And then there were 3 - [Kmarts]

[Maof]

This leaves Marshall & Waterford Twp as the last two stores in MI.

https://www.macombdaily.com/news/loc...5701410c1.html

Marine City?

[Johnnny5]

Marine City?

I'm not sure if it's still open, but that location was included in the last round of closings.

[K-slice]

KMart would have done better had they NOT merged with Sears. I worked at Sears at a sales person for about 3 years from 2008-11 and the mismanagement was evident.

In the time I was there my department went through 4 managers and most of the time we were left totally unsupervised. The store GM and everyone above that rung on the ladder was clueless what those at the bottom were doing or how they felt about their jobs. Of course, almost all were outside hires, promotion was next to impossible.

[Metro25]

K-Mart and Sears are finally almost completely dead.

[401don]

With the loss of KMart, Sears and the Target debacle, would love to see Meijer move in to Canada. We really need a bricks & mortar Walmart competitor. They probably fear the higher costs here but Walmart has done well. Of course you need a lot of stores in a short time period to justify the warehousing and distribution, something Target really screwed up on.

[jcole]

With the loss of KMart, Sears and the Target debacle, would love to see Meijer move in to Canada. We really need a bricks & mortar Walmart competitor. They probably fear the higher costs here but Walmart has done well. Of course you need a lot of stores in a short time period to justify the warehousing and distribution, something Target really screwed up on.

What about Canadian Tire? I thought they were pretty large

[401don]

What about Canadian Tire? I thought they were pretty large

They're good for hard goods but I like the convenience of shopping for cheap clothes & food along with the hard goods all in one spot.

[Onthe405]

With the loss of KMart, Sears and the Target debacle, would love to see Meijer move in to Canada. We really need a bricks & mortar Walmart competitor. They probably fear the higher costs here but Walmart has done well. Of course you need a lot of stores in a short time period to justify the warehousing and distribution, something Target really screwed up on.

While I'm no market analyst, it seems to me Meijer has yet to prove that it can successfully expand & compete outside of its relatively small, mostly exurb/rural Great Lakes footprint before even considering expanding into another nation.

As you point out, the logistics & distribution is one complex and crucial factor. Target & Kmart had vastly larger resources & experience in this area, yet still failed in Canada. Another important element is cultural: knowing when to tinker [[or not) with both the merchandise & pricing in order to appeal to the unique targeted regional consumer.

Correct if I'm wrong, but I understand the latter is another reason Target failed in Canada. Canadians expected the same shopping experience they had eagerly crossed the border for, but Target was unable to deliver comparable products & price to what they offered in the States. This "loss in translation" is a common misstep among companies looking to expand beyond their existing, comfortable geographic region.

[Lowell]

And then there were none. Kmart is no more in Metro Detroit. And in Michigan only the Marshall store remains.

"Kmart is closing its remaining stores in metro Detroit, where the retail chain started nearly 60 years ago.

"Stores in Waterford and Warren will be shuttered as another 96 Sears and Kmart locations have been targeted for closure, according to a Thursday announcement by Transform Holdco LLC, which formed in February to acquire the assets of Sears Holdings Corp.

"The Kmart store in Waterford and the Sears store in Lansing are set to close by February with liquidation sales starting in December. The Warren location will close in late December or early January, Transform Holdco spokesman Larry Costello said."

The closures will leave the company with 182 Sears and Kmart stores nationwide.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/retail...s-its-hometown

[Johnnny5]

I'm not surprised that the Marshall store held out the longest. It's really the only large retailer in the area, and is always fairly busy when I go though there [[Busy for a Kmart).

I will add that Eddie Lambert still deserves prison [[And probably worse) for what he's done to Sears, Kmart and the employees and retirees of both. Scum of the Earth that man is...

[Danny]

And then there were none. Kmart is no more in Metro Detroit. And in Michigan only the Marshall store remains.

"Kmart is closing its remaining stores in metro Detroit, where the retail chain started nearly 60 years ago.

"Stores in Waterford and Warren will be shuttered as another 96 Sears and Kmart locations have been targeted for closure, according to a Thursday announcement by Transform Holdco LLC, which formed in February to acquire the assets of Sears Holdings Corp.

"The Kmart store in Waterford and the Sears store in Lansing are set to close by February with liquidation sales starting in December. The Warren location will close in late December or early January, Transform Holdco spokesman Larry Costello said."

The closures will leave the company with 182 Sears and Kmart stores nationwide.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/retail...s-its-hometown

Crying!!!

[Hypestyles]

And then there were none. Kmart is no more in Metro Detroit. And in Michigan only the Marshall store remains.

"Kmart is closing its remaining stores in metro Detroit, where the retail chain started nearly 60 years ago.

"Stores in Waterford and Warren will be shuttered as another 96 Sears and Kmart locations have been targeted for closure, according to a Thursday announcement by Transform Holdco LLC, which formed in February to acquire the assets of Sears Holdings Corp.

"The Kmart store in Waterford and the Sears store in Lansing are set to close by February with liquidation sales starting in December. The Warren location will close in late December or early January, Transform Holdco spokesman Larry Costello said."

The closures will leave the company with 182 Sears and Kmart stores nationwide.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/retail...s-its-hometown

I hope that there are some good holiday sales going on soon. When the weather clears, I might check them out.

[sirrealone]

I remember around 2002 a few of us did a group project for MBA school and did a case study on the decline of KMart. We closed with something along the lines of "For as many mistakes as KMart has made over the years, it seems that with some focus, things can only get better from here."

Oops.

[[Still got an 'A' though)

[jcole]

I can't figure out why the one in Marshall is one of the last two unless it's privately owned or a lot of people from Indiana drive up to it

[Johnnny5]

I can't figure out why the one in Marshall is one of the last two unless it's privately owned or a lot of people from Indiana drive up to it

There's not a similar store anywhere nearby. On has to drive into Battle Creek or South to Coldwater to find a Walmart or Meijer, so the Marshall K-Mart is the most convenient place for those in the surrounding area which also includes Albion.

[jcole]

There are both a Walmart and a Meijer 19 minutes from Marshall. And 1/2 hour away in Jackson also. And the two Meijer in Jackson are 20 minutes from Albion.

[Zacha341]

^^^ LOL on the Kroger situation. Nothing was as nutso as the two Kroger's across from each other in Dearborn on Michigan near Telly.

With another one at Michigan and Greenfield!

[mtburb]

^^^ LOL on the Kroger situation. Nothing was as nutso as the two Kroger's across from each other in Dearborn on Michigan near Telly.

One of these two is no longer in business.

[Zacha341]

Yep the older one on the north side of Michigan Ave closed.

[bartocktoo]

My issue with this is that Meijer stores are a total upgrade from K-Mart. And their headquarters closed in Troy what 15 years ago? I'll take a Meijer store any day above what KMART was. It's just progress. And the fact that Meijer opened stores in Detroit and South Warren means these places have been replaced. By a Michigan company albeit on the west side of the state.

[Burnsie]

One nice thing about Kmart was that it wasn't as huge and crowded as Meijer. But that was a sign it wasn't competing. In hindsight Kmart should have revamped the Kresge format into something that would have competed with the big dollar chains.

An interesting case study is the Meijer that opened in Okemos in 1969, and the Kmart that opened across the street in 1970. The Meijer aggressively expanded, while the Kmart [[which originally also sold groceries) stagnated until it closed only 25 years later.

[Hermod]

Let's see:
Kmart
Woolco
WT Grant
Arlan's
JM Fields
Caldor
Zayre
Ame's
Rose's

All tried to succeed in the same field as Walmart and only Walmart has survived.