Now the blog moves into another part of the state that was previously uncovered. This is the first of the Rio Grande Valley posts of Valle Vista Mall, and the last Kmart in Texas.
Here is a unique Sears store photographed in the final days of operation. The Valle Vista Mall in Harlingen Texas has a growing amount of vacancies. The loss of this Sears store will hurt this end of the mall which is already mostly vacant. The exterior of the store has excellent detail that I have never seen before at a Sears location. The arches and the old school red tiles are a very nice added touch.
Sadly, the inside of the store is nothing special.
The electronics department still had the older brand logos from the late 1990's that has mostly disappeared from Sears locations.
At this point in the sale most of the items except for clothes were sold out.
You can see the Sears days logo behind the paper sign advertising the closing sale.
It was hard to tell what was in this part of the store before the sale. Probably Women's clothing, but all of the signage had been taken down.
Some damaged walls in this area.
There were a ton of fixtures still left. I wonder how many are still sitting inside of the now vacant building.
Here is the center of the store which had tools and exercise equipment.
A few items were still left in this part of the store.
A random Christmas tree, waiting for a new home.
The Sears auto center area.
Lots of shelving fixtures in this part of the store near the auto center.
This would be an awesome sign to put in a garage.
Low quality windshield wipers for 50% off, sign me up!
Now for the mall entrance and front of the store. I walked the mall and came back, you will see more of the mall in a future article.
Here we find the bulk of the remaining items for sale. I found a few things and surprisingly checked out fast.
The small spaces that previously housed various Sears departments. This one was filled with office supplies.
Last 5 days! I barely made it in time to see this store as well as the one in Victoria.
A blurry view of the mall entrance.
The store had a decent size for a one level location.
A few more views of the former electronics and appliance departments.
More outdoor views. Imagine how cool this store looked with the older Sears logos.
Here is another sad Sears closure, but at least you were able to chronicle this store before it closed. Thanks for the photos. I reckon this Sears was about the same age as the Willowbrook and Deerbrook Mall Sears if it opened with the Valle Vista Mall, but I'm not so sure if it aged as well as those two Houston Sears. The ceiling tiles especially seems like a patchwork deal. I suppose the store doesn't look too bad aside from that. The carpets and other floors look okay.
ReplyDeleteThis store does appear to be bigger than the Mall of the Mainland Sears from the photos and your description even if the electronics department looked pretty small. Maybe some of that space was converted to something else in the last couple of years. As an aside, the Mall of the Mainland has a new name. It's now called Shops of the Mainland or Shops on the Mainland. Something like that. I'll probably still call it the Mall of the Mainland given that I can't even remember the new name of Plaza Paseo/Pasadena Town Square!
I can't say that I've seen a yellow sign on those price check scanners in the Sears I've seen in person at least. The ones I've seen are usually blue I think.
I continue to read about Sears and Kmart closures. I suppose Lampert just can't help himself in that regard. OTOH, the big news lately is that Sears is merging SHOS back with Sears. That seems like the logical thing to do. Unfortunately, many of the SHOS stores seem to have closed in the last few months. I know they've been struggling to get inventory and to convince their shoppers that they aren't going out of business.
I'm not sure if we've discussed it on the blog yet, but I'm sure you've heard the controversy about Sears' new logo. Perhaps Lampert designed it himself. That's all I'll say about it, lol. The new small format Sears stores seem promising even if they seem similar in concept to other concepts started by Sears and SHOS in the last few years. Hopefully Sears opens more of these stores, they'll need a lot more of those than the three they've opened. One of them happens to be in Lafayette. Maybe you can visit it sometime, but it might be hard to photograph unless you pretend to be interested in a new dishwasher or mattress.
I did discover that there is what appears to be a currently open Kmart in Hobbs, NM, which is very close to the Texas border. It's slightly less than 30 miles away from the small town of Seminole, TX. I'm not sure why you'd be out in that part of the state because there isn't much out there, but if you are ever there, maybe it'll be worthwhile to stop at that Kmart. I suppose it might be on the way to the Carlsbad Caverns.
Anyway, I'm glad that the blog is back. I'm looking forward to seeing the new entries about retail in the Valley. There should be a lot of interesting things to see.
It seems like each Sears has something new to see. I have seen so many stores in the past few years, that it seems like I find the little differences in each location.
DeleteSears management continues to close stores but at a much slower pace. Granted there are not many stores left. I can't speak for Kmart, but Sears stores seem to be really struggling with inventory.
The new logo is not bad, I know it gets flack because it looks like Airbnb. But Walmart basically used Zayre's old logo for their latest logo change.
I actually just got back from West Texas, but it was a quick trip. I noticed that store on the map one day, but I did not have enough time to venture out that far.
I have a lot of new posts still in the works. One was just posted, but finding time to put these together was a struggle in May and June. Hopefully July and August will be calmer so I can post more places.
Each Sears store does have some unique features. Sometimes this is more obvious on the outside than the inside though. Still, the varying levels of maintenance and inventory can lead to some oddball sightings. Although mid-1990s on up Sears have a bit of a cookie cutter design, some of those stores do look quite nice inside. The Pasadena Town Square store (or whatever they call it these days) looks like nice. That said, I prefer the very late 1970s-early 1990s stores which have attached auto centers.
DeleteI read an article recently saying that Sears had a pretty major computer outage which lasted several days. Due to this, people could not pay with credit cards or points (at least at Kmarts) and people could not schedule deliveries for things like appliances at Sears. It's quite surprising that something as major like this would go on for hours, much less days, at a major retailer, but I suppose this is the modern Sears/Kmart experience. Anyway, it looks like things have been fixed now. Sears is so far off the media's radar these days that it didn't get major headlines at least, but I'm sure shoppers who needed to use a credit/debit card or those who wanted to buy appliances were quite inconvenienced.
It'll be interesting to see how the product mix changes at Sears given the bankruptcy and perhaps the need to find new suppliers in certain departments. Hopefully they can do something about some of the bare sections in their larger stores.
I know Walmart's new logo has been around for nearly a decade now, but I still think of it as some kind of temporary type of look. It's recognizable, more so than the new Sears logo, but it's not unique as you say. I shopped at a Walmart in Alberta last year which still had the old signage up and it felt right shopping there even though it was a Canadian Wal-Mart with a different layout and product mix. I think most Canadian Walmarts have the newer logo, but perhaps they weren't as aggressive in changing stores over to the new logo as they were here.
Some of the Albertsons stores in places like New Mexico look interesting. I was looking at Google images of the interiors of them and some of them still have elements and signage that our Albertson's had when they gave Houston a shot ~20 years ago. Of course, they also have some elements of a modern Randall's as well. It's an odd mix.
I am not surprised that Sears computer systems went out. The technology they use at the POS is very dated in comparison to their peers. The length of the outage shows that either their systems are in very poor shape or their support system is understaffed. It is probably a combo of both issues that made the outage drag on.
DeleteI am interested to see what Sears does to refill their stores. One of the potential tenants that could have filled space at the Deerbrook Sears will instead open up in a different space. H&M is going to take up a lot of the unused space between the Forever 21 and Macy's when it opens. I guess Dave & Busters could still fill space if Sears decides to downsize. It seems like a lot of stores will soon be downsized with the lack of inventory. There is only so much space they can fill up with excess appliances and mattresses.
Speaking of Sears, the San Jacinto Mall demolition is now well underway. A huge chunk of the mall has been torn down in just 2 weeks. From Sears all the way to Mervyn's is being ripped apart little by little. The small portion of the mall that remains open is in bad shape with water leaks and floor tiles popping up. The cinema and Power Play arcade are both closed so the mall is now very quiet. They may wind up pulling the plug on the last portion of the mall sooner than they anticipated if it continues to fall apart.
I would like to see some of the older grocery designs especially the stores that still have neon signage. I remember Randall's having a lot of neon signage back in the day.
My understanding was that SHOS was designing their own new computer system separate from the antiquated one Sears and Kmart are using. Perhaps now that SHOS is part of Sears again, Sears and Kmart can use that new system. The computer system that Sears uses looks like a relic from the 1980s and it must be hard to hire staff cheaply who knows how to maintain it.
DeleteI saw some footage of the San Jacinto Mall demolition recently in the news. I believe it was indeed the Sears store they were showing. It's quite remarkable how quickly that Sears is coming down while others like the ex-Greenspoint and Baybrook Mall ones remain to rot. Oh well, San Jacinto already had redevelopment plans so I suppose that isn't a big surprise.
Yes, a lot of mall retailers probably wish they could reduce their store sizes. I'm not sure what these retailers can do. Kohl's is already becoming Amazon's designated return center. I'm not sure what else these stores can do. Sears could try to expand their mini-Kmart idea, but I suspect that most Sears stores are close enough to a Walmart or Target that it might not be successful.
