One of four remaining Kmarts in the lower 48 The Avenel, New Jersey Kmart is one of only four Kmart stores remaining in the contiguous United States with only 10 total including locations in Guam, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands. The store is located in the Delco plaza with an LA Fitness and Urban Air … Continue reading Kmart, Delco Plaza, Avenel, New Jersey.
UPDATE: Since publishing, it's been announced that this store will close in March 2022. Two years ago, we checked in on two Sears stores around Christmas in 2019. We skipped last year but we are back at it this year. The difficulty, first, is to find a Sears store. As we have documented, there are … Continue reading Sears at Christmas in 2021
I had a boss who was an expert in the garment industry and had spent the early part of his career immersed in the business of clothes. He used to drop into clothing stores in New York City for fun, just to observe how well they were managed. Were customers greeted promptly at the door? … Continue reading The Reopening Process is an Opportunity for Attentive Investors
To put it simply, the American retail icon Sears has had by all metrics a terrible decade. Their last profitable year was 2010. The store count has nearly vanished and the below chart from Business Insider is shocking, but not too surprising to see. They also spun off or sold their most valuable assets, the … Continue reading Sears at Christmas in 2019
We begin our series on fleeting retail where we will explore the transition of American commerce from places like malls to largely either online sales, discount retailers, or high end shopping. The middle American mall is fading and Credit Suisse estimated in 2017 that 20-25% of American malls will close by 2022. Columbia Mall, Bloomsburg, … Continue reading Dead Malls: Columbia Mall / Columbia Colonnade, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania
I remember walking into an H&M for the first time in roughly 2005. As someone born and raised in a rural area in the northeast, I had not encountered clothing that was both “cool” and affordable until this very moment. Like many others in this era, I was mesmerized by the concept of hip clothes … Continue reading Does Forever 21’s bankruptcy signify the fall of fast fashion?
