How Kmart Blew It Chana R. Schoenberger, Forbes.com, 01.18.02, 11:58 AM ET NEW YORK - Standing in the narrow aisle of a Kmart in Greenbelt, Md., on the day after Christmas, executive secretary Sandy Defeo eyed her empty shopping cart. It was a rare trip to Kmart for the 58-year-old resident of nearby Adelphi, who avoids the store because of its "half-hour lines." Although she'd come to redeem some gift certificates that her daughter had received, Defeo had so far found nothing to buy. "I don't see any big deals," she said. Across the Potomac River, in Annandale, Va., David Hill was looking askance at another Kmart (nyse: KM - news - people) offering, a $199 five-piece dining-table set packed into torn cardboard boxes and stacked haphazardly on a wooden pallet. While he needed a table and chairs, the Alexandria preschool teacher wasn't interested in the battered Kmart selection. "It's a mess," said Hill, surveying the store. "Nothing's priced, all the boxes are broken, no stickers on the items." Calling Kmart a mess is an understatement these days. The country's second-largest discounter after Wal-Mart Stores (nyse: WMT - news - people), with 2,113 stores nationwide, Kmart is wobbling on the brink of insolvency. Once a formidable, fast-growing retailer with roots reaching back to 1899, Kmart was the place where young couples in the 1960s and 1970s bought their first dinette sets and suburban lawn chairs. Link http://www.forbes.com/2002/01/18/0118kmart.html comments?
Attention K-Mart Shoppers! Are we never to hear the infamous call to discount again? Never to run verily thru the aisles of merchandise to receive our free paring knife? Never again feel the rush of air from the flatulence of those waiting endlessly in the check-out line? I'm crushed! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
They'll make it. Kmart filed their bankruptcy listing about $37 billion in annual revenue, $17 billion in assets, $1.6 billion in debt, and said it had secured $2 billion in debtor financing. Although I think they are overly-optimistic with regards to coming out of this in a year, I believe they will survive. Peace.