Kmart And Sears Merging To Form An Even Bigger Retail Mess
from the ok,-now-what? dept
Both Kmart and Sears have struggled tremendously over the last few years. Neither retailer was able to keep up with a shift in the retail market, mainly lead by Wal-Mart, but at the same time both didn’t quite know what to make of the internet growing up around them. In the case of Sears, this was especially tragic, as the company’s history was based on being a direct marketing catalog company. With both companies struggling (Kmart recently out of bankruptcy), apparently they’ve decided to merge. It’s not a huge surprise, considering that the largest shareholder in both companies happens to be the same hedge fund. The deal is described as Kmart buying Sears, but that might be a bit misleading, as the new company is taking on the Sears name, converting some Kmart stores to Sears stores and the new CEO will come from the Sears side. At the very least, this is an acknowledgment that the retail world is changing, but merging two companies that have had trouble realizing that doesn’t mean they’re suddenly going to see the light.
Comments on “Kmart And Sears Merging To Form An Even Bigger Retail Mess”
Don't go into the light!
“…but merging two companies that have had trouble realizing that doesn’t mean they’re suddenly going to see the light.”
Oh, they see the light. The blue light. But it’s probably not the light at the end of the tunnel; it’s the other one, as in “Don’t go into the light!”
No Subject Given
Everything I’ve seen and heard today was that the overall company would be “Sears Holding” but that each of the stores would keep their current brand name — and that the CEO would be the current K-Mart CEO, not the Sears CEO, although the headquarters would be in Hoffman Estates, IL (Sears) instead of Troy, MI (K-Mart).
taste of boomstick
Remember folks … shop smart … shop S-Mart.
not a retail deal
this isn’t about retail. it’s about real estate. k-mart’s greatest asset is all the land they own.