# When will Kmart go completely out of business? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 18, 2016, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-kmart-go-completely-out-of-business/768929 "2016-10-18T08:06:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2017, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-kmart-go-completely-out-of-business/768929/101 "2017-03-26T18:03:21Z")
“If Radio Shack ever shut down”? There seems little doubt that it will, eventually. It even went through a second bankruptcy earlier this month. As it is, there are only about a thousand stores remaining. At its peak there were something like 10,000 of them throughout the US. I’d recommend you explore other sources of electronic components. (I think someone mentioned Mouser upthread, and there are other specialty mail order merchants.) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2017, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-kmart-go-completely-out-of-business/768929/102 "2017-03-26T18:04:45Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > I would be very sad if Radio Shack ever shut down. Being able to buy individual electronic components like transistors and resistors is important to me. They just filed for bankruptcy (again!) a [couple of weeks ago.](http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/09/news/companies/radioshack-bankruptcy/) > [@](#): > > The company says it will move to close 200 of its 1,500 stores immediately and is “evaluating options” for the rest. The company has about 5,900 employees, according to a bankruptcy filing Wednesday night in federal court in Delaware. ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2017, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-kmart-go-completely-out-of-business/768929/103 "2017-03-26T18:45:37Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > I would be very sad if Radio Shack ever shut down. Being able to buy individual electronic components like transistors and resistors is important to me. Mouser? You do pay $8 shipping, but it’s next day, and everything there is cheaper. Plus, all the cool kids are doing surface mount these days. Just design your circuit board in EasyEDA (I recommend it), and get it made in China for $15. Seriously. For 10 of them, so long as they are under 10cmx10cm squares. In practice it’s so cheap, and having your own circuit board saves you so many errors and so much time, it’s the right way to go even for a hobbyist. Stuff that takes me 6 hours of soldering and debugging I can design a board for and get it to work the first try. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2017, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-kmart-go-completely-out-of-business/768929/104 "2017-03-29T23:14:56Z")
I’ve worked for several large corporations (including one that was owned by K-Mart) that were poorly managed. There is something about inertia. They are able to hang on for a lot longer than could be expected. Look at GM, they have a tradition of being poorly managed. I had an uncle that worked for them and in the 60’s he told me how messed up the management was. Still the size and inertia kept them going until they could [sort of] right themselves despite the bad management decisions. K-Mart’s advantage over Wal-Mart was the real estate angle. They fell far behind in giving the customers what they wanted, which was goods with decent quality at a low price. The K-Mart stores are now a mess. As a retailer they can’t compete with Wal-Mart which has it’s own challenges. K-Mart completely disappearing? Who knows. K-Mart as a factor in American retailing? The nails are in the coffin. They are mostly irrelevant now. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-kmart-go-completely-out-of-business/768929/105 "2017-06-07T01:22:24Z")
> [@](#): > > Sears is closing 72 more stores, in addition to the more than 180 that have already been announced this year. > > The company released a list internally on Tuesday of the closing stores, which includes 16 Sears stores, 49 Kmart stores, and seven auto centers. > > Most of the stores will close in September. > **[Sears is closing 72 stores — here's the full list](https://www.businessinsider.com/sears-is-closing-72-stores-heres-the-full-list-2017-6?r=UK&IR=T)** > > Sears is closing 72 stores on top of the more than 180 closings that had already been announced this year. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-kmart-go-completely-out-of-business/768929/106 "2017-06-07T23:28:43Z")
I grew up in central Indiana. The main K-Mart near me was just awesome. When I was a kid, their toy and bicycle parts sections were the best in town. They had a popcorn/frozen Coke/submarine sandwich stand, and the popcorn was great. When I got my first car at 16, their auto parts department supplied me with tune-up parts and oil change supplies. They had a great electronics department full of TVs and small electronics with their own KMC brand- I checked the UL listing tags and found that they were the same as the national brands they also had but cost less. They had a great lawn and garden section and small pets department. Alas, Walmart eventually came to town and basically out K-Marted them. Where there were three stores there is still one, but it is a ghost of what it used to be. I just don’t enjoy Walmart like I used to enjoy K-Mart. This may be due to advancing age and grouchiness as well as looking back through the rosy lenses of time, of course. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-will-kmart-go-completely-out-of-business/768929.md?page=5)