http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CNBCTV/Articles/Dispatches/P100792.asp?GT1=5809 Uh, wow. K-Mart buys Sears. Yes, you read that right. Not the other way around. Discuss?
Post the news when Wal-Mart buys the whole lot of them. It's just a matter of time. I can hear it now, "While waiting for your dog to get de-wormed in the pet section, why not stop in and visit our newly opened Wal-Mart Fertility Clinic located at the front of the store between the Paralegal dept. and the Orphanage." ou:
I thought K-mart was almost bankrupt? o No: Well, hopefully Craftsman tools wont go up in price or down in quality.
Read up on K-Mart. They closed 600 stores, realigned their capitol and reemerged from bankruptcy. They earned 553 million in the 3rd quarter. They expect to end the year with more than $3.1 billion in cash. They chopped off the dead weight and are stonger than ever. A real success story.
You got to admit,Sears has been going downhill for the past 15 years and has been sinking like the Titanic. It was time for someone like Kmart to rescue them before they went belly up.
I was watching the news on this earlier. K-mart stock was down to around 30$ when they we almost bankrupt. Now it is up to 120$. Big time turn around! :laugh:
God no! We tried that once, and it took more time to check out than if we had stood in one of K-Mart's infamous slow lanes. ( I swear checkout lines were faster all in all before barcode scanners! :rant: ) Everytime I heard this on the radio, I thought it was Sears that bought K-Mart. I can't imagine it the other way around. Especially for how badly our local (and former) K-Marts were managed.
How many of you got your old K-Mart stock Dumped???? The "new guy" made millions off consumers...now he is pushing our governor for "tax Relief"...so they wont move to another state! Dont let the door hit ya in the A@@ on the way to another state so you can steal from them too!!! GOOD RIDDENCE K-MART......I NEVER SHOP AT SEARS EITHER....... :rant: Bunch-a theiving Bas*a&Ds Boy i feel better!!! :grin:
K-Mart I'm confused. Ames goes bankrupt and then buyes Hills, Rite Aid files chapter 11 and then buys Fays, now K-mart buys Sears. The way my finances are going, in two years I can buy out THE DONALD ??? ???
Yeah, buy three packs of Tucks medicated wipes and get your choice of standard or metric Allen wrenches. :laugh:
According to the article you'll be able to buy Craftsman tools at Kmart now. Picture this scenario: Screwed-over Customer: "I'd like to replace this broken ratchet." Stupid-ass dork behind counter: "What?" S-o C: "This ratchet broke and I'd like a replacement." S-a d b c: "Do you have your sales receipt?" S-o C: "Why do I need a sales receipt? This tool is 12 years old. And they have a lifetime warranty." S-a d b c: "I'm sorry, but all exchanges and returns require a receipt." S-o C: "This is a Craftsman tool. They have free lifetime replacement. I got it at Sears." S-a d b c: "Sears? This is Kmart. Why would we carry Sears stuff? And why would you try to exchange a Sears tool at Kmart?" S-o C: "Because Sears is now owned by Kmart. Is there a manager I can talk to?" Clueless Manager Drone (in robotic monotone): "All returns must be boxed and shipped to our corporate offices with a receipt. If we deem the tool defective we will issue you a store credit." Man, I hope this merger is better than that wonderful Chrysler/Benz "merger of equals".
Amen, Yardley.........Sears is bad enough..........usually the size I need to exchange is out of stock anyway, add K Mart to the equation???????? looks like I'm splurging for snap ons. :blast:
There's one guy driving this whole bus...Ed Lampert. He took control of KMart when he bought a huge position in their bonds during their recent bankruptcy. He had a couple choices---the one he took was to not try to compete too hard with WalMart and just run the KMarts with minimal new investment in the stores. Remember, each of these stores has a "built-in" customer base to some extent...people that live nearby and aren't going to drive a long way just to save a little. They know the prices are relatively cheap so they just keep going back. The strategy is to clean up the stores a little(but no massive new remodels) and just run 'em with the minimum new investment required. Remember, they wiped most of their previous debt in the bankruptcy so now they don't have the massive interest payments hanging over their heads. Also, in bankruptcy they can renegotiate/cancel store leases and do all other financially beneficial things that they otherwise could not do. So, he decides to juice the stock by selling a few (something like $600mm+ worth!) locations to Sears---who is getting hammered in their mall locations and is looking for stand alone boxes for new stores. Well, this same guy happens to own around 14%+ stock of Sears also so he has a pretty good say in what Sears does. I guess they figured out that KMart had more "good" locations that Sears could use for their new "stand alone" strategy and why not put the two together. The pop in the stock with the announcement goes a long way to convincing shareholders of both companies that this is the thing to do. This guy is a shrewd vulture investor that specializes in these retailer situations. The real work begins now---finding the ever-elusive economies of scale and squeezing the suppliers with their new found "buying power" as a combined entity. Call it "creative destruction" like the tech world does. These bankruptcies occasionally result in some pretty strong post-bankruptcy operations--but the retail side has been historically pretty ugly even after the companies exit bankruptcy. Sears problem is not as much WalMart as it is all the other "specialty" big boxes---Home Depot, Lowes, Target, Bed Bath, etc---each of these guys takes a little chunk of business away from Sears' different departments (I know I have bought tools at Lowes and HD that I might have otherwise bought from Craftsmen). Not to mention the effect of the Harbor Freights of the world on the tool side. It's gonna be real hard (most likely impossible to prevent this slow, Chinese water torture treatment that all these competitors are putting on Sears.....chip, chip, chip away) The other big problem is location----KMart never seems to have as desirable (heaviest traffic) of locations as the other guys. Maybe this guy will build this thing up and sell the whole thing off to another group---that's my bet. He's shrewd but he has his work cut out for him! I do this stuff for a living so it's kind of interesting to watch. Patton
I can't believe how greedy some businesses are!!!!!! K-MART goes chapter 11, re-organizes their dept for pennies on the dollar, their creditors get the shaft for "billions" of dollars and now they have billions to buy SEARS. What a bunch of crooks. I never shopped at K-MART before because I thought they were low class stores. Now I guess I won't shop at SEARS either. :spank: At least we have a choice not to support this kind of "greed". :rant:
