Not an important issue, but was genuinely curious when closed stores disconnect their landlines? I would have thought it would be right when they close. For example, when I call Kingston (which closed 2 Weeks ago) at 570-288-7501, they still have an answering machine which states "press 1 for this department, press 2 for that, etc. etc.". Of course, whatever department I pick, the phone just keeps ringing and ringing because there's nobody there (as the store was abandoned 2 Weeks ago). Again, it doesn't mean anything, but I would have to think it must Cost Something to keep a landline active in an empty building, so why wouldn't they just disconnect it instead of Paying a phone bill for an empty building?
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@3dec+1aEqxaIf I mean, to be assigned a landline #, you would have to live in that exchange area. I think there is a certain amount of Time you would need to wait, then the number is made public. If you have a house in that immediate landline exchange area, then you could Pay your local phone company to request that as a "custom" number. I don't see any reason why you couldn't do this. But again, you would have to live in that local exchange area to get a landline number from that location. And it would have to be a landline, because cell phones have different exchange numbers (the first 3 numbers after the area code).
Has anyone had any success getting the phone company to allow you to take over the phone number of a former Sears or Kmart store? I want my phone number to be the same phone number as my former Kmart.
Not doubting you at all. But if you had 5 Skids (Pallets) of stuff left after marked down at 99%, then your liquidator didn't Know what he was doing. His job is to mark stuff down and get it sold no matter what. Heck, if they had just about anything at 99% off, I would go buy it myself, sell it all on Ebay and make out like a bandit. Not sure why he couldn't give stuff away at 99% off. And if they had employees roaming around a closed store for 2 Weeks, then yes, that liquidator's team was inefficient AF. Not a reflection on you, but the liquidator obviously hadn't a clue what he was doing. Every single one I've been involved with, worked like a well-oiled machine, with everything sold at closing, and about 2 Days to sweep, & sell of the remaining fixtures.
Ok, well that’s not how it went down with my Kmart store, but whatever you clearly know everything. We DID send fixtures to a warehouse in melrose park, IL we had a list of items that corporate wanted that we sent. We had a book of closedown procedures and computers had to be wiped by IT using a very specific process and then sent to Hoffman. We had to send office paperwork and HR documents to Hoffman as well. Some IT items like RMUs, the KIN system, etc went to Melrose park And even though it was 99% off at the end we DID end up with 5 pallets, yes that’s right 5 pallets of merchandise that we DID NOT SELL. The liquidator closed the store at around 3 pm. We had to ring all remaining merchandise through the POS system before we left and we had to box it and put it all on pallets. We were at the store for 2 (two) weeks after the doors closed for the final time. I have no reason to make this up, I have very specific information and exactly where we send the items. I lived 3 months of that he-l of closing the ghetto a-s Kmart store that I gave 10 years of my life to.
It's not a silly statement. Of course it won't be turned off the Second the store closes, but few Days after, sure. I have been involved with liquidations with Gordan Brothers, SB 360, and there are no employees in the building for 2-3 Weeks after closing. Liquidators are far more efficient than that. Bear in mind, that SB360 owns everything within the 4 walls of any store they are liquidating. There won't be any leftover merchandise, because everything is marked down until it sells, even if it has to go 99% off. No fixtures are going to Illinois. The fixtures (which are owned by SB360) will be sold by the same. There might be a few employees (who work for SB360, not Sears) who will be around for 2-3 Days (1 Week absolute TOPS) to sweep out the store, and sell the remaining fixtures and gondolas, but never more than 1 Week (and that's stretching it). SB wants to get the people moved to the next store.
Corporate has absolutely zero to do with any liquidating store so what they "want" with fixtures is utterly meaningless. There Everything inside that store belongs to SB 360, and everyone working in that store works for SB360. Once Sears sells a store to the liquidator, then Sears has nothing to do with the store from that point forward. The liquidator owns it and runs the show. And they are not going to Pay employees to be roaming around a store for 2-3 Weeks after it closes. 2-3 Days would be more realistic, and again, never more than 7 Days have I ever seen.
Long story short, once liquidation starts, everything in that store (including the employees) belong to SB360, and they will close out the store and remove all personnel as fast as they can, so they can turn in the keys to the landlord and move the liquidators to their next location. Nobody will be loitering around the store for Weeks.
Maybe you should do something productive with your time (like getting a job, volunteering to help the loss fortunate, or getting an education) instead of calling stores that have closed.
Again. The utilities are never turned off the second the store closes, what a silly statement. There are employees around for about 2-3 weeks after the store closes to the public to finish the close out process, send office/ HR documents to Hoffman, throw stuff away, send left over merch to the next store closing, set equipment/fixtures that corp wants to another store or to Melrose Park, IL. Sh-t down computer systems, sell some final fixtures, etc, etc.
@csi+1aEqxaIf
I was thinking that too, that someone just forgot to ask phone company to disconnect it. But I would assume, in that case, phone company would eventually disconnect that landline due to non Payment of phone bill.
They asked first, no flipsies. Call corporate and track down the person who is in charge of calling to shut off utilities. I guess they have not gotten around to that task yet or were told to keep utilities active for a period of time. Anything is possible.
Let me flip that a little bit...you have time to comment on a Sears layoff board for a person who just had a simple question?
You have spare time to dial phone numbers of defunct businesses???
Do you think possibly there’s no one left in HQ to handle this stuff!
I still call my store's phone number hoping it was just a bad dream they closed & the store is still open. Oh how I miss my Kmart.
Thanks for those detailed answers. It is possible that maybe this Kmart was super , as you suggested. It had a pharmacy, so maybe that explains the answering machine too. Your explanation makes sense. I guess there ight be some liquidators, or fixture salesmen that might need access to that phone, for some reason, for a few Weeks, even though the actual store is closed. And ya, for fun, you can try that number. It is the only Kmart I ever called that had an automated recording answer the phone. It gives a choice of several departments to be transferred to (of course nobody answers).
And I just realized that this was for a Kmart store and not a Sears store, my previous comment was for Sears. It is extremely rare to have an automated phone line in a Kmart (the only stores that had them were super Kmarts and pharmacy departments). I am assuming that at some point in this stores history it was a super k or was planned to be one. The phone lines at Kmart are typically disconnected after a month or so, this gives employees who are finishing close out/ final exit procedures access to a phone line if necessary.
The phone typically remains active for anywhere between 1 month to several months. Usually it will state that the store is now closed and the store is closed tomorrow (the hours in the system are changed to closed Sunday-Saturday). This will allow for a customer who is calling the store (and is unaware that the store has recently closed) to be automatically transferred to water heater, credit, delivery, etc. by pressing the number that corresponds to each.