Sears and Kmart are getting out of the apparel business. For you workers, notice how you have been getting more clothing than you could possibly sell and you are getting spring and summer items in December. The reason is they are trying to get rid of as much clothing as possible and wind down the apparel part of the business. This may take a year of two but that is the plan.
Anybody knows if this is true? It would explain a lot of things. I'm just not sure it's the best idea out there.
Agreed, the past is littered with examples of small store fails, most of them orchestrated , designed and carried out by the same talentless teams that ended up sinking tons of cash into " Stores of the Futures "et al, with flat results - putting the Big Stores in Big Debt (that they've never been able to overcome ) With Big Stores out of the way , erasing debt will be the next challenge .
@4tka - "Sears small store concept is a winner." Whoa, not so fast there. Sears has delved into a number of "small store" concepts over the past couple of decades and none of them have been a success nor turned a "tidy profit." After the initial ballyhoo, they just seem to wither away.
Sears small store concept is a winner, but they have to specialize In things they make money on or things that don't accumulate old dated inventory
That leaves a lot of items out of the equation . Clothing is one of them.
A lot of other " block and feather " items need to go also , so the freestanding stores go back to the basics and turn a tidy profit. Sears can do this.
@3gsa, Ross owns DD's.
We don't have DD Discounts in my area. Looks like Burlington (formerly Burlington Coat Factory) merchandise and clientele. I'm not who they're looking for customer-wise but if you can deal with it, you get some excellent deals. Just have to spend the time looking. And their checkout lines have a million people waiting but it goes fast. Faster than 2 or 3 customers ahead of you at Sears or KMart sorry to say.
@1mcd, FYI, if anyone has a DD's Discounts in their area. You might want to compare both chains. They have two different clientele types.
Just a little trivia:
There are over 1,000+ Ross Stores
And over 200+ DD's Discounts Chain wide.
Each store caters to a different clientele types.
Perhaps the clothing suppliers are getting wise and cutting SHLD off because the realize they likely wouldn't be getting paid?
Women's and men's clothes they can cut back on but, at my store they sell a lot is kids clothes. All the accessories they can scale back on too, they don't sell enough of that. At Ross stores you can only find so many items that are considered "quality", I have bought some items like name brand shoes or socks that have lasted but, the clothes are another story and it is so messy I usually get frustrated and leave. So I don't think Sears will be getting out of the clothing business completely, just scaling back.
Cloths? Hmm interesting spelling. Cloth is fabric, clothes are something you wear.
I honestly think Sears has been shooting themselves. The quality of cloths is crap along with the prices being marked very high. Also to add its so understaffed you cant find an associate to help you being so limited in hours.
I think Kmart might do way better than Sears in apparel, but in our store apparel has lost lots of good brands and their sales are so down in that department. Their is also great alternatives to get better quality cloths than spend it at Sears. As mentioned by 1tsb and 1bzu Ross will get you more with quality cloths. Although you have to do hunting at Ross since its all mixed, but you are better off their buying cloths than Sears.
@1tsb, actually more Hispanics shop at Ross’s sister chain DD’s Discounts than a Ross store.
FYI:I am a former SHC employee that also works for Ross/DD’s.
I just wanted to correct his remark.
Ross for Less
But where would the Mexicans shop for their cart full of cheap shirts and pants.
Sears - Kmart haven't got a year or two - their only option is a reorganization under Chap. 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy code
On the Kmart side, this wouldn't be feasible as apparel is high margin merchandise, even with all the sales and discounts. There used to be a saying "Hardlines brings them in, but softlines is what makes you money."
On the Kmart side, this wouldn't be feasible as apparel is high margin merchandise, even with all the sales and discounts. There used to be a saying "Hardlines brings them in, but softlines is what makes you money."
I doubt they will get out of the apparel business, that said I would assume that they would massively shrink it. Even a few years ago, they were trying to identify ways to change pack qtys to reduce the slow selling merchandise. When you order overseas 6+ months in advance, it really doesn't work that way. By the time you realize that certain sizes or colors aren't selling, specifically sizes, its impossible to get the right sizes you need in store in time, especially if the factory has already made the "wrong" sizes. Boxes of wrong sized garments being packed into the stockroom, possibly only to be seen again during a clearance event or reverseflow process ... but either way, that ends up being a lot of capital and space when compounded across every store. "Millions" in inventory barely worth the boxes they are in.
Fast fashion killed Sears apparel business at least for a lot of women's clothes because the average young woman doesn't shop the same way they did 35 years ago.