When I get Sears coupons, I occasionally get some which mention paint. I have not seen paint at any Houston area Sears stores in many years and I have not seen paint in Sears pictures from elsewhere. I know Sears was experimenting with bringing back paint a couple of years ago, but have you seen these departments anywhere? One could still get Sears Easy Living and Weatherbeater paint from Sears Hardware stores when they were still around, but now those too are gone from the Houston area side from maybe that Huntsville store.
If you want to relive Randall's glory days and see some of their neon, I recommend watching this video that they sent out to people before the Lufkin store opened. I suspect it was filmed in a Houston Randall's, but I can't say for sure which store it might be. I think I've posted that video before, but it's worth re-visiting if you have not seen it in a while.
I am sure it is difficult to transition an old computer system to a new, more modern one. I just wonder what went wrong.
DeleteSpeaking of Sears, their red tent promotion seemed to draw a lot of traffic last weekend. I picked up some sale items and got a free reusable Sears bag with the new logo on it. I went to the Willowbrook location and was surprised to see a small area of electronics. Every other store nearby has gotten rid of their electronics. I have yet to see paint in any location even the Kmart in McAllen just had spray paint.
I am going to pass by San Jacinto Mall this weekend. The demolition had already torn into just about every vacant part of the mall already two weeks into the project.
Retailers have way too much space for their needs these days. People just don't have time to go bargain hunting in these huge spaces anymore. The popular off-price stores are smaller and the discounts are so much better than a huge Kohl's or department store. I really think these middle of the line department stores either need to expand their product selection, lower their prices significantly, or just close off large portions of the store and focus on a smaller footprint.
I will check out the Randalls video again. Thanks for sending it over.
I drove by the Mall of the Mainland Sears last week while they were having their sidewalk sale. I didn't see any tents, but they did have some merchandise set outside the store. They also had those fan operated dancing men around the store. I will say that the store looked busier than it normally did. Perhaps Sears managed to attract a lot of people to their big sale last week. If so, it's rather impressive because Sears' marketing these days isn't exactly a strong point. I wonder what encouraged people to stop at Sears. Hopefully the traffic will continue to rise at Sears.
DeleteI didn't get an opportunity to stop in the Sears, but I did have to drive by it to see what all the activity was about. Perhaps I could have picked up a free reusable Sears bag, but oh well. The Willowbrook Mall Sears does have a couple of aisles of electronics, but it's not much at all. I suppose it's better than nothing at all though. I'm glad that the Willowbrook Mall Sears still has an electronics department when most Sears have eliminated them.
Now that Sears has control of SHOS, I wonder if they might expand the Sears Outlet concept into regular Sears stores or Kmarts. It's been a couple years since I've been to a Sears Outlet, but they had some deep discounts on clothing items. Not all of the items are from Sears/Kmart. Some were even Target and Walmart branded stuff, but some of the stuff was good quality like Dockers slacks and such. The Dockers slacks were only ~$14. I could see people being interested in such deals, but then again, that might completely eat away at sales for their regularly priced clothing departments.
Kohl's seems to be expanding their relationship with Amazon so that people can bring their Amazon returns to Kohl's and Kohl's will package the items and send them back to Amazon. I wonder how many people using that service will browse the racks at Kohl's and make a purchase versus the number of people who are now more likely to order from Amazon now that returns are easier. I don't know. It looks like Kohl's has maintained their electronics departments. I wonder how they're doing with those. Their electronics department is probably bigger than Sears' right now.
I don't know how things look in your area, but it looks like Carls Jr. has closed a few locations on my side of town. There is still at least one location which is still open though. Perhaps they've found the Houston market to be quite difficult just like many other fast food restaurants before them.
I did notice that the FM 1960 and Jones Rd. Wendy's in front of the ex-Kmart that is now Hobby Lobby finally reopened after a prolonged renovation period. I actually thought the store was permanently closed because the renovation took so long and it wasn't clear at first that they were doing a renovation. The Wendy's looked just as it did in the mid-80s prior to that renovation. In a way, it's sad to see that style of Wendy's with the green carpet and sun room go away. Oh well. The Wendy's in this part of town usually do not do great business at least according to my observations. While Wendy's has some good value menu items, their non-value items tend to be quite expensive. Their meat has a rather odd texture and their fries are often stale (perhaps due to the lack of traffic). Wendy's has been the most mistake-prone burger chain in my experience for many years now and they aren't always very quick even with the lack of customers.
Perhaps Wendy's and others can gain some ground if Whataburger's new owners slip up while trying to expand the brand, but it's probably too early to speculate about that.
I happened to stop by the Mall of the Mainland this past weekend. Sears had the dancing man and the tent sale. I picked up a few clothing items and scored some cash back points. This is the second time in 2 weeks that I have received $15 in cash back points from a small purchase at Sears. These discounts are unlike any other chain and I am surprised more people don't take advantage of them. The inventory of the store has really changed since my last visit. Toys take up a huge chunk near the South door of the store. The tool department has shrunk to the area near the toys and lawn furniture is now in the area across the walkway that had tools. Appliances and mattresses have stretched out into the former electronics department and sporting goods areas. Sporting goods have been moved to where the seasonal items were and the lawn and garden departments are really low on inventory.
DeleteAs for the rest of the mall. The interior where the food court was still has the comic store Toxic City, the Stuttgarden, and a new business Bless your heart Vinyl and more. The anchors are all filled with Sears, Cinema 12, The Palais Royal/World Gym, Booker T World Gym arena, First Baptist Church, and Right Move Storage/Postnet. In addition offices and the Trampoline park appear to have filled the rest of the vacant space in the mall. With the exception of the struggling center area, the redevelopment has been a success.
An outlet mini-store would not be a bad idea. Macy's and Stage stores are expanding their off-price locations. The bargain hunting draws people in, but they have to still make a profit.
Kohl's electronics selection is larger than Sears, but they are not too much of a draw. They are in the slowest parts of the store instead of being front and center. They are not much of a draw and there is not a lot to choose from. Their video game selection at the few stores I have visited, is not good at all. Sadly video games are becoming increasingly digital only offerings, so we will see chains like Gamestop shrink or disappear.
Wendy's probably hit their peak in the 1990's. The best product that they have featured recently has been the Baconater. That sandwich is several years old now. I guess the remodels give them a short boost in sales, but the product is not anything new and exciting. I have seen a handful of the old locations, but they are disappearing quick.
I really don't get the Whataburger sale, I think that sacrifices will be made to the product quality if they expand too quickly. The reason for selling the chain was to grow faster, but I think it will hurt the chain eventually. In and Out is growing into our area, but they are growing slowly without sacrificing quality.
I am pleased to hear that you were able to stop by the Mall of the Mainland (or The Shops of the Mainland or whatever they call it now) recently. Your report about the Sears seems similar to my observations about how the store is laid out based on my last visit there two or three months ago. The toys now have a very prominent part of the store near the main entrance. As you say, the tool department has been downsized significantly to the point that it's all against one wall now. Anyway, I don't know if you got any photos of the place, but if so, it might make for an interesting blog post.
DeleteI have started to get some favorable Sears SYWR offers lately. Things had been pretty dry since around Christmas, but perhaps they are picking up their old sales habits once again. Maybe it'll pull me into the store one of these days. I'm not really needing anything from Sears and their small electronics department really isn't much to get excited about. We'll see.
Yes, Macy's has their off-price stores and they have off-price sections within their regular stores. They are quite messy and have really contributed, IMO, to a devaluation of the brand. Perhaps their shoppers think otherwise though and don't mind it looking a bit like a Ross. Sears has less of an image to protect than Macy's does though so perhaps outlet store racks would be less of a problem for them.
It's been a while since I've looked at video games at Kohl's, but I seem to remember them looking like they were mainly aimed at kids and maybe at grandparents wanting to buy games for their kids. As you say, games are moving towards downloads only and that will have a major impact on new and used game retailers. I suppose this isn't news though, things have been trending in that direction for a decade now. It must be quite sad for game collectors. While music will probably still be released on physical formats for years to come, that may not be the case for games.
Yes, I think Wendy's lost a lot of momentum when Dave Thomas died many years ago. Outside of location the Frosty, and maybe their chili, I can't think of any real reason to stop at a Wendy's versus any other burger place. They do have the Freestyle soda fountains which gives them something unique as compared to everyone else except for Jack in the Box, but those machines are often out of half the flavors they have anyway. Perhaps Wendy's does better in other markets, but it seems that they need some sort of strategy shift to be competitive here in Houston.
Whataburger does have a pretty good product, but I don't think it's so good that people in say, Illinois, will leave their existing favorites to eat at Whataburger. Their prices are competitive, but they don't have a value menu to drive people to their stores the way the other big burger joints do. They also don't have a vast menu like some chains. I think Whataburger will probably have to do some things which will reduce quality in order to make them more competitive for expansion. That could hurt Whataburger in their core markets like Texas and Florida. It's not like the competition is weak here in Texas especially with In and Out slowly increasing their presence.
