So we were informed that the White Plains Kmart would be closing on Nov. 14th, and the Bronx (Baychester) store would be in liquidation until Dec. 24th. Bronx is now off the SB360 list, and no one picks up the phone there either. I called White Plains however, and was told they're open until 9 pm today. What's going on??
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I want a special kind of liquidator then, one that not only engages with customers, but also provides a “soft landing” for employees that opted to stick it out during the closing.
A great liquidator should tend to a closing store, its customers and its employees like a great hospice nurse would for a patient in their final weeks. Because after all, what is retail liquidation but just a bricks and mortar form of hospice?
So much for being "over this site". Anyway, IF (and that's a big IF) what you are writing is true, then it was an in-house liquidation handled by Sears. No external liquidation company would be involved in any store that they do not purchase and own. SB360 exists to purchase and liquidate stores. That's literally their business model (as far as liquidations. I realize they have other ventures too).
Thinking back on the experience, maybe he was just lazy or had a lot on his mind and didn’t want to deal with anything. When he left half way though the closing, the new liquidator said he would have to get more aggressive with the discounts because there was way we were going to finish on time with so merchandise left at that point in the sale. We also hadn’t done any fixture sales yet. We ended up selling a few fixtures, but sadly there just wasn’t enough time and a lot of it got scrapped or abandoned. We got approval from the landlord to abandon 90% of the gondolas and various other stuff (safe, service desk, jewelry counter, etc)
After we closed to the public, we received a list of items we had to send to melrose, IL, including various types of fixtures, the KIN system, PIN pads, flat tabletop scanners, etc. the main part of the cash register was sent to an electronic scrap yard, along with other electronic waste. The PC computers including HR, store manager, etc had to be wiped through a process where we called someplace back east and they walked us through clearing the memory. The PCs were then packaged up and sent to Hoffman.
It was hardly random. We had the meeting about 3 weeks into the liquidation because there was a lot of confusion and he was tired of being called over the PA for a million different questions. People kept going to him because everyone assumed he was in charge. He also said at the meeting, “I don’t deal with customers, call the supervisor on duty if you have a customer issue.” Anyway I have no reason to lie or embellish.
Not asking for any people's names. What was the name of the liquidation company? And I doubt that a liquidator would randomly just stand there and volunteer some oddly specific information about not buying the store. That is certainly embellished, and never happened. That's like me just randomly walking up to my wife, and out of nowhere Saying "Babe, I DEFINITLY didn't cheat on you last Week". Why would I even go there? So ya, that never happened.
Again, maybe you had an in-house liquidation. That's a totally different story.
The only reason liquidation companies even exist, is to buy merchandise for Pennies on the Dollar, and then sell that stuff for Profit. They don't exist to be consulting services, LMAO. They are liquidation companies, not consulting companies. The proof is in the word "liquidation".
Moreover, if you're "over" this site, then pick another site you're not "over", if you don't like this one.
I don’t care what anyone thinks is true or not. I also wasn’t giving a s-b story, just my story. Anyhow, I’m really over this site and the attacks. No clue what the name of the liquidation company was, I have names for the liquidators who came in, but this site doesn’t seem to like it when a person name names. I’m not lying, just telling it the way it was told to me at our store meeting. The liquidator stood in front of us in the store conference room and said, “My company didn’t buy the store or merchandise, your employer is Kmart and Kmart owns the merchandise. I am here as a consultant, nothing else”. Believe it, don’t believe. I’m just giving my experience.
Now that we’ve cleared up “sick and tired”, do there, their, they’re.
I am neither pompous nor arrogant. Look at what you just wrote. 2018. SB360 took over the liquidation contracts in late 2020. So your liquidator was NOT SB360. I Speak for SB360, not the prior companies. Regardless, I'll attack your points at face value. And your s0b story about high crime and the other song & dance, has nothing to do with the fact that liquidators purchase the store from Sears/Kmart. Tell that sad story to Oprah. That's not what we're here for.
We are here to discuss layoff/closing news, and the logistics of that. Nothing in your (possibly true?) story refuted the facts of what I wrote. Even if it wasn't SB360, the same rules would apply. The liquidation company (whoever it was, probably Gordon Brothers, but I'm not sure) owned the merchandise in that store. They would not transfer any of it to a non-closing store. They might transfer some to another closing store that THEY own. If you are claiming that they transferred sh!t to a non-closing store, owned by Sears/Kmart, then you are simply lying. That is impossible, and unprecedented (unless it's an in-house liquidation, which it might have been, or a non-liquidation closing, such as Astor Place NY, which yours clearly was not). Was yours an in-house liquidation (in other words, handled by Sears, NOT by an external liquidator)?
