Kmart--Another one bites the dust?

JerryG · Jan 22, 2002

K-Mart filled chapter 11 today. Fleming Foods resume deliveries.

Thomas · Jan 22, 2002

Now I wonder if K Mart going to drop the ad w//w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif and maybe choice /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif/w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif/w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gifThe out come of K Mart going to be very interesting to a lot of folks.

StoneHeartFarm · Jan 22, 2002

Heard on the news that Kmart employs 240,000 people in 2100 stores. Sounds like the plan is to close about 500 stores. Enough to make the Ford layoffs look small.

SHF

TerryinMD · Jan 22, 2002

Oh heck, they're just service oriented people... They'll find jobs in another service oriented sector... Shoot... what's ~60,000 jobs and the related support businesses..... Let's be conservative.... another 20,000. So, maybe ~80,000 jobs. Not a problem!! /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

Next...... /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

Terry

Thomas · Jan 23, 2002

I wonder if the rural area KMart will be the first to close,and if so that would indeed hurt alot of rural area house hold income.
Ford,K Mart who's next..aircraft maker etc..I thougt the goverment had watch dogs for matter like this to let the public know.or maybe the watch dogs have a new job..called foreign aid..the give away programs.
I always thought we should look after our own first....oops..I doing it again and kinda promise I wouldn't express my feelings on such a subject.
Lets hope K Mart can turn this around and others don't feel the hardship.

StoneHeartFarm · Jan 23, 2002

Rural folks are the ones I'm worried about. Kmart is the oldest and their market penetration is into a lot of smaller markets. Kmart has been around here forever while Walmart has 3 stores within an 1/2 hour of me that have been built in the last 6 years. Target still isn't within 70 miles. Meijer now has moved in and matched Walmart. So at least there's opportunity for folks here. But, I wonder how many areas Kmart is in where it's still the largest retailer and if those stores will close?

SHF

cowboydoc · Jan 23, 2002

I understand the concern over K-mart closing but something that concerns me is why is K-mart closing and a store like Wal-mart keeps rising in value? I think we should or someone should really be looking at the bottom line of why all this is happening. Is it because of foreign products, global corp., etc. Myself I truly think we are entering an age of corporate domination. You look at some of these companies and how big they are and the market share that they control. If this was back in the days of Rockefeller he would be considered a small fish compared to the market share some of these corp. control. Not to mention the fact that as soon as something like this happens the company just packs up and goes to another country to build it's product.

Perfect example is right here close to where I live. Amana is moving it's production to Mexico so that it doesn't have to pay it's workers a guaranteed wage increase in their union. They have been planning it for a couple years now and already have the mfg. base setup. After awhile who do they think is going to buy their product? Seriously how much further can we go to farming out our production to foreign companies? How much bigger are we going to let this corp. get?

StoneHeartFarm · Jan 23, 2002

Some of these mega corporations have annual incomes higher than the GNP of a lot of countries. They are only looking at the bottom line. In the 70's, we were all told to buy American. I'm not sure that means much anymore since half the American stuff is made in Mexico and the Japanese stuff is made in the USA. At least the Chinese are buying airplanes from us. Although they don't seem to think much of the built-in communication system. I wonder where the CIA buys microphones?

SHF

ejb · Jan 23, 2002

>>How much bigger are we going to let this corp. get?

My opinion is that wmt continues to grow, only because people continue to shop there (thats obvious). I for one would not be in favor of the government doing anything to stop or slow the growth. If people want wmt to stop growing, they should stop buying. I know a lot of people that bemoan the growth of wmt, yet continue to spend there money there (not saying you do this, but I know some that do).

If/when people start voting with there pocketbooks, thats when change can be brought about. In these days when politicians really only look out for themselves and it really doen't matter a whole lot with you vote R or D, I'd suggest that voting with your pocketbook is really the only vote that matters.

BHarrison · Jan 23, 2002

Kmart looks like they're not going down without a fight.

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