I took several photos of the store and I am glad that I did after the recent news. It is sad that the last true anchor of the mall will cease to exist, but I am sure it will be replaced soon enough.
DeleteThe points deals have been fairly good lately. When I went to Mall of the Mainland, it was a $30 purchase to get $15 in points. They are limiting the redemption period of the points to just 7 days and they are gone. I seem to spend the points on something slightly more expensive so I guess that helps the company out.
Macy's has lost their status as an upper middle class store. They are now in the same pack as Sears and JCPenney these days. Dillard's has continued to do well and has not sacrificed their main stores by adding clearance departments like Macy's has been doing. They do a great job of separating their clearance stores from their main stores.
A lot of retailers have scaled back their video game offerings like Target and Best Buy. Gamestop is in a very bad spot now, similar to Blockbuster prior to their bankruptcy. Way too many stores and drastic year over year sales losses in their game sales. They have been adding more toys and collectables to their stores, but so has every other retailer.
Fast food is one of the most competitive restaurant categories out there. There is no shortage of new places opening up every month or so across the area. One of the problems with Wendy's, Jack and the Box, and Burger King is that they stay in tired locations with minimal renovations. Their food is cheap, but not very good in comparison to their peers. Whataburger may fall into the same category if the new owners don't keep the food quality at the same level.
Part I:
DeleteIt is good hear that you got several photos of the Mall of the Mainland Sears on your last visit. It'll be good to look at the photos of that store before the depressing closing sale. I actually made a short post about the Mall of the Mainland closing on the day that the news of the closing came down, but perhaps it got lost in the spam folder or something.
I have noticed that some of the new coupons Sears sends out have a short expiration date. That's probably a good idea to try to get people to return to the store quickly and not forget about the coupon. Sadly, I have not made as many visits to Sears this year as I have in the recent past even with the good offers. I just can't think of many things I need from there right now. Time is flying by though and it'll soon be Christmas shopping season again though and I usually do the bulk of my gift shopping there. Perhaps I should go scout some gift ideas before the crowds start getting bigger. The excitement of shopping for gifts at Sears last Christmas was certainly muted since we didn't know if Sears would survive, but maybe this year there will be more excitement with a bit more sense of stability.
It's hard to say what will happen with the Mall of the Mainland Sears location. I suppose Sears still owns that property, but maybe they'll make a favorable deal and will sell it to Karam. I'm not sure what Karam can do with that place. Perhaps the auto center can be leased out to an independent mechanic, but I don't know about the rest of the place. Karam seems to have a pretty good vision for things so we'll see, but everything is dependent on Sears selling him the property.
You're right on about Macy's becoming just like a JCPenney type store. It just seems like the quality of everything at Macy's has decreased. The markdown racks at Macy's are so messy that they make a JCPenney look nice. Fortunately, Dillard's has not slipped nearly as far. I don't think Dillard's is quite what they were either, but at least they're trying to maintain their reputation.
I recently went to the new TJ Maxx in what was the old Champions Service Merchandise many years ago. That had been a golf store for a number of years, but TJ Maxx moved from the old North Oaks Mall to that location. I mainly went in there to walk around in the part of the Service Merchandise which had the electronics department. The other half of the old Service Merchandise has been a Stein Mart for many years and that's still there too. Anyway, the TJ Maxx wasn't as nice as the Stein Mart, but it was nicer than I was expecting it to be. It's certainly a step up from the typical Ross experience.
On the topic of that shopping center, I also visited the Palais Royal and Randall's there. The Palais Royal moved their housewares from the back of the store to the front and it appears they have expanded their selection of housewares. Conversely, I'm guessing the clothing departments, the men's department in particular, were downsized a bit. Other than that, the store is more or less how it had been.
I go to the Randall's there rather frequently and there really aren't any changes to report. However, on my last visit, I noticed that some of the checkouts had plastic bags with the Albertsons logo on them instead of the Randall's logo. I got Randall's bags with my purchase, but perhaps I would have gotten Albertsons ones if I went to a different register. I know we've said it before, but it appears that Albertsons isn't really trying very hard to hide who owns Randall's. I will say that the trend I've seen in the last few months of that store being a tad busier than it had been is continuing. I think they're having better weekly specials and that's perhaps drawing in a few more people. The store is still not as busy as a typical Kroger, but at least it seems to be doing a steady amount of business.
Part II:
DeleteYes, Gamestop seems to be doomed as video games trend towards the download model. I know that even Google is trying to get in the video game console business, but it won't be with physical games. Perhaps Gamestop can specialize more in vintage video games or maybe they can push some kind of physical media video game platform. I don't know. There is still a niche crowd of physical media music enthusiasts. I don't know if there is a large enough crowd of physical media video game enthusiasts to sustain a chain store.
Most of the Wendy's around here, and there aren't very many of them left as they have closed some locations, have renovated their stores in the last 5-6 years. The location across 249 from Willowbrook Mall might be the exception, but that's probably the busiest location around here. Also, most of the Burger Kings around here have either renovated, torn down and rebuilt their locations, or are relatively new locations. I do know of some older Burger Kings in other parts of town though. Jack in the Box has many 1990s/early 2000s locations in this area which dates back to a period of great growth in this area which saw them move from being small players in this market in the 1980s to being a major fast food chain here in Houston by the early 2000s. These locations are smaller than many fast food restaurants and their drive-thru waits are very long due to the slowness of them preparing food. Jack in the Box seems more value-oriented than most fast food restaurants so I wouldn't expect any major renovations any time soon.
I intended to try the new Burger King beefless Whopper. I ordered it and everything, but they must have not updated their registers to reflect the new menu because even though I ordered the #3 combo, what I got was the old #3, the bacon and cheese Whopper. I didn't realize this until after I got home so I just ate what I got. Oh well, maybe I'll try again later. I am curious to know how it tastes. The A&W chain in Canada was really marketing their new meatless burgers last year when I was there. I was tempted to try it, but it didn't happen.
I did get your prior comment, I have been staggering my blog time to try and get things out faster. It seems to have worked a little better since I was able to get 3 posts and a YouTube video out in about 2 weeks. I appreciate the comments, it keeps my interest in the blog going.
DeleteI will still continue to document the ever-shrinking store base of Sears at least through this year. I still have a ton of Sears photos that I need to organize, and finish some posts that will make good articles such as my long delayed Shrinking electronics article.
The inventory continues to shrink in the stores so I am getting concerned that there will be hardly anything left to get by Christmas. The hardlines such as tools and lawn and garden have really emptied out. The tool department is especially hurting right now. The same small selection of tools can be found in Deerbrook, Willowbrook, Mall of the Mainland, Cielo Vista (As of June 2019), and Beaumont. Management really needs to get the stock filled back up or Sears will not survive. I have read a lot of similar things about Sears and Kmart on the Deadmalls discord.
The low price retailers such as TJ Maxx and Ross are destroying the apparel sales of department stores. Department store companies are forced to cut prices to compete. Also add the fast fashion brands and Online companies, and they have a bleak outlook. You bring up the fact that these stores are in the space of another former retailer, there will not be enough of the stores in the future to fill all of the mall anchors that will more than likely close.
The Palais Royal at the Mall of the Mainland was very disorganized and trashed when I went. The doors to the interior court of the building were also in bad shape. I know they have been quietly closing stores, but is the company in bad shape? Maybe they want to convert all of their stores to Stage or Gordmans. They picked up so many brands over the years so I would not be surprised that they have way too many stores out there.
I went to a Randall's last week just to go to the bank. I picked up a handful of items, but nothing I really needed was on sale. They only had 2 checkouts open during the evening rush hours. Not too many people we shopping. We have actually been going to Costco more often and we have been saving money by avoiding the impulse buys there. HEB has been our go-to marketplace lately, in the late evenings it is calm enough to shop there. At the store near us, they do a very good job of keeping shelves full.
I will reply to part 2 later.
I see no need to shop at places like TJ Maxx and Ross when good deals on clothing can be had at places like Sears. Granted, Sears isn't the ideal place to shop for clothes for all occasions, but then neither is TJ Maxx and company. That's not to say that TJ Maxx does not have a useful purpose. One can find nice ties and such there for very reasonable prices. As for fast fashion stores, I have no use for them. Sadly, it seems most retailers and clothing makers are emulating them these days.
DeleteIt's sad hearing that Sears continues to have inventory problems. I'm sure Sears has their share of supplier problems as companies were probably burned due to the bankruptcy. Hopefully they'll be able to correct this problem before Christmas. Oddly enough, some Sears stores actually got better inventories during the bankruptcy than they had a few months before it. I still have not made sense of that one, but the only thing I could think of is that inventory from closed stores were shipped out to the remaining stores. Thanks for keeping an eye out on the status of inventory at Sears stores. Hopefully you can keep us updated on that as I don't make it out to Sears stores as often as I'd like these days and the closure of the Mall of the Mainland Sears will probably make visits to Sears even more rare.
