Target looking to snatch California's last Kmart at their blue light special, my visit, and the history behind Kmart

 

    In my almost nine years of writing for my blog, I have never written a story of a business closure. But this post will shift gears today. But, fortunately, it does come with a glimpse of hope of a new business coming in. I had to write about this one because it describes a significant piece to our history in the past 60 years and how December 19th is the end of a chapter in the California history book. I had the great opportunity to visit this piece of history on October 23rd, ironically the same day James Ussher uses as the day God created the heavens and the earth, which is in Grass Valley, California, the town we happened to visit on our day trip. The store was surprisingly well stocked and had a steady flow of customers for a store with a closing sale. But I didn't find many nostalgic items attached to the store reminding me of the glory days of Kmart, except for a game for another nostalgic retail store that has only one surviving store left, in Bend, Oregon, Blockbuster Video. I was hoping to find some retro pieces such as a shirt or a pen commemorating this store since this location was the last Kmart in California. But it is not the last Kmart store in the United States, though; there are six others in the states and 6 in the territories. And it isn't the most nostalgic one though, that award would go to Hamilton, Montana, which will be the last store in the entire Western United States after this location is finished. That location still has the original sign from the 1980s on the building.

     The fate of this Kmart location is likely not because it is losing money, because it has often been stated as one of the most profitable Kmart locations in the US; hence, why this location is still open for another month and why it is one of the 17 remaining Kmart stores in the United States plus the territories. This location immediately being snatched by Target could be an argument for its profitability and success. You may even say they are temporarily closed for a remodel into the modern look as a Target, as the McDonald's in Grass Valley is currently doing so they can remodel to their 21st-century look. Target could just be renaming this Kmart store into the Target brand, as Save Mart did to the Albertson's stores in the region. Our town, Placerville, lost Kmart three years ago, and a Target has since replaced it. We thought God gave the Placerville location mercy for several years by being spared from the closure block. Every store in the Sacramento urban area had closed by that time, and the only ones remaining in the metro were in the Sierra Nevada foothills: Placerville, Auburn which closed shortly after the Placerville one did, South Lake Tahoe, shown in the photo, which was the second to last one in the state, and the last one in the state in Grass Valley.

Here is a summary of the history of this major retail chain. Kmart was originally founded as S.S. Kresge, named after its founder in 1899. The enterprise started in the city of Memphis, Tennessee, from Kresge's $6,000 investment. The store later became a part of a chain headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, a very successful five and dime chain. Then, according to the Los Angeles Times, on February 22nd, 1962, they created something innovative in the San Fernando, California, the very first Kmart discount store. The store in Garden City is typically referred to as the first location because it was the first full-size one. The store in San Fernando was originally going to be a regular S.S. Kresge store, but they decided to change their strategy in the middle of construction. It was only 24,000 sq ft compared to the Garden City's 80,000 sq ft. 1962 was the same year Sam Walton created the Walmart discount chain, which ironically later supplanted the Kmart retail chain in success. Kmart later became the second-largest retail chain in the United States, behind the store that now owns them, Sears. They expanded greatly in the 1970s and the 1980s when they added many stores that populated the Sacramento region, including Placerville, South Lake Tahoe, Auburn, and the store in Grass Valley. By the 1990s, they were still expanding, adding stores in Folsom and Rocklin, but the tables were starting to turn a bit. Walmart surged past not only Kmart but dethroned Sears in becoming the largest retailer in America in 1988 (COMPANY NEWS; Wal-Mart Net Jumps By 31.8% - The New York Times (nytimes.com))]. Walmart opened their first stores in the Sacramento area in Elk Grove, Folsom, Antelope, and Rocklin, putting pressure on Kmart's stores in that area.

During this time, Kmart diversified in its offerings by snatching the Sports Authority, Waldenbooks, OfficeMax, Builders Square, and Payless Drug Store brands into its empire. Of those, only OfficeMax remains in operation. Kmart also refreshed the image of their stores to compete against Walmart and Target by remodeling them into Big Kmart, with expanded clothing, home fashion items, and consumer items, which was successful, turning around their flat and falling fortunes for a period. They ventured into the Superstore market with their Kmart Supercenter locations combining groceries with clothing and household items, similar to modern Walmart Supercenters and Super Target locations. The Sacramento region didn't obtain these Super Kmart stores, though, and they didn't capitalize much on these stores, which I believe was a shame because this could h
ave been the way they could have succeeded against Walmart.

