EdJ0307 Loc: out west someplace

Another store that looks to be in sad shape is Fryes. I don't get there very often since the closest one is a hundred miles away but I was there last weekend. There were more empty shelves than shelves that had anything on them. I heard a while ago they were having problems but it now looks like they are near the end.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Free markets work.

Provide a product that people want, at a cost that they are willing to pay, and support that product with service and you will thrive.

Do the opposite and you won't.

Simple stuff.

I don't begrudge WalMart one bit. They have their business model and apparently it's successful. Good for them and all of the folks that they employ.

Adamborz

It’s funny how in the old days you ordered through catalogs and received your product by mail. Now you order online and receive your product through the mail/ups/fed-ex (albeit in 2 days or less).

It’s hard to fathom how a mail order company couldn’t excel at internet sales. It’s kind of the same thing!!!

Just my thoughts but they should have gone online much faster and got rid of stores which dragged their bottom line down.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

I absolutely agree.

Ignoring market paradigm shifts is market suicide. It is also human nature.

If you've built a big business over decades, then suddenly see a big change in the market or sales model coming, do you risk losing what you have for something potentially necessary for survival, or do you risk letting what you have fade away, for fear of the unknown, and perhaps because you are content and made a lot of money on it? Deer in the headlights syndrome...

I've been there and seen it happen. If your company is not driven by an entrepreneur who still cares to innovate and change the game, chances are, there is no passion for the Next Big Thing. It becomes just a numbers game for the few lucky folks with the power to bleed it dry and sell it off.

Sometimes you have to kill off your existing sales models, products, or strategies to succeed with new ones. Sears and K-Mart are icons of the 20th Century, and still stuck there.

pendennis

Two of the bigger catalogue businesses, made the transition quite nicely. Land's End (owned by Sears), and L.L. Bean, recognized that the "800" call business could be evolved into etail presence.

It seems a bit odd, though, that L.L. Bean is also continuing to expand into brick and mortar presence. Seems with the right business model, you can do both. Of course both Land's End and L.L. Bean have always been very customer oriented.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

I just read that the area that used to house the KMart in my hometown is now going to be turned into a 45 million dollar medical marijuana park (whatever that is) and grocery store. I guess they're substituting shrubs for subs. I loved KMart subs. Good planning though. One stop shopping....weed and munchies in the same spot.

Kinda Orwellian isn't it?

cahale Loc: San Angelo, TX

Walmart opened. K-Mart declined. Population increases. Purchasing inclination skews toward those wanting plastic Walmart crap. Nature of the beast. Let's hear it for population decrease. (That's called shouting into the wind.)

Harry0 Loc: Gardena, Cal

Yes, it's a union of bad business practices, and refusal to change.
A few local CVS and Kohls stores are doing the same, and going the same way.
Management incentives- spend less money than your predecessor, get a percentage and a promotion.

What to do ... quick and easy ... headcount reduction! YAY! Each new manager and/or supervisor looks for ways to get the minions to do more, and get rid of the lowest performer. 3 or 4 cycles later= there's not enough people on the floor. The shelves aren't straightened, not stocked, and there's no one around. Goto Kmart, or Sears, or Kohls in most of LA and they're a mess. The incentive for the checker is to do what she's told; you the customer come in second. Manager said: "No one in line, vacuum that part". She can't see the register, the line, and you don't know she's the checker. We've all seen it- lines of carts of stuff, abandoned at the register areas. If you were one of the folk who left a cart- you're not coming back.
"Craftsman" tools are crap, Kmart and Sears clothes got thinner, and Kohls won't stock sales items.
I goto Lowes, or Walmart- there's a helpful, knowledgeable greeter at the door. Every worker is willing to help, advise, point directions. All the sales items are stocked, at/near the front- not hidden in the back.