It's very unfortunate to hear of the bad conditions at the Mall of the Mainland Palais Royal. It's been a couple years since I've been there, but I was rather impressed with the store when it first opened. It sounds like it has gone downhill. One would have figured that the closure of the Dickinson Palais Royal after Harvey might have improved the sales and importance of the Texas City store, but perhaps that has not been the case.
My understanding is that all of Stage's brands aside from Gordmans (Palais Royal, Stage, Bealls, etc.) are pretty much all the same. Thus, I would not expect any format changes other than perhaps the conversion of stores to the Gordmans discount concept.
Randall's is almost certainly not the best option general weekly grocery shopping if one cares about prices. Sometimes even Randall's sales prices are higher than other chain's regular prices. That said, I have noticed some good sales of late in their weekly ads and on their online coupon system. I usually only go to Randall's if there is a list of sale items I want. Lately, that has been the case.
Speaking of which, I revisited Randall's since my last post and I can report one major change which must have happened over the last week. The store was in the process of installing self-checkout machines. As you may remember, Randall's had self-checkouts 3-4 years ago, but they removed them for whatever reason. Now, it looks like they are coming back. The new self-checkouts weren't operational yet during my visit. I will say that Randall's has had at least three checkouts open during my recent visits which is more than they normally have. Maybe that's just a fluke, but hopefully they keep the regular lines staffed even with the self-checkouts coming back.
Costco has expanded their presence in Houston in the last couple of years to great fanfare. They're a very popular chain. Sam's Club seems similarly popular, but perhaps with less fanfare. Costco does have some real bargains, but when it comes to food, I rarely have a use for their super-sized packages. Sometimes I can deal with large packages of frozen food, but not for other things.
HEB does have good prices and one does not need a card to get them. I can see the appeal, but the stores around here are seemingly never not busy. Their checkout lines move quickly, but sometimes shopping there and getting things like produce in their jammed departments feels like being in rush hour Houston traffic. I think poor store design is a factor in that. Plus, their stores are not nice places to be from a decor perspective. While I do shop at HEB, I usually find excuses to shop somewhere else.
Gamestop has been quietly accepting retro games for at least 2 years now. They are very picky about what they accept so they will only take in a few select games for a retro console. Retro game sales have also recently declined with all of the mini consoles that have come out recently. They are going to have to change their business model significantly or things will get worse for them.
DeleteI really don't see how the fast food restaurants can turn a profit unless they are busy constantly. There is only so much labor and other cost cutting you can do before the restaurant becomes run down. Restrooms especially need constant updating or else they will stink badly. To me it seems like there are way too many fast food restaurants and more keep popping up.
I am not sure if I would try a meatless burger, maybe I am being too close-minded. Let me know if it is worth trying out.
Sears does have some good deals, but a few of the shirts and towels I have bought from them lately have fallen apart or shrunk badly. I am just going to be more cautious of what brands I get from now on. If I don't find anything on a clearance rack at TJ Maxx or any of the others, I don't bother to look anywhere else. It is too time consuming to searcht the store. I also have no use for the fast fashion clothing stores, I am way too old to be wearing most of that stuff. Besides they don't have shirts for middle aged Dad bellies, lol.
DeleteStage stores have been struggling lately, so we will probably see more stores close. Their other brands such as Goody's and Peebles are probably not much different either. Gordman's looks to be the one concept that will grow the company as the other brands stagnate. I do like their Stage concept stores that are cleaner and more modern. I think the company will eventually convert all of their stores over but for now they have been focused on converting Bealls stores over.
I tried shopping at Randall's this past weekend and only walked out with a small quantity of items. It is just too expensive for my budget. They don't carry all milk brands we like or certain flavors of juice we like. They had a couple of deals, but some were only on sale if you buy 5 of the same item. Their merchandisers are not doing a great job because some of the items are large boxes and most people don't have space in their pantry or freezer for so many items.
I have been going to HEB more often lately. I go after 8pm and the store is less crowded. I have brought Aldi back into my routine to help save some money as well. As for Walmart, Target, and Kroger, we have been rarely shopped there this Summer.
To add to the topics of conversation. Fry's electronics has been a popular topic among many online threads and reviews lately. Retail Archeology and a few other Youtubers have posted videos showing low stock and empty shelves. There are several rumors floating around that the company has not been paying vendors and they are very close to bankruptcy. Fry's is a private company so we can't keep up with their financials. I did some local research at the West Rd. and NASA locations this past weekend. Stock levels are low at NASA, but decent at West Rd. As we know Fry's has always had strange items you would not think they would carry, such as pet supplies, and perfumes. I noticed a decline in inventory several years ago, so it is hard for me to think they are about to go under as quickly as people are saying. On the other hand, they did close a product warehouse and other stores including NASA have very low levels of inventory. I would hate to see Fry's go, but I only shop there once every 6 months or so. Now might be a good time to stop by and check them out. I made sure to get numerous photos for the blog, and I will stop by the Southwest side location possibly next week.
Part I:
DeleteClothing quality at Sears does vary quite a bit. Like I mentioned in the Sunrise Mall Sears post, I recently visited the Willowbrook Mall Sears for the first time in quite some time. The men's department there has changed a bit from a merchandising perspective. It looked like they had fewer shirts, especially name-brand shirts, but more suits and stuff like that. That seemed like a rather odd choice to me, but I don't know.
Some of the shirts Sears sells are basically Kmart quality. Perhaps even lower-end Kmart quality. I brought a polo type shirt from Sears a few months ago on clearance for $2 or $3 and it was a pretty low quality shirt. The material is almost permanently wrinkled, the stitching isn't really straight, and the shirt made a lot of fuzz on the dryer screen when I washed it. I assume that to be a Kmart level shirt. Sears does sell some better quality stuff. Well, at least they did until recently, but I don't know if they still sell that stuff. I can't say it was featured prominently during my last visit.
I also visited the Willowbrook Mall JCPenney. It looks like they've expanded their selection of housewares where the appliances used to be. They actually have a pretty decent selection of housewares now, but the prices are a bit silly unless there is a big sale, markdown, or a coupon. Also, I saw that they're no longer accepting returns at the normal checkout counters. Those wanting returns, exchanges, and online pickups have to go upstairs to a counter they have up there. Hopefully that speeds up the lines for people buying stuff as JCP's lines are notoriously slow and long even if they have multiple registers open. At least as far as having registers open goes, JCP is better than Sears right now as most of Sears' registers are closed even at busy times.
I recently visited one of the bigger, busier HEBs in this area. I had not been there in a while. I was quite disappointed, but not in the way that HEB usually disappoints me. Most of the produce at this HEB was in rather poor shape. Stuff like strawberries looked like rejects, but they had lots of them. I can't say HEB's produce was ever poor in my previous visits so maybe this was a fluke, but I don't know.
Randall's does not have the variety of brands that some other stores have. I suppose it depends on what you're looking for. I know their dairy section is not as diverse as many other stores and is mostly focused on their own (well, Safeway's own) Lucerne brand. As for the Buy 5 sales, Randall's is not as bad about this as Kroger. At Kroger, if they have a Buy 5 or Buy 6 sale, you have to buy a multiple of the number to get the sale. It can be any sale item under the same promotion in the store, but it has to be a multiple. At Randall's, usually you just have to buy at least 4 'red tag' items and you get the sale. It does not have to be a multiple and it does not have to be the same product. There could be some items under a different promotion where you would have to buy the same item, but I don't know. I have not seen that.
Aldi is a good deal if you don't mind their generic items and their very limited selection. I've shopped there on occasion without being disappointed by the quality of the goods, but they just don't have enough of a selection to be a one-stop grocery store for me.
I recently went to the new Costco in Cypress. Unlike the Willowbrook area and Memorial City area Costcos, which seem perpetually busy, this Costco was rather quiet. Granted, I don't think I was there at a very busy time, but still. Other Costcos are perpetually busy like I said. The store has a different layout than the Willowbrook Costco, but otherwise looks about the same. It really wasn't anything to get excited about. I don't like the traffic in that part of the NW metro area so I likely won't visit again anytime soon.
Part II:
DeleteThanks for the heads up about Fry's. The NASA area store has generally been not as busy and not as well stocked as the Greenspoint area store. That's been the case for a few years now at least. Still, I'll say Fry's is not what it used to be. While the Greenspoint store is still busy, it used to be absolutely packed with customers on weekends. Not so much anymore. The NASA store is even more empty. I wouldn't be surprised if they're having financial problems, but I hope they can make it. They're the only place to buy certain electronic items now that RadioShack is mostly gone. At least we have Micro Center in town, but Micro Center is not in an ideal location for me and it's even worse to get to now than it was with their old location.
