I think it’s Kmart’s time to go. It’s been on life support for way too long. In fact, the Kmarts in my area are on the out — three Kmarts in the Pinellas County area are closing, in addition to a Sears Essentials (that used to be a Kmart) that closed several months ago. Kmart is synonymous with “dumpy”, an image that probably will never be shook off.

Lately it seems that Kmart and Sears stores have been coming dangerously close to one another, particularly in the “softline” departments. The clothes are dumpy, even in the juniors lines. Sad to say, but Wal-Mart’s juniors and young adult’s clothes are more stylish than Sears’ nowadays. They have the hardware, appliances, etc. down. They have strong brands in Kenmore and Craftsman. Now they need to do the same thing for their clothing department.

Sears Mexico has everything! Lancome, Ralph Lauren (not only perfumes, clothes!) electronics, toys, even snack counters and hardware stores!

Kmart is good…but not Sears good, they should revamp the entire Kmart store line into something nice, not dumpy.

-sigh-

It will NOT work!

To the clueless CEO at Sears Holdings Corp…..just stop already. Dump K-mart and bring its softlines into Sears stores…..you already have the hardlines down pat….now just strengthen the softlines side of the store. Turn those K-marts in towns that don’t have a Sears, or urban areas that still have a serviceable K-mart location that still does decent business, into Sears (dump the silly ‘Grand’ monkier), and just kill off K-mart already

If only the economy were in a more positive light, I’d also take the time and remodel ALL stores, and make all the graphics and signage to all buildings the same.

Probably easy for me to say being just an armchair retail analyst / mall geek, but that’s what “I” would do.

K-mart, and this continuous merry-go-round of ’store concepts’ and ‘prototypes’ is seriously hurting Sears as a whole.

When I go in the Sears that replaced that store at Mount Berry Square, and drive by the old store and see it used for something else, or empty, it makes me sad. The Sears at that mall is like any other Sears, except it’s a small, one-level store. Although it’s probably a good bit bigger than the old Sears, it doesn’t feel that way to me.

Does anyone know when the stand-alone Sears in Rome, GA was originally built and opened? It was on 2nd Avenue south of downtown. I’d love to know.

-A new slogan: “Sears: The Great American Department Store” or “Your Life. Your Sears.” Either those, or I wouldn’t mind seeing them bring back “There’s More For Your Life”

-Introduce new shopping bags. Get rid of those wife-beater shaped bags and start using plastic bags with regular handles (ala the H&M bag) and Paper Shopping Bags.

-Start selling Apple Products with “Apple Store at Sears”. I know that this is tie-in overkill here, but I think sears needs more than just Craftsman and Kenmore for brand recognition nowadays.

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1) Look at what some other mid-range stores have done…gotten their hands on mid-rang lines by otherwise upscale companies (Vera Wang at Kohl’s, Sephora and Ralph Lauren (American Living) at JCPenney). So, Sears needs to reinstate a furniture department with at least two lines: Something hip and modern like IKEA, and then have PotteryBarn, or the like, to create a line of furniture especially for Sears. Introduce new clothing lines by such designers as Tommy Hilfiger (even if it means lureing “Crest” away from Macy’s), Calvin Klein, and even Dolce & Gabbana (I know that’s a bit of a stretch). This will definitely give Sears a more fashion-foward look in the clothing sector. Also, they need to take some desigb cues from stores like Hollister, American Eagle, and H&M when it comes to clothes for teens and twenty-somethings, and create lines accordingly.

2) Bring back the video game departments. With Wii’s and XBoxes being hot right now, Sears should make a killing.

3) Change the logo to anything that looks better than what they have now. I personally would like to see something similar to the all caps sears logo of the 70’s and early 80’s. It looks more classy.

4) Stick with the Gwinnett Place Concept. I’ve actually been in this store and it’s actually surprisingly really nice compared to other Sears stores. It’s easy on the eye and makes the store look up to date. It really does bring out that “softer side of Sears”.

5) Get some kind of contract with Seattle’s Best to open up Coffee/Snack Bars at the mall entrances of select stores (ala Nordstrom’s E-bars and Starbucks inside Targets). It would actually be cool if they called it “Roebuck’s Coffee House”. I know that sounds too similar to Starbuck’s, but a name like Roebuck’s reminds you of another “large-coffee house chain”, but at the same time, it’s identity suggests something you’ll only find at Sears.

6) Introduce a retooled home department that includes fine china and crystal items.

7) “Targetize” Kmart. Make it look trendier and a more upscale retailer.

Eliminate their “Home Improvement” services. People realize that Sears’ kitchen renovations are way too overpriced compared to Home Depot and Lowes, so people are going to get that from those stores instead.