Yes. The simple fact is Kmart is what led to Sears downfall, and Sears is what led to Kmart downfall. Both lost massive amounts of money in the 90's due to failures. Sears failed with the "softer side" campaign, losing billions of dollars, and Kmart failed with the "Big Kmart" campaign that not only lost billions of dollars, it forced them into bankruptcy! All Lampert did by merging them together is ensure they'll both die together, because they were both sick chickens when they were merged together, and what do sick chickens lay? Dead eggs! These two retailers couldn't come back from their massive failures in the 90's, Sears lost too much from its "softer side" and Kmart lost even more due to the even more massive failure "Big Kmart". Such a same too, because in the 80's, they were number 1 and number 2 in the world, then decided to spend billions and billions on dollars on failed campaigns forever costing them.
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Funny thing. When I worked at Kmart the people who had worked there for years had a serious hatred for Sears. If a customer ever “mistakenly” said “Sears bought Kmart” they would land on you like a sake of bricks! They absolutely loved correcting people and saying “nope Kmart bought sears and they have been dragging us down ever since”. I had a co-worker who was going off in the break room about walking through a Sears and being upset that her “raise” went to people standing around in appliances. I reminded her that they worked on commission and she said “so, we all do stuff we Don’t want to do, do you like I actually like covering layaway”. Lots of my coworkers said “I do t get it, we Bought them and we have to push their credit card, it should be Kmart Credit card” There was a deep hatred for Sears at my Kmart. It was weird.
Kmart sucked by the time they bought Sears. Sears still had a chance up until that point. Kmart ki---d Sears. Anybody who thinks otherwise doesn’t have a brain.
Both were turds and merged into MegaTurd.
Lampert kil_d both!
Kmart was ki---d by sears.
The company isn't closing. It's still here!
That's like asking if the 8 track player ruined the VCR or vice versa. Both had their Time, and people just moved on to other things.
@uay+1b01a0KE
EXACTLY! Targets, etc., have everything that Kmart has AND AT A LOWER COST! Why would I go to a dumpy old Kmart and Pay MORE for something I can get cheaper in a shiny, clean, new Target? It's the equivalent of Paying MORE for the privilege of staying at a Motel 6, when I can stay cheaper at a Marriott. No wonder this silly company is closing!
Both were done and over by 1989, nostalgia kept them going as a zombie for a while and the world's longest slow ride liquidation began in 2000.
I concur it was mutual destruction. Sears and Kmart were two completely separate entities with very little overlap in merchandise and customer base. Maybe with good management, one or the other could have survived, maybe both. But ultimately it was doomed to fail simply because of the total lack of investment in stores. Why go to Kmart when you can go to Target or Wal Mart and get the same stuff if not better at a lower price in a cleaner store? Ditto Sears and their competitors
Kmart on its own could have survived. Buying Sears was a mistake in my opinion, as department stores like Sears were already in decline. But EL didn't care about either. Remember, he thought Sears was the stronger business and tried to convert Kmart stores to Sears Essentials, Sears Grand, etc. When in reality, Kmart was the stronger brand. They ended up converting Sears Essentials back to Kmart. Such a waste of time, effort and money. Sad to see Kmart go. Sears too, in some ways.
Thanks to EL for destroying the careers and lives of many, many hardworking employees.
Both companies were on a downslide before Lampert took over......Lampert sped up the decline.
Correct Answer: Both were ruined by Edward Scott Lampert.
(Possibly on-purpose.)
Or was it mutual destruction?