There are still some things I buy from Fry's since nobody else sells that stuff in-store and since their prices are sometimes better than online stores like Amazon. I may have to stock up on stuff in case they go under. Hopefully that won't happen though. Their stores are worth documenting. Well, at least the Greenspoint and NASA ones are, I've never been to the SW side store. I hear that is the plainest and perhaps smallest of the three, but I don't know.
I would say that a decline in electronics sales is why Fry's is struggling, but that's not the whole story as Best Buy had a most unexpected comeback. Perhaps Fry's has not evolved with the times enough though. I don't know of anyone who buys appliances from them, but that seems to be the big money maker for electronics stores these days.
I did go back to Burger King and I ordered the meatless burger again. This time I was actually successful in getting it. They asked me if I wanted it grilled or made otherwise. I'm not sure what the alternative is, but I asked for it to be grilled. I suppose the latter option is for those who don't want their meatless burger made on a grill that also has beef patties on it. Anyway, it seems like they put more veggies on my veggie burger than they normally put so that made it a bit harder to judge the taste of the meat. It could be a fluke, but it seemed to me that the meatless patty tasted smokier and more burnt than the regular beef patty. Some may like that, but I wasn't a fan of that. It also had a bit of a salty taste to it. The texture was fine though. So, yeah, it gets a 'meh' rating from me. It's not bad, but I think I prefer the beef Whopper. Still, if one is willing to pay extra for that, the taste negatives may not be as much of a negative as the health benefits of eating a veggie patty versus a beef patty. I may try it again just to see if it tastes better on another try, but I'm not in a rush to do that. I'm glad that Burger King is offering an alternative though.
I suspect we'll see some fast food chains start to close stores in the near future. There are just too many of them. It'll be interesting to see which survive and which continue to put money into renovations and which might let their stores rot a bit. Some of the expansion efforts by the Mexican chicken chains and James Coney Island already appear to be a failure.
There are a lot of rumors swirling around about the state of Sears behind the scenes. A lot of corporate jobs may have been lost and an additional 80 Kmart stores are on a list that has been leaked to the public. I think they are really having trouble with their merchandisers. I am guessing that the lower quality merchandisers are what is keeping Sears stocked these days. They may have burned the bridges with the better quality suppliers.
DeleteMaking the return lanes separate also helps make returns easier, I would imagine. That is a step in the right direction for JCPenney.
With all of the doom and gloom these days in brick and mortar retail, I can expect we will see more closings and possibly even fall into a recession. Forever 21, Fry's, Sears, and several others are on a death watch. Several other chains are either closing stores or liquidating their operations.
I am surprised to hear that HEB had poor quality produce. Usually they are on top of their produce aisles. That is not a good first impression of the store. Kroger is the store near me with the questionable produce departments. Every single store in my area has been hit or miss with produce for years now.
The multiple quantity sale items really annoy me. Most of the time I don't need that much and it would go to waste. I can understand soda packs, but they should at least let you get away with 2 packs for a sale price. I can see why Randall's has sales with multiple quantities though, they don't have the traffic that other grocers have. You really need to make sure you check the product dates at the 2 stores near me for expired dates.
So far I have only been to the Humble Costco. It can get crowded some times especially around the sample stations. I wish they would move those a little further back from the main aisles so people don't block the way with those oversized carts. The food court is a very good perk for Costco shoppers. You can't beat the prices there.
Part 2
DeleteThe Nasa store is partially blocked by the NASA Rd. highway. It is in a difficult spot to get to if you are coming from the Baybrook or Clear Lake areas. I know there is a lot of development in that area as well, but there are a lot of entertainment options and not much retail. The West Rd. Fry's has been a catalyst of sorts for that shopping center. At one time Fry's was the only big box store left in that shopping center when Kmart and the Compaq store (where The Dump is now) closed. Now that shopping center is completely filled and a new building was built next to Fry's adding even more big-box neighbors.
Yes, the Southwest Fry's is very bland. It has a strange theme that is hard to describe. There are lots of historical photos of the Houston area on the walls, but the design reminds me of a Roman style of architecture.
There is not much to buy in the appliance department at Fry's anymore. The West Rd. location is barren with mostly boxed items on the floor. The NASA store had some floor models still set up with boxed items. Southwest Houston was similar to the NASA location in their selection. I think Best Buy has weathered the storm very well, but I also think they have too many stores. They have a lot of stores in towns with populations of around 30,000 or so across the US. I can't see those stores making huge sales numbers like the city locations do. Fry's really has struggled to adapt to the changing world of technology. One thing I noticed, is that a lot of the models of computers and TV's they have are older models. I remember when they were one of the first places in town to sell Plasma TV's, but they did not have any of the cutting edge TV's in stock that Best Buy has.
I wonder if the other cooking option is to microwave it, lol. I read that KFC was trying a meatless option for chicken as well. I guess it is the latest war in the fast food industry. As you probably know several chains are trying to outdo each other now that Popeyes has a very popular chicken sandwich. I managed to get one before they ran out, it is definitely a strong competitor against Wendy's and Chik-Fil-A.
A lot of the Mexican chicken chains have closed over the past decade or so in the area. The Caribbean style Pollo Tropical was a failure too. There is just not enough people to support all of these places for them all to be profitable.
Part I:
ReplyDeleteSears has been in the news quite a bit lately. Unfortunately, it has not been for good reasons. I've heard the rumors about the sale of the corporate offices and the corporate layoffs. That's not really a surprise though. Sears is a much smaller company than they were even a year ago and I don't think they need the amount of employees that they have. I also heard that the company behind the Liberty Tax preparers is buying SHOS for a very low price. Lampert was rumored to be interested in buying SHOS, but I guess that fell through. I don't know why Liberty will be interested in SHOS, but it's quite possible that SHOS might take a very different direction from the main Sears now. I wonder if Sears themselves might be up for sale. Perhaps Lampert is losing interest in the venture, but I don't know.
If Lampert does sell out, I think it would make sense for someone like Home Depot or Lowe's to buy them and turn Sears stores into a home services showroom where they can display kitchen and bathroom remodels and stuff like that. They can also sell appliances and furniture at the stores. All other Sears lines would probably need to be eliminated, but they can retain their warranty, repair, and parts businesses.
Kmart seems to be almost extinct at this point with all the store closures. I'm sure we'll see even more as time goes on. With the likes of Walmart and Target doing well in a soft economy, there really isn't much room for Kmart. Also, as you say, the merchandising at Sears is so haphazard right now that I'm sure Kmart is having problems as well.
Roman architecture really does not make sense for a Houston store. It'll be interesting to see pictures of the SW Houston Fry's, but it doesn't sound like something worth visiting. Fry's has a similar price matching policy as Best Buy, but it seems Best Buy has been much more successful in their approach. I think Fry's relied too much on word of mouth advertising by their core PC builder customers. People aren't building PCs and such as much as they used to. That's a big loss right there and regular people don't even know Fry's exists. Also, as you say, it's not easy getting into the NASA Fry's even though it's right on the freeway. The first time I went there over a decade ago, it took me a while to figure out how to get into it even though I was on the road it's on. The League City and Baybrook Best Buys are very close to the NASA Fry's and they probably take a lot of their customers.
Best Buy may have too many stores. That said, I heard they actually opened new full-line stores for the first time in quite a while a year or two ago due to their resurgent sales. I'm sure the new stores are focused on appliances in areas where Sears has vanished. Sears' problems may have really helped boost Best Buy's fortunes. Although I hear Lowe's is doing better as of late, their recent stumbles may have helped Best Buy as well. We'll see if Best Buy can keep the momentum going. The CEO who led their turnaround has retired I believe.
I recently went to Best Buy to buy a new landline answering machine of all things. They still sell them. My 25 year old tapeless AT&T answering machine from Circuit City was finally failing. It's rather amazing that an AT&T model from 25 years later is almost identical in terns if features, but I suppose there isn't much innovation put into answering machines these days. I'm just glad they still sell them! Anyway, the Best Buy I went to seemed to be reasonably busy. I tried checking the Fry's website to see if they sold them, but their website is not as good as Best Buy's. If Fry's sells answering machines, which they probably do, I could not find any evidence of it on their website. Oh well, that's another potential sale lost to Best Buy.
I will reply to part 2 at a later time.
DeleteIt really sounds like Sears is not doing well and may fold in the near future. The new store signs have not been happening and inventory is very lean. Kmart is going to have less than 100 stores so they are almost gone now.
Best Buy is getting into health care technology from what I recently read. Monitoring and technology to help elders live better is what they are making a big push for. I am not sure how that will translate into store sales, but we will see. I am not surprised that Best Buy has an answering machine, they keep many older technologies available even though they may be hard to find in the store. You would have had a hard time navigating the Fry's store also.
