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To: MoneyPenny who wrote (77408)	4/8/2008 12:11:26 PM
From: ajtj99	Respond to of 116555

K-Mart's troubles dated back to the mid-80's when they did not remodel their stores, update their technology, or properly train and motivate their employees. Instead they embarked on a buying spree that made it appear they were run by Merrill and not K-Mart. At one time they had Sports Authority, Borders, Pace Membership Warehouse, Office Max, and Builders Square. They were building power centers all over the US and expanding these stores like crazy. Well, we all saw what happened. Office Max is really the only viable member of that group left. All the others are either out of business or absorbed (Borders will soon be bought by Barnes & Noble). All were costly dispositions when K-Mart unloaded them or closed them down. If K-Mart had focused on their core operations instead of trying to be a retail conglomerate, they probably stood a chance of remaining viable. While K-Mart was distracted by these misadventures, Walmart was building a head of steam in the southern rural areas, which later gave them the scale to move national and into urban centers. K-Mart also owned much of their real estate and watched locations that were prime in the 60's and 70's turn into sub-prime in the 80's and 90's. The real estate mismanagement has as much to do with their demise as the store operations. You are correct about their corruption. We refused to deal with K-Mart due to their corrupt organization. They were the worst we've ever come across in the retail environment on that scale. The buyers were fired about every 2-years and were constantly on the take. We also saw their bankruptcy coming 4-years before it happened. We were actually astonished it took so long to happen. I would say K-Mart reached their peak in merchandising around 1982-1984, and it's been downhill ever since.