The Just Thought I'd Share Thread

[skcin]

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

I think it's a miracle that Sears has survived as long as it has. It surely should have gone the way of Montgomery Ward; it has never been a great place to shop (at least in the last forty years). Sure, I've bought appliances there. But that was the only thing they were good at- Kenmore appliances. Oh, and Craftsman tools. Nowadays, they source all of their other products from the same (Chinese-made) factories/brands as Target and Walmart, yet the prices are not good for what you get. And time after time they have gone wrong where Target got it right. Sears branded products, even their so-called "collaborations" (um, Ty Pennington? Really??) these days are so uninspired and middling that they've allowed more innovative mass retailers to take their market share; they really should have been what Walmart has become.

KMart is another old relic that has long outlived its usefulness. Rather than catering to its base, the bargain "blue light" shopper, it tried to re-brand itself (unsuccessfully) several times and ended up losing most of their customers to Wally world. You would have thought the merger of Sears and KMart would have leveraged each of their respective strengths- good appliances and hardware along with bargains galore- but instead it's only magnified their weaknesses- Sears' uncompetitive pricing and KMart's bland, poor quality product selection. They even got rid of the KMart restaurants- perhaps the only incentive for a kid to gamely tag along on a bargain expedition through those harshly-lit, cluttered aisles. KMart has never been a "cool" place to shop, especially for clothes, but it used to have a quirky, homely charm; you almost shopped there because you felt sorry for them. R.I.P. KMart.

I couldn't agree more. And man, did I LOVE those silly Kmart restaurants when I was a kid!