K is for Kollapse. The Kmart empire is vanishing before your very eyes. According to a report in this week’s Atlanta Business Chronicle, K mart has plans to shutter another 565 stores, which means almost one-third of those still left standing would close. The Chronicle described the closings as “tentative”, but they come on top of the 284 Kmart closings earlier this year. “We’re looking at our stores, [but] I don’t have a hard number for you,” a Kmart spokeperson told the Chronicle. “There’s been no decisions.” Kmart is scheduled to file a detailed reorganization plan with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago by February. Kmart filed for bankruptcy protection in January of 2002. The company says it will shrink to an “ideal store base” that will allow it to remain competitive with the companies that did it damage, like Wal-Mart and Target. Kmart sales figures are weaker than last year, with same store sales numbers nearly 7% below where they were last year for September and October. According to several retail analysts quoted by the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Kmart is not likely to close the stores until after the New Year, because how the company does during the Christmas season could be krucial to the survival of Big K.
Now you know why they call it the “Blue Light” special. Blue, as in depressed. And it is unlikely that Kmart will tell the bankruptcy court that its future is tied to the prosperity of its Martha Stewart merchandise. Between Martha’s Wall Street blues, and Kmart’s Blue Light Blues, it’s been a tough year for the Michigan-based retailer. If Kmart goes belly up, there will be thousands of employees having what Elvis Presley once described as a “blue, blue, Christmas.” For more details on the krash of Kmart, search this Newsflash database by the word “Kmart”.