After their peak in 1999, I believe Kmart initially made decisions to help keep their corporation viable by expanding the Super Kmart brand. But, unfortunately, in 2002, when they filed for bankruptcy, they halted many of these store projects. According to the New York Times, they instead closed 609 stores between 2002 and 2003 (Kmart Will Lay Off Up to 35,000 and Close 326 Stores - The New York Times (nytimes.com)). These closures included the stores in Folsom, Sacramento-Howe Ave, Mack Road, and Northgate, Antelope, and Woodland. I know the company was struggling, and they needed to cut spending to reduce debt, as advised by one of my favorite radio talk show hosts, Dave Ramsey. But I believe these decisions were a significant detriment to their brand as they stopped investing in their future, reduced their exposure to customers in the marketplace, and let their stores deteriorate. This trend didn't stop when Sears bought the Kmart brand in 2005. They didn't open any new store locations after 2002, and few stores received a makeover. Fortunately for Grass Valley, the Kmart store did receive a makeover with the new look, but many stores still deteriorated from this time. But they mostly held off on closing any more stores from 2005 to 2012, even during the devastating Great Recession. In several of the cities which still had Kmart stores, this was their only discount store in town as in Grass Valley and South Lake Tahoe's case. It was their only other discount store in cities such as Placerville, Auburn, and Jackson. Kmart still had reasonable prices on most products and had a decent selection of clothes. According to Reuters, sales actually rose slightly by 0.5% in 2009 (Sears loss narrows as Kmart shows improvement | Reuters).

After 2011, Sears and Kmart suffered a disastrous holiday season, which led them to close 100 stores, starting their trek downhill. Sears Holdings started making some poor decisions by selling off their most profitable stores rather than remodeling them to compete against modern retailers, selling off their Craftsman tool brand, and gutting their stores to the ground with a lack of inventory. They kept closing stores in the name of reducing costs and their strategy in turning around their company. Closing a select number of underperforming stores is one thing, but closing stores every few months may be telling us a different story. In 2018, despite having closed many stores and cutting costs, Sears and Kmart filed for bankruptcy. After closing more stores to improve their financial situation, Sears CEO Eddie Lampert saved their company from liquidation, which should be a miracle they could recover from. But they continue to go down the same downward spiral like they are just a going out of business venture closing their stores one at a time. I believe they are working on running the company to the ground.

This story reminds me of the Book of Jonah in some ways. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh to preach repentance to them, but Jonah decided to escape to Tarshish to flee from the presence of the Lord. Then the Lord sent a storm that threatened to break the ship Jonah was on. To discover what was wrong, the mariners cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. After this, the mariners threw Jonah overboard, and the Lord sent a whale to eat him. By God's grace, Jonah miraculously survived being in the great fish after his prayer to the Lord. After the fish spat Jonah out of his belly, Jonah did the right thing by preaching to Nineveh. But Jonah's heart was still bent on seeing Nineveh destroyed. When Jonah didn't get his wish, he threw a temper tantrum and wanted to die because God spared Nineveh. He was ungrateful to God, not realizing that God saved Jonah's life from death. This bible account could be applied to Kmart's situation in that Kmart was rescued from going under twice, once by Sears' acquisition and again when Eddie Lampert bought Sears and Kmart from liquidation. But despite having two-second chances to turn around, they still take the slippery slide, not even trying to improve their circumstances. I believe they are trying to sell their existence to stores such as Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Lowe's, and Best Buy, which can fulfill the needs in the modern marketplace. This is evident with Kmart selling their lease in Grass Valley to Target and many other locations.

It is sad that this Kmart location didn't even capitalize on the nostalgia factor of being the last location in California. If they had stayed open a few more years, this could have become a tourist hot spot as a living museum if they had managed to serve the community of Grass Valley well. It could have complimented the historic nature of the Grass Valley/Nevada City area with its charming downtown and its Christmas fest scene. But I believe this store didn't and hasn't fulfilled that role for the community, as it has a negative perception by the public. The benefits of a new Target store replacing it will probably outweigh the sadness that comes from losing this store. There are still 12 more Kmart stores in the United States that could capitalize on the nostalgia of the 1970s and 80s and become a popular tourist hotspot, especially the store in Hamilton, Montana.

If you still like visiting Kmart stores or you are curious about visiting different places, I believe you should visit the Grass Valley location before it is all gone. 

Or Here's the list of remaining Kmart stores in the United States for more about locations still operating: How Many Kmart Stores Are Left?