Fry's is getting even more attention by Youtubers. One was even kicked out by a somewhat rude manager a few days ago. The layoffs website has a lot of "behind the scenes" info about Fry's and Sears to see. The most recent list of store locations Sears and Kmart are now closing came out there first. Lots of good info to be found there.
Part II:
ReplyDeleteI recently compared the prices on a number of health and beauty items at Target and a nearby HEB. HEB was about 5%-15% cheaper on almost every item I checked even though HEB didn't have any sales on those items. Nothing was more expensive at HEB. This wasn't a big surprise to me. I remember doing a similar comparison between Kroger and Target a year or two ago and Kroger was cheaper as well (though perhaps not as much cheaper as HEB). Some may accuse me of being hard on HEB, but I will give them credit where it is due. Of course, it's hard to justify shopping at Target when their prices are what they are. Target's a pretty easy place to shop, but grocery stores can be even more convenient. That said, HEBs are so busy that I don't consider them convenient.
Yes, I was quite surprised by the state of the produce at HEB during that visit. Maybe it was a fluke, but I don't know. Kroger's produce is rather up and down as well. There are a few Kroger locations around here where I expect soggy produce, but a few other locations are generally reliable. It's hard to say why there is a difference when they are probably all supplied by the same trucks at the same time.
I recently shopped at the West Rd. & Highway 6 Kroger. This is an old Greenhouse style store that has received renovations over the years, but still feels like a Greenhouse store inside. It's a great retro experience and I appreciate the smaller size of the store even if their selection is a bit less. That said, the concrete floor they started using a few years ago is embarrassingly bad and it might be getting even worse as time goes on. When you walk into the store, the first thing you see are big cracks in the concrete. I don't know why Kroger thought it was a good idea to expose the concrete of a store whose foundation wasn't meant to be seen by the public. Kroger would be wise to renovate this store again by putting a proper floor on it. A light colored floor might make the store look bigger than it is as well.
Yeah, I suspect that Burger King's alternative cooking method is indeed the microwave! Maybe that wouldn't have been a bad option given my experience in finding the meatless patty to be overly charred in taste. I've heard about KFC's meatless chicken. I'll try it if it comes to Houston, but I don't know if I'll like it.
Popeyes has certainly grabbed a lot of attention because of their chicken sandwich. It was the talk of the country for a while. Popeyes certainly has a loyal fanbase. While Chick-Fil-A might have lost the spotlight for a while, all this focus on chicken sandwiches might actually help their sales...for now at least. They might lose some customers to Popeyes in the long-run, but I think it's too early to speculate about that.
I wonder how things are going with the changes at Barnes & Noble. I know the new CEO wants to individualize each store and put more decision-making in the hands of each local store manager. Perhaps some local stores may need to be photographed if they're doing something unique, but I don't know if that's happening in this area.
I really like the newer HEB stores built in the past 5 years. Their prices are very competitive and the checkouts are fast.
DeleteAs I suspected, the Target in Atascocita is no longer a Super Target. The store is almost finished and the grocery section is much smaller than before. It is not good they are abandoning the Super Target concept, but at least they are keeping some groceries.
I think Kroger is starting to have issues with their store base. Their financials are not as strong as before and their stores are not looking very good even after recent renovations. It seems like the larger chains like Kroger and Albertsons just exist, they are not usually the dominant grocery chain in any particular area. It is hard to be a national grocery chain when local chains do a better job of merchandising to locals.
It will be funny if KFC follows up their chicken and donuts promo with the meatless chicken. I am sure the next promo for Burger King will not be a healthy option.
The sandwich craze has died out for now. Popeyes lost a lot of sales since they have been out of the sandwich for a month now. Their sandwich shortage may have hurt them in the short run, but they do have a really good product.
The Deerbrook Barnes and Noble seems to be mostly the same for now. They have let their music and movie selection decline lately. Maybe it is temporary. I don't know what they will fill the empty space with if they don't get more items in. Maybe video games, lol.
They recently downgraded the super target on Eldridge and westhimer as well as the one around baybrook mall
DeleteThe new design is nice but to compete with Walmart and Kroger you need to have bakery fresh produce
Especially if target is going after the younger crowd!
There prices on basic grocery is very competitive
There market pantry pasta is 80 cents as well as the name brand for 1 dollar
If target figures out their plan, they could put dent in the Houston grocery market
Target has some work to do, if they want to make a dent in the grocery market here in Houston. This market is probably one of the most competitive because there is so much growth potential. Kroger and HEB can slap up a store in the new neighborhoods much faster than Target can.
DeleteI agree that the new design is nice and there are deals to be found. I noticed that ready to eat meals have been cut back as well. HEB and Kroger have huge selections in comparison to Target. A lot of people grab these meals for lunch or dinner and they sell fast. Target needs to discount and expand their meal offerings, but it will be difficult since Target has cut back their grocery offerings. I frequented our local Targets when they had larger grocery departments, but now they don't carry enough items to make it a one-stop shop for me.
Part I:
ReplyDeleteBest Buy is probably wise to invest into health technology. There's probably a lot of money in that kind of stuff. I suspect Best Buy is somewhat reliant on a slightly older customer base and health products may be attractive to them. I will say that the new answering machine I brought from them works well. My only complaint is that it makes male voices sound somewhat high pitched, but oh well. Best Buy stores are laid out in a very confusing manner. I could not find their landline phone rack even though I walked all over the store. I ended up having to ask someone and it was right up front in a prime part of the store. Still, it wasn't very visible. Aside from a few obvious products, it's not easy to find things at Best Buy with the way their stores are now.
Fry's is even more confusing at times. Sometimes they'll put the same product categories in two totally separate parts of the store. I've run into that problem at least a couple of times in the last few years. The employees at Fry's have always been rather hit or miss. Some are quite nice, but some are very aggressive. Fry's is going to have to fix their inventory problems and invest in marketing, but I don't know if the money exists to do that. They're still a useful store to me, but I'm a bit worried about their future.
What is the address to that layoff website? I know you've mentioned it before, but I forgot the name.
Speaking of Houston electronics stores, it seems the HobbyTown store near West Oaks Mall has closed. With it, the RadioShack Express store has closed as well. Oh well. Maybe another HobbyTown store will pop up in town at some point in the future. Houston is RadioShack-less once again.
It seems that I did not quite understand the SHOS sale quite accurately. The Liberty Tax people are buying Sears Outlet, but Sears Hometown stores seem to be merging back with Sears (or Lampert at least). I don't know about the franchise appliance stores, but I suspect those are part of the Hometown side of the operation. Sears Outlet is doing okay, but it seems the Hometown stores are struggling just as much as Sears itself is.
I will soon start my Christmas shopping and I hope Sears will actually have some products I'm interested in buying. I think I might be able to find a few things there. I might need to buy some garden hose accessories soon. It seems that Sears still sells what I want in the stores, which is a bit of a miracle given their inventory situation, but it's now a national brand product instead of Craftsman. I suppose that shouldn't be a surprise, but warranty replacements might be difficult as I doubt I can take a national brand product to Sears and expect a replacement right there like I could with Craftsman stuff.
Perhaps you saw in the news that someone in I believe the Chicago area drove their SUV through a Sears store (I believe it was the Woodfield Mall) and then into the mall. Perhaps they were trying to emulate the Blues Brothers! Well, it's not like Sears needed any more bad news at one of their rare existing stores, but it is what it is.
I agree with you about the layout of Best Buy. If you are looking for an obvious computer, cell phone, video game, TV, or appliance it is easy to find. Anything else is randomly placed around the store. Some of the items are placed in a different area away from what they would go to such as SD cards in a corner away from computers and cell phones. it is strange that they hide the older items now in seemingly random areas.
DeleteFry's is even more random as you mention. I did notice even more empty space when I went back to West Rd. last week. They did get some new Nintendo products in so I know that they are getting inventory. It is just the rest of the store is hurting really bad for products. They could easily move everything to one side of the store and fill that half of the space up. A lot of retailers are doing this these days, Fry's may have to do that to survive.
I just type up whatever company and Layoffs. The official site is thelayoff.com. They have a lot of fluff and rumors, but they did get the most recent info about Sears closings and corporate layoffs before everyone else.
That is disappointing, I never had a chance to stop by there. I may need to stop by the Cleveland location someday soon. That is the closest location about 30 minutes away from me. A few others are listed within 90 minutes of the city.
For now the deal to get add the Sears Hometown stores is on hold. There are still a lot of issues to be straightened up with the old Sears that is holding back any of the deals. It is a little confusing and it sounds like there is still a lot to be sorted out before Transformco can really implement whatever plan they have for the future. At least 3 more stores are closing in addition to the huge list of stores that started closing last month.
My advice is to stop by the Pasadena Town Square/Macroplaza Mall. Inventory seems to be a little better there, and I coincidentally bought some garden hose and sprinkler stuff there about a month ago. They also still had the Sears logo shirts in the Men's department near the center register/escalators.