One of my buddies just quit as a CVS manager. There's supposed to be three people on shift at all times. Back up, squint, pretend that's three "positions". So, he had two jobs- manager and second checker. As night manager he had paper work to do: closing the pharmacy, closing the day shift, finishing schedules and keeping track of the cameras for thieves and stowaways. From 7-11pm, there really is only one young girl out in the store. She and the manager were told she needs to straighten the front aisles- but she was behind the register ringing up customers from 6-10:30pm, then straighten and prepare the counter area for dayshift and be out at 11pm. Those two had a couple written "notices"; even tho it was the 1st of the month (Mother's Day) and a Friday (which are always really busy, each) and tho they sold a lot of products that weekend, the day manager noticed some thasks weren't finished. Sunday, she left at 11pm, he at midnite, and at the mandatory 8am Monday meeting they get chastised. No paid hours this week: we need to bring in more people to prepare for the holiday weekend and do *your* jobs. Buddy figured it out at the door. The day manager "fixes" things, makes these two desperate to work the weekend, and his buddies get the holiday weekend off. YAY for them. These two won't be there, tho.

pendennis

Some of my friends on Facebook are lamenting that stores like Target always have long lines, yet they hate the self-checkout lanes.

Got news for folks. Labor budgets aren't just hours; they're primarily dollar amounts. The total cost calculation of the labor budget is not flexible, no more than costs of merchandise. The corporate staff has to find ways to get store jobs done within the bottom line labor budget. So guess where self-checkout comes in?

By installing self-checkout lanes, say ten in one spot, management, after the checkout lane equipment expenditure, moves costs from short-term costs, to long-term depreciated assets. Maintenance of the check-out stations is minimal compared to the direct labor, benefits, and workers' comp costs. Based on the ten-station example, the company gets a whopping 90% reduction in direct labor costs, shifting that 90% reduction to amortized costs. Voila! A cost analysts dream! The self-checkout station never needs a day off, and with minimal training, the former checkout cashier is no longer handling cash, trying to reconcile the till, etc.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

All true, but machines don’t buy products!

Most of those automated systems suck, anyway, having been designed with no apparent customers’ input.

When the world is automated, what will people do to earn a living?

Harry0 Loc: Gardena, Cal

I tried those lanes. New equipment? I'll try them again.
They suck diddly uck. Supposedly intuitive, nah. Easy to use? Nope. Slow? Oh yeah!
It's another "all the above" kinda thang. The barcodes aren't in a convenient standard place, sometimes you get to try 3 or 4 times to get it right. Why does my water filter say it's a crock pot? Oh the reader is also seeing the inside label contents. I'm getting 2 bags worth- do I take the 1st bag off and start filling the second? NO! It just canceled the transaction. So there's a checker for every 3 or 4 readers (one is always down), and a manager for every 2 checkers to monitor them. Rubbing alcohol? The light blinks- and a checker and her manager need to come over and clear the machine. A bottle of wine? Do it again.
I ain't seeing any customer satisfaction here.

quagmire Loc: Greenwood,South Carolina

They said Target was coming when our K mart closed did not make sense not happened yet . U Haul bought the building and uses it for truck, trailer and storage rental.

pendennis

We already do "self-check out" every time we buy something online. There's no sales clerk to ask you, "Mr. Smith, will that be all, and have you checked the bottom of your cart...?"

For smaller, less traffic intense transactions, we can wave a smart phone past a sensor, and our purchases are scanned and totaled. There are also automated services where the customer scans items as they go into the shopping cart; pass through the check out lane, and everything is totaled, audited, bagged, and charged.

I'm not stating that any new systems are perfect, or even foolproof. However, these are just growing pains, and we have to get used to them.

Ollieboy

Craftsman are no longer made in USA, used to be made by Stanley. Now's they're mediocre tools at best.

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

I use to buy Sears Die Hard car batteries. They were excellent. But, I decided to go Autozone. Stores are everywhere nationwide, and they honor warranties too. Battery not as good. But, sometimes you need convenience. Especially, in an emergency.