For all the Walmart nay sayers. K-mart suprise

ThistleKop · Nov 17, 2004

bontai_joe, The report of the merger of Kmart/Sears that I saw was on NBC. They stated that Wal*Mart was #1, Target was #2 and Kmart/Sears would be #3. There was no mention of Home Depot who competes with the Lowes, etc. Different group of retailers.

TK

MikePA · Nov 18, 2004

In 2003, the largest retailers were, regardless of market segment,

1. Wal-Mart
2. Home Depot
3. Kroger
4. Target
5. Sears

Sears/Kmart will be number 3.

eee · Nov 18, 2004

I had no idea Kroger's was number 3 !!

They had a guy on the news this morning who said in 7 years K-mart and Sears would both be gone,he said it was just 2 bad companys merging. Time will tell if he is right.

Dargo · Nov 18, 2004

I couldn't tell you why, but Lowe's is killing Home Depot in my town. For me, it just happened that Lowe's was on the closest side of a 4 lane highway and I missed a bunch of traffic. However, if Lowe's didn't have something I'd navigate the traffic to try Home Depot. Their parking lot is always empty and their store seems always empty; besides, they never have what I want when Lowe's doesn't have it. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif Either way, Lowe's is always busy and Home Depot is always dead. I don't understand....Tony Stewart is from Indiana and Jimmy Johnson is from California... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Soundguy · Nov 18, 2004

( No, becuase people who work at HD know what they are taking about or do it for a living. Hence you have a plumber in the plumbing department.

While I generally like Home Depot, my experience is that they have a lot of associates who are clueless about tools or building. )

Ditto.. That's what I have observed. After the hurricanes here in FL.. I went to the HD to get some materials to make emergency barn repairs. The floors were packed with product they got shipped if for repairs, etc.. so much of the store was unaccessable, and you pretty much had to ask where stuff was... I asked for some pretty normal stuff. 5V roofing tin, roofing nails, 'tin' tabs, and tubes of asphalt-based mastic roofing cement.

The answers I got were all over the board. Anything from I don't think we carry that, to being randomly handed items and then being asked 'is this it'? One fellow was honest though, and I have to credit him for it.. he said he had only been there a few days, and had no idea what he was doin... but he did help me carry and load a stack of tin and 2x4's in my truck.. so in my book, he was more usefull than the rest of them.

Blanket comments , like the one in the message you replied to about "that people working for hd know what they are talking about because they do that work"... Thos really don't ring true. If it does happen.. I'd say you are getting lucky to be actually talking to a carpenter, when in the lumber section of HD, and that is the exception, not the rule. I've had far better advice from the local mom-n-pop hardware or plumbing stores, where you can get real step-by step instruction from the owner, or the 'old' sales guy, who's been there, and done that.
To go along with that... I don't expect to walk into radio shack and expect any of the 18 year olds working there to know a thing about any of the proudcts they sell, except maybee the cell phones... seems like all they do is try to sell cell phones any more. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Soundguy

Soundguy

Bob_Skurka · Nov 18, 2004

We have a Sears Hardware, next to a Menard's Lumber, next to a Home Depot and then across the street 1/2 mile down there is a Lowes. The parking lots of all of them are full every time I need something and empty every time I don't!

Sears Hardware is small, but the people in there are very knoweldgable.
Menards is big, cheap and people are totally clueless teenagers. They carry lower grade goods and cater to bargain hunters.
Home Depot is what it is, their people try to help, I find 1 in 5 knows something about hardware.
Lowes is biggest of all but I don't consider it better or worse. There have been several times when I've gone in there and walked out empty handed so I rarely go there, besides it is on the wrong side of the street for me.

Soundguy · Nov 18, 2004

( I couldn't tell you why, but Lowe's is killing Home Depot in my town )

So far, at least where I live, Both lowes and HD are doing good brisk business.. even before the storms here in florida. I can't remember ever seeing one of their stores without a full parking lot. Also, they like to build right next to each other.On the south end of the county, for the longest time we had no real hardware store.. then lowes moved in a year ago.. now HD is building righ next to them. At the north end of the county, there is a lowes and HD right onthe main drag, and there is a short road/intersection right between them. If one store doesn't have it.. a 30 second car ride gets you to the other store.

Soundguy

Dargo · Nov 18, 2004

( besides it is on the wrong side of the street for me. )

Ha! I knew it! I'm not the only one who is influenced by having to cross a busy street to get to a store! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

rivulet · Nov 18, 2004

Random Thoughts

Sears got hammered by being mall focused. Only 20% of consumer purchases are in malls today versus 40% 10 years ago.

The person behind this merger is a 42 yr old in CT who also has stakes in AutoZone and AutoNation. AutoZone is another place which seems to have uniformed people working there.

Although it is Kmart buying Sears, it will be the blue light that burns out.

Sears/Kmart Smart? I don't think so. They are both failing. How is combining them make it any better? I will still want to shop at either self-service cheap WalMart or seek out the odd store or online resource with the smart people.

I was in East Texas when WalMart first started opening its rural stores. I have seen them move into the suburban areas and now the cities. Sears better move quickly to shore up its advantage in the blue versus red parts of the country.

As I drive around, there are too many retail stores. 50% more than there were just 10 years ago. And I increasingly do online purchasing. JCPenny, Dillards, May - have to think they are next.

Sears has Whirlpool/Kenmore appliances and Craftsman tools. I can find the same quality at HD/Lowes.

I do wish them success as a competitor. Competition is good for the consumer. However given the success of WalMart, I am sure Sears will force even more manufacturing to go offshore to meet the price points required.

Varmintmist · Nov 18, 2004

If they make it it will be because they combined their strenths, not copied Wally World (the 5th ring of hades).

If you sell Craftsman tools, Martha Stewart houswares, Kenmore apliances, and J. Smith clothes, you have a winner. Getting Sears out of the mall means that I would go to Sears again. I hate malls, and I am not alone.

None of the stuff is high end, but none of it is crap. The Wally World way has led to them selling crap in tools, no name clothes, and some decent houswares, but nothing big.