My below post, was about external liquidators that BUY the store from Sears, not in-house liquidations run by Sears or Kmart.
Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy the parade, games, or turkey and stop worrying about my expertise. I Know it's plenty.
And btw, I have absolutely no problem giving my store location. I helped close Kmart 4288 in Portland, Oregon. Announced end of May 2018. Final day of business, September 1, 2018. Longest summer of my life. Liquidator had a family emergency half way through and had to leave. New liquidator came in to finish the closing. Store located in high crime, high shoplifting area- second liquidator brought in off-duty armed police to check receipts at the door. Funny thing- the endless summer of run outs and blatant theft stopped almost overnight. I could write a book with the he-l we went through.
Again, I don’t presume to speak for everyone and everything, nor would I ever be as pompous or arrogant as you come off as. The kmart that I liquidated did NOT follow any of what you said. Perhaps things have changed since 2018, but when I closed my Kmart, the liquidator was nothing more then a consultant and he made that abundantly clear at our team meeting. He said “I am here to help you close the store, my company didn’t buy anything, we are here to consult and wind down the location on time, nothing more” AGAIN, I don’t speak for all locations, just the experience I had.
@3hbs+1dW5nX2Y You can be tired or sick, all you want. What was written, is factually correct. I work for SB360. When SB360 "PURCHASES" the store, they own everything within that store. There was nothing factually inaccurate in the below post you referenced. True, they are not taking over the lease, but everything within those 4 walls (including the employees of that store), belong to (or work for) SB360, until the closing is finally Wound down. There is no gray area or anything ambiguous about this.
SB360 owns that merchandise (in stores they are liquidating). So it belongs to them. They might (though unlikely) transfer stuff to another location THEY OWN and are LIQUIDATING, but they are not going to give it away to an entity they are unrelated to. They are not running a Charity. So kindly point out what was inaccurate about the below post that you just referenced.
There are 2 separate entities: SB360, and Sears (AKA Transformco). The 2 companies are not connected, or related. A simple transaction takes place, wherein Sears sells the store to SB360. Thereafter, Sears has NOTHING to do with that location. The sign outside would still Say Sears, the employees might wear Sears uniforms but from that point forward, the store is SEARS IN NAME ONLY. It is owned, operated, and run by SB360. The employees therein (including the "nominal" store manager), report to the SB360 Liquidator who is the ultimate leader until the last sale is wrung on the final Day of business. I have been "that guy". I Know. I will take the store manager's ideas into consideration, during the liquidation process (as he or she would Know the local market better than I would), but final decisions are only made by the liquidator because SB360 owns the store and the employees work for SB360 (not Sears) during the liquidation process. Eddie Lampert (Sears) has NOTHING to do with liquidation stores, as he has already sold them to us, at that point.
Happy Liquidating!
Happy Thanksgiving!
CORRECTION: Just so I don’t have the grammar police freaking out and having a heart attack, if it wasn’t crystal clear to everyone reading this: I meant to type, “sick AND tired”
1dww+1dW5nX2Y: I am so sick a tired of the ‘know-it-all’ attitude on this site. Your statement is not 100% correct. I worked a closing store and what you said was not the case for our location. I can’t and won’t presume to speak for other locations, unlike many people on this site who make blanket statements. Enough already with the snotty attitudes.
@lho+1dW5nX2Y Exactly. Why is he asking us? If he was on the phone with WP, as he claims, then ask them! How would we Know the answer?
@cqa+1dW5nX2Y Absolutely false. The stuff at White Plains is owned by SB360. It will most certainly NOT be going to a Eddie-owned store. SB360 does not give away merchandise for free. When they get ready to liquidate a store, THEY PURCHASE EVERYTHING INSIDE THAT STORE FROM SEARS. Thereafter everything within those 4 walls belongs to SB, not Sears or Kmart. They will NOT transfer anything to a non closing store. How many Times do we have to go through this?
Maybe they got rid of most of their junk at the Bronx store and closed early; then shipped what was left to White Plains.
is the Brooklyn Sears and mini-Kmart still open for a couple more days?
White Plains is closing on Wednesday, November 24th.
I think the intelligent thing to have done would be to have asked White Plains when their last Day of operation would be (if they are indeed still open, which I doubt). As for Bronx, they both closed already, so that's a Dead issue.