I saw the video, I just wonder what people are thinking these days. It is definitely a bad look for malls in general.
Part II:
ReplyDeleteI am not surprised to see Target remove the Super part of some of their stores. They've never seemed very competitive in the grocery game and it's a tough business. Just as you say Kroger is struggling to compete with local chains, it's probably even more of a struggle for someone like Target.
It seems to me that Kroger is a bit more agile than Albertsons/Safeway, but perhaps Kroger is slipping a bit. They can't afford to with the competition from HEB and Walmart. We'll see. I was at a Kroger the other day and they had orange juice out which had expired 10 days previously. That was pretty shocking. I still like shopping at Kroger over HEB even with all their faults, but hopefully they don't slip up too much.
I don't think the Deerbrook Barnes & Noble music and video department was all that big in recent times to begin with. That's sad if it's even smaller. At least it still has a music and video department unlike the two B&Ns near me, the Champions and Copperfield stores. I know their vinyl departments have gained even more appreciation with the record buyers in the past couple of years. I did recently purchase something from their website because of a sale. I wish B&N offered free store pickup of online items. They only do that for stuff they have in-stock at the stores. Perhaps they do have store pickup of online items if the order is made at the store, but I don't know. Also, it seems they've increased the free shipping minimum from $25 to $35. That said, it'll be interesting to see if the new management can make a big difference. They certainly have ambitious plans. I'd like to see B&N do well and I think more local merchandising might help them a bit, but ultimately their prices need to be more competitive. I really can't imagine video games are part of their future given what's happening with GameStop, but stranger things have happened I suppose. B&N did try that really weird in-store restaurant idea not too long ago.
One quick update. It seems the former Baybrook Mall Sears has turned into one of those temporary Spirit Halloween stores that frequently pops up in abandoned retail spots. I wonder if any other local Sears or other former retailers of note have Halloween stores in them this year. That might be worth checking out.
I think Target is focusing on the younger generation that tends to have smaller living spaces and more trendy food choices. I have noticed that the electronics department is also shrinking at the newly remodeled Target stores. A lot of items were placed on clearance during the Atascocita remodel and those items are mostly being phased out.
DeleteExpired items past 10 days is not a good sign at all. You expect that at the slower markets such as Randall's but not Kroger. Kroger is focusing on technology and online coupons so much, it is not doing as good of a job at store upkeep. I know at least one nearby Kroger is going to be hurt by a new HEB right across the highway soon. HEB is buying up a lot of land in areas to grow, I know at least 2 more spots where HEB will build stores Northeast of where I live once the population increases more.
Maybe Barnes and Noble will get mattresses to fill empty space, lol. It seems like companies in trouble fill their stores with mattresses. Fry's and Sears have certainly expanded their mattress sections. The music section is never staffed and even the mall entrance checkouts are rarely staffed anymore. It seems like they have the same amount of staff in the Starbucks as they have in the main store now at Barnes and Noble. We were surprised a few weeks back when we were looking for help to checkout and nobody was anywhere near the mall checkout. After waiting for a couple of minutes and walking around for several aisles after that I did not find an employee. I guess I could have walked to the back of the store, but I was not happy and decided to leave the book on a random shelf. We found the same book at Target later that night, so they lost at least my sale that evening.
Palais Royal at Deerbrook is a Spirit Halloween right now. Deerbrook has a lot of changes going on. A huge portion of the first floor is going to become an H&M, two other large interior spaces are under construction for stores I have never heard of. A new retro video game store, jewelry store, Woman's clothing store, and airbrush shop have recently opened. The newer Finish Line moved to a different space across the mall to accommodate one of the larger spaces under construction. The jewelry store and the Woman's clothing store remodeled the spaces that they took over while the other 2 stores moved in without changing much besides the sign of the spot. Forever 21 still has the first floor entrance boarded up, but you can go downstairs on the escalator in the store to a clearance section. The food court renovation is finished and it is as bland as you can get. There are some nice features they added such as phone charger plugs and café style seating. The tables are also much different and not your standard mall two and four top tables. Some tables seat at least 10 people now. Sadly the neon signage that was in the center court of the mall is gone with nothing to replace it. On the new outdoor digital highway sign, they refer to the food court as a food hall, lol. The restaurants are exactly the same so how is it now a food hall, what is the difference? At least Sears gets a lot of screen time on the digital highway sign with the new logo.
Part I:
ReplyDeleteCleveland, TX does appear to have that RadioShack franchise store, but I'm not sure if the address listed on the RadioShack website is accurate. Perhaps the store was there at one time, but maybe they've moved. Google seems to have a totally different address for the RadioShack in Cleveland. Anyway, most of the other major cities in Texas seem to have a HobbyTown with a RadioShack Express store in it so maybe one will reopen in Houston at some point.
I really wonder why someone would buy a mattress from Fry's when there are so many well-known furniture stores on the North Freeway. I suppose they're throwing stuff against the wall and seeing if it sticks. I know furniture is considered easy money by retailers, but the growth in online mattress companies may bite into the sales potential of traditional retailers trying to sell them. Selling mattresses wouldn't be the dumbest idea Barnes & Noble has tried in recent years. That's saying a lot!
That's a shame that Barnes & Noble lost a sale like that. I rarely see anyone working in the Music & Videos department at the Baybrook B&N even though they do have registers back there. Of course, I usually visit at times when the store isn't the busiest, but still. I remember that I had a very long wait time at the front registers at the Copperfield B&N last Christmas season due to various snafus that other customers in front of me had. These are issues which need to be fixed. Half Price Books does not seem to have the problems that B&N has with staffing so I don't think B&N has any excuses.
That Food Hall thing is very odd. That sounds like a school cafeteria. What's wrong with the Food Court name? Anyway, I think the tables which hold big parties are a good idea. If a big group of people want to eat somewhere, it makes sense to go to a food court where everyone can get what they want. H&M takes a lot of room at Willowbrook Mall as well, but they seem to generate enough sales to justify their size. Forever 21 probably won't be around forever. I don't know if they'll make it another few months. That's nice to hear that Deerbrook Mall has a retro video game store. I suppose NES cartridges have made their return to malls after 30 years. Granted, I suppose Greenspoint Mall already has/had a vintage video game store for quite some time now.
I'd like to get one of those Sears shirts. Maybe I'll stop by the Macroplaza Sears one of these days. I suspect the N. Shepherd Sears is well stocked by Sears standards as well given what I saw there last year. News stories about Sears' underperformance and continued store closures continue to make the news. There seems to be more recent store closure announcements, but none which impact this area.
I know where the old Cleveland store was at, it was in an HEB shopping center. I will see if it is still there when I go, if not I will try the Google address.
DeleteWith the troubles Mattress Firm is having, you wonder why companies are investing heavily in mattresses. I guess they are easy to set up and take up a bunch of room in an otherwise empty department. I wonder how much the employees know about the mattresses they are selling. I know Sears has trained staff, but at Fry's who knows.
I rarely ever stop in Barnes and Noble these days. Maybe for a coffee, but Macy's now has a Starbucks so they are not the only coffee shop in Deerbrook mall now. Your experience sounds like Barnes and Noble went to the Fast Eddie school of checkout service.
I guess Food Hall is the trendy name these days. I have read a few articles about office tower renovations that mention food halls. They also have some soft cushion booths that look comfy. It is hard to tell if there is more of less seating now. The seats are much closer to the food kiosks than the old ones were so it gets crowded around the walkway now.
Mall management at Deerbrook is working to make sure the empty spaces are filled. I noticed the first floor of Forever 21 is not longer listed on the directory. I wonder if they have plans for that space now as well. It looks like they are already moving a new store into the recently vacated Agaci. The former Agaci was a larger sized store so it is good that is will not be vacant any longer. The used video game store is the same company as the Greenspoint store and Willowbrook. I wonder if the Greenspoint store is still there. It has been a few months since I went.
I did stop by the Macroplaza Sears. The hoses and sprinklers are still stocked fairly well. You have to go past the lawn and garden on the wall across from the toys. I did not see any Sears shirts, but I did not pick through any clothes this time. I actually went because all toys are 50% off right now, and I was in the area. A lot of changes have happened at the mall in the past few months since I last went. Foot Locker and Footaction both closed. Palais Royal is having a clearance sale of the whole store. I guess it will become a Gordmans. A new furniture store is going to open near Sears and there are plans posted in the center court showing how the mall will look after renovations. I am concerned because in addition to the loss of the 2 shoe stores, it looks like some other inline tenants have left as well.
Interestingly enough, of the two addresses I've seen for the Cleveland RadioShack, neither is in a HEB shopping center. One is in a freestanding metal shack and the other is in an older town center type shopping center. Who knows, I suppose it could be in any of the three locations listed above or somewhere else completely different.
