CNN reports that when 2022 dawns in about seven weeks (when the hell did that happen?), Kmart will have just six locations open in the US.
Some context from the story:
"Kmart is owned by Sears, which purchased the chain out of bankruptcy in 2005. There were 2,100 Kmart locations at the time of its 2002 bankruptcy filing, and 1,400 when it was purchased by Sears. The combined company, Sears Holdings, itself filed for bankruptcy in 2018, and although it survived that process, it has since been closing stores under both brands in what retail experts describe as a 'slow-motion liquidation.":
"Obviously they are all going to be gone shortly," Mark Cohen, director of retail studies at Columbia University, tells CNN. "This movie has ended, and we're watching the credits roll endlessly."
- KC's View:
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I would have chosen a different metaphor. More like a long, seemingly endless death scene with wrenching and convulsing.
CNN says that "a spokesperson for Transformco, the company created from the bankruptcy of Sears Holdings, did not respond to a request for comment on its closing plans." Because what, exactly, are they going to say?
(How about, to paraphrase an old joke, "We wanted to be in retail in the worst way, and we achieved our goal.")
