Only THREE Kmart Stores Left in the ENTIRE US - Let’s Explore One | Westwood, NJ *Closed 9/30/23* 

Imagine being a manager who has to still maintain a staff, and if you can even hire someone who wants to work for what...a month...6 months.... or ???.

@@gobbletegook I'm a broke 27 year old and I actually wouldn't mind working in a dying Kmart until the day it shuts down because it's a low-stress environment with very few customers to deal with. This would be a chill place to work for people with social anxiety.

@@Galidorquest Well see, they have at least one employee! Good deal for both

The one in Guam is thriving

I forgot that they had a full service AUTO CENTER attached to the store. I may have bought a set of car tires from them...but the entire place smelled like wet (and moldy) road salt.

There’s nothing wrong with the items in this store. If I was there I’d pull a shirt off the rack and purchase it.🤎

'Clearly the store, is dying'?? Wouldn't dead, be more appropriate??

I’m pretty sure even the slowest Kmart in the world can afford to fire a slacking employee and replace them with a better one since they are probably only getting like $13 per hour.

This is a newer version of a Kmart but it really isn’t that great and the way there stores look is just one of many problems that Kmart here in the US has

The last time I ever saw a Ward's was 2000...

@@Galidorquest I seen some in Mexicali Mexico

As far as I know, Western Auto is now Advance Auto Parts. If I am wrong, my apologies

'Ammunition' in Kmart?!... Wow, those were simpler times for sure.

@@Galidorquest I remember that they used to have a gun counter with Rifles on the wall behind it. No joke.

it's only from the 80's, it's not like those built in the 60's.

Yeah I’d rather have Kmart than Walmart or Target

Has nothing to do with the US chain.

@@BandiPower That's what I said. But they had to pay the 100 million to be able to continue using the "Kmart" brand name as it was owned by the US company.

@@cosmichappening1712The stores in NZ (at least) are identical to what we have here in the States. Or had mostly. So it's practically the same thing. Just under different management.

I think Kmart is doing better outside of the us than inside it

With due respect, not odd at all. That's what a free-market economy does. Decades ago, there were dozens (if not hundreds) of regional and local chains, as well as many stand-alone mom-and-pop stores. As time goes on, the better run companies become larger and financially stronger and eventually out-compete the smaller (and/or less efficiently run) stores. The larger companies gain economies of scale and over time either buy out the smaller chains or run them out of business. This effect can be seen in almost any mature industry.

@@irefusetoaskmydoctorifyour6401 You will find out there won't any stores to replace the closed ones. With less stores it easier to control supplies and the where they are going.

Kmart in Australia is unrelated because they were sold off in the 90s, Kmart in the US had over 2000 stores at its peak and was the second largest store in the US behind Walmart and way over Target but, in the 90s they started closing stores and made bad and silly decisions instead of updating their stores and just years later on January 22, 2002, they filed for bankruptcy making it one of the largest big-box stores to ever file for bankruptcy which also started the bankruptcy closing wave started with 300 stores for closure and so on, they were also sued by Target for making false dare-to-compare prices which Target sold slightly cheaper. In 2004 they merged with another large department store (Sears) which the whole corporation will be rebranded to Sears Holdings Corp and will continue to operate under the Sears and Kmart names. They failed and winded down over the years and didn’t spend money on updating their stores and later in 2018 the corporate filed for Bankruptcy making it Kmarts second bankruptcy wave including more closures, currently there are only 3 stores in the continental US and 5 others in the US territories and sadly cannot compare to the 2000 stores they used to have. Competition was a big problem for Kmart because they were stuck in the middle between Walmart and Target, they didn’t offer low prices and large selection like Walmart and weren’t as trendy and top product like Target. Target currently is the second largest discount store (even though it’s a department store) we’re Kmart once was they also tried to be similar to competition during 2016, they brought a small grocery concept called K-fresh which offered a small price section, meat, baked goods, a lot of pantry items, and more frozen food units whereas Target brought in a grocery concept back in 2009 called P-fresh (for ‘Prototype Fresh part of the P09 remodel) which was almost the exact same but of course Target won in the end

And yes that is a lot of info

no better the last time I saw them they had tarps with the name kmart on the outside instead of actual signs

Eddie Lampert gained a majority ownership (control) of K-mart during that first bankruptcy, by buying up K-mart's debt for pennies on the dollar (because they were in bankruptcy). From what I read, he gained control of K-mart for less than a billion dollars investment on his part. When K-mart exited that first bankruptcy, they had a rich cash flow and a strong balance sheet, because they had discharged most of their liabilities through bankruptcy court. Sears was already a deeply troubled company, so Sears management / board of directors decided to sell the whole company to "Fast Eddie". (To put it in layman terms, Sears management couldn't figure out how to "fix" the company so they threw up their hands and said "F" it, let's take the money and run!) Lampert used that strong cash flow to purchase Sears, instead of investing that money into improving the K-mart stores. I remember back in 2004 / 5 when that merger was happening, it didn't seem to make sense to many analysts. I remember reading numerous articles to the effect that Lampert only wanted Sears (and K-mart) for the real estate and trademarks like Kenmore, Craftsman, etc. The prevailing theory at the time seemed to be that Lampert would keep the stores open as long as they were cash-flow positive and slowly sell off the real estate and other tangible assets of the company, there was never any intention to run Sears OR K-mart for the long term. . . . . once these corporate raider types take over your company, it's "game-over".

Some people say he was more interested in the rellisate side more than the store side

@@railroadskater2896 sounds like you are saying no one cares

@@railroadskater2896 I speak just fine you just want to bully me

Don't worry go to Australia Kmart is thriving there

@@ThatBoi64 yes that true I always wanted to shop at Kmart in Australia

I honestly thought they were already gone entirely, so I jumped quickly to get one of them documented in some capacity before they all go under. Thanks for watching and supporting!

he wasn't done killing the company yet

My local Kmart before it closed in 2017 removed the cafe long before it actually went bankrupt.

I wrote the comment before u said it 😂 my bad

They say this every year, lol it’s been low on stock since 2020. I think they will make it a few more years

The other stores are no different. I remember when even the five and dime stores had clerks throughout the store.

Welcome to the channel! So cool to have someone watching from New Zealand! 🥝🥝 I’ve heard Kmarts are doing very well in Australia. Do you also have them in New Zealand?