are being entered into numbered phases — such as Phase 1 and Phase 2 — employees said.
The company has told employees that the phases are part of a “P2P” or “path to profitability” strategy to make stores more profitable.
But employees say it’s a liquidation plan, with each phase triggering different cost-cutting measures such as layoffs and labor-hour reductions.
The phases have also triggered stock-room purges, meaning all merchandise in the stock rooms must be moved to the sales floor. If there’s not enough room on the sales floor for the items, stores will add new overhead shelving.
Once the stock rooms are purged, stores typically have no more than nine months before they shut down, according to chatter on employee message boards.
Kmart parent company Sears Holdings denies claims that it’s liquidating all its stores.
“Sears Holdings is highly focused on restoring profitability to the company, and Kmart remains a key piece of our asset portfolio,” Sears spokesman Howard Riefs said.
The stock-room clearances are meant to improve inventory management and keep employees on the sales floor, he said.
You can read the rest at BusinessInsider.
Of course, for CARS Collectors of yore, there were the glory days of Kmart CARS Days … or all our Kmart posts … and I guess Hot Wheels collectors will miss the Hot Wheels Day.
25 July 2016
2 Comments
They CLOSED all the KMarts near us long ago.
We drove over an hour to a KMart in another part of the state for a CARS EVENT.
Even though the store was listed as participating –
the store told us they do NOT participate in any events???
So, we left without buying anything, not that they had anything else worth buying, have NEVER been back.
They need to get with Toys R Us and perform the climactic scene from Romeo and Juliet.