“Attention K-Mart Shoppers!”: the last K-Mart superstore in the US closed its doors this past Sunday in Bridgehampton, NY.
It’s sobering to realize that thirty years ago it was a major retailing presence with nearly 2,500 stores in the US. Founded in 1885, it had over a century of remarkable success until a decline that it never found a way to arrest set in.
Various strategies were employed to save it including filing the largest retail bankruptcy in history in 2003, another bankruptcy in 2018 and a failed merger with Sears. Unexpected competition from the likes of Wal-Mart and Amazon delivered additional body blows.
K-Mart is not alone in failing to meet the challenges faced by many retailers in recent decades. Just this year, Big Lots, Jo-Ann Fabrics and True Value have closed or filed for bankruptcy, joining the ranks of many other retailers who have failed or struggling to survive and reinvent themselves.
Bill Gates once warned that “Success is a lousy teacher? Find out What killed Kmart?