DeleteI've heard it said that furniture has some of the biggest profit margins in retail. I reckon the product itself has big profit margins and there are also ancillary forms of profit via delivery, selling pillows and such, offering credit, and so forth. Mattress Firm's problems probably weren't really related to the lack of profit from mattresses, but the fact that they had way, way too many locations. They were competing against themselves.
It's been a long time since I've gone mattress shopping so I'm not sure how knowledgeable staff are at various stores. I'm sure the larger mattress dealers like Mattress Firm, Macy's, and maybe even Sears (though I don't know if they really count at this point with all their store closures) have an advantage because they can have the big mattress makers make mattresses specifically for their chains that make cross-shopping and price matching more difficult.
Twenty years ago, almost all mattresses were seemingly innerspring mattresses from five or six different companies. Now, there are various different types of spring and foam mattresses and there are lots of smaller, boutique mattress brands which claim to sell "hotel style" mattresses and so forth. I can see how shoppers can get confused. A store with skilled staff could have a real advantage over retailers who don't know what they're selling.
On the topic of mattresses, I recently came across a photo of a Sears mattress department in Kentucky. I'm not sure if the store is still open or not, but they have/had a very nice looking mattress department. It looks like something from a competent retailer. They even have little silly slogans around the department ala The Great Indoors and some Sears stores which were remodeled in the early 2000s before Lampert took over. Everything looks good, but the mattress department is probably in the old electronics department and for some reason they left up a sign hanging from the ceiling saying "Entertainment." In a way, that's head scratching, but it is pretty funny in a way as well.
50% off toys is a good deal, I can see why you'd want to jump on that. It's good to hear that Sears still has a good stock of garden hoses and accessories. It's one of those things you'd expect Sears to have, but often Sears doesn't have what you'd expect these days. I wonder if they're still Craftsman branded stuff or if they have other brands now.
Macroplaza Mall used to have a furniture store over by the Macy's before it closed. I wonder if that's the same furniture store which is opening near Sears. Foot Locker and Footaction closing is not a good sign though. Those are usually the last holdouts at dying malls along with GNC and Bath & Body Works.
It's good to see that Deerbrook Mall management is aggressively trying to fill space at the mall. The old Deerbrook food court was one of the better food courts in the Houston area. It sounds like the redesigned one has some pros and cons, but it should continue to do well. The location of it near the theater must help a lot.
It's a real head scratcher that a discount bookstore like Half Price Books can offer good customer service when a less busy, full-price bookstore like Barnes & Noble can't. The bookstore chains I went to in Canada seemed to have expedient service so it's possible for B&N to do so as well I think, but they need to get back to the basics of retailing and understand that they have to give customers a reason to shop there and not elsewhere.
Interesting, I wonder where the Radio Shack is.
DeleteI am guessing that the margins on mattresses are large, but I am sure it is tough to move a product that lasts about 10 years + on average. The issue is oversaturation. It seems like every retailer that has some extra space is starting to sell some kind of bedding or mattresses.
The Sears store in Kentucky is very interesting, I can't say if I have seen a store like that before.
They still have Craftsman branded items, but I am noticing new brands across the tool department. As of this post, the tool department is really hurting at Deerbrook. With the toy department shrinking, the tool shortage is really visible. They have been trying to stretch out products to make the store look full, but there are still a lot of gaps.
Surprisingly both GNC and Bath and Body Works closed at Macroplaza years ago. I did not happen to see the name of the Furniture store, but at least it is taking two vacant storefronts. The former Macy's is planned to be a marketplace, similar to what they have at PlazAmericas Mall.
There is one good thing about the redesigned food court. It is much brighter than before at night, and the seats are more comfortable. I still wish they kept the neon sign, but I guess it had to go for whatever reason. Some of the replacement stores including H&M will open this week so the mall is getting a boost just in time for Christmas.
Barnes and Noble is a sinking ship, I am sure the employees have little incentive to keep the place up. I don't see them surviving much longer without some major changes.
Part II:
ReplyDeleteI think Kroger's very odd promotions are confusing a lot of customers. I've been behind customers at Kroger who have had problems with digital coupons and so forth. I think Randall's/Safeway's online coupon system works better. Shopping at Kroger and trying to get their deals can be very frustrating at times and I think it'll hurt their business if they don't fix it.
I did visit a Kroger recently, the Champion Forest and Cypresswood location, which was completely redesigned after Harvey destroyed it. This wasn't my first visit back to this store since it reopened, but I did notice the concrete floors there were much nicer than the other ones at Krogers where they pulled old tiles up. Perhaps they poured new concrete or used big concrete tiles or something. It still had some cracks in it, but the color and consistency was much better looking than what I usually see.
The electronics departments at Target have been downsizing over the last few years, but perhaps not in a way which is highly visible. It seems like one aisle gets removed a year and then things get spaced out a little bit with more room for cell phone displays and such. It's hard to tell even what's missing, but it seems like Target would rather add some more cosmetics and such and downsize things like electronics. I don't think Target will eliminate electronics anytime soon though.
The prices and quality of Target's goods have not really impressed me. They most certainly have some trendy items, but there really isn't a lot that appeals to me there these days. At one time, Target had some interesting stuff in their electronics departments and their music/video/software department was quite good for a discount store. I suppose the music and videos still remain, but in much downsized form.
Best Buy's stores are perhaps intentionally confusing to try to lure in impulse buys, but I don't know if that strategy works if people leave the store thinking that they don't sell the item that someone is looking for. Perhaps Best Buy needs to offer store maps at the front of the store or maybe they should give exact aisle information for products on their website the way Home Depot does.
Back to the topic of Fry's for a minute. I was looking at loudspeakers on both the Fry's and Best Buy websites. Between the regular Best Buy stuff and their Magnolia department, they have a lot more stuff and variety of stuff than Fry's has. Five or six years ago, the opposite would have been the case. Fry's has some oddball electronics parts and such which Best Buy will never carry, but I'm not sure what the appeal is of Fry's to the average electronics shopper these days. If Walmart does not have what people want, Best Buy probably will. Fry's needs to spend more effort marketing their stores to people who aren't electronics fanatics. Even then, the fanatics might be shopping elsewhere these days.
Speaking of Fry's, a new furniture store opened up near the NASA Fry's. It's called American Furniture Warehouse. They claim to be the biggest furniture store or something like that, but their website doesn't really show them selling anything interesting beyond what any other furniture store might have. It's hardly a Nebraska Furniture Mart or something like that which sells electronics and such.
I was at a thrift recently in that area and they had a sealed bag of Type II Memorex audio cassettes from the early 1990s with a vintage Kmart price tag on them. Normally, I almost certainly would have purchased that gem (I think it was only 79 cents), but it was on a Saturday afternoon and the line literally went to the middle of the store! I figured it wasn't worth waiting ~30 minutes just for that so I left it. Oh well. The thrifts can be madhouses on weekends. I don't really visit them that often these days, but sometimes it's nice to take a look around one.
I agree with you on the Kroger specials, a lot of times you cannot get signal in the stores so it can be impossible to download the coupons. I have noticed they have painted their floors at the Marketplace locations as well.
DeleteThe electronics departments at Target are now an afterthought. They don't have some of the newest popular tech items anymore. They don't stay up to date on SD cards either. I know it can be challenging to stay up to date, but electronics are always evolving.
Best Buy is winning against Fry's. Fry's seems to have lost the avid electronics crowd with their lack of inventory. I am sure they will be struggling for a while until they can get the stores restocked.
I am not sure if they can compete with Nebraska Furniture Warehouse. Those places are famous for their excessive size and inventory. I have not seen any in Houston, but it looks like they have a store in the Sugarland area now.
Funny you mention thrift stores. I was thinking recently about how long it has been since I went to one. I have not been to one since last year. I have really cut back on my impulse spending to save for home repairs and my trips to see family in Mexico. Too bad the purchase was not worth the wait in line because vintage Kmart stickers are not found often these days.
Electronics are notoriously unprofitable for retailers so it's perhaps not a surprise to see Target trade electronics department floor space for more profitable things that Target has a good reputation for like cosmetics and baby goods. Granted, none of this stuff is interesting to me so Target is risking losing my business/traffic. I can't really say what the state of Target's SD card selection is, but I do wonder if they'll sell music cassettes and knockoff Walkmen this Christmas like they did last year.
ReplyDeleteThe furniture store competition is so tough in Houston that I'm a bit surprised that someone would try to enter this market without having some kind of advantage in terms of price and/or selection. It's a bit surprising that Nebraska Furniture Mart has not come to Houston yet, but perhaps we don't quite have the reputation for upscale shoppers that they're looking for.
I do have some unfortunate retail news to report. The Palais Royal at the Champions shopping center where the Randall's and Stein Mart are is closing. I didn't hear about that in the news, but I saw the closing sale during a recent trip to Randall's. I wonder if it'll resurface as a Gordman's or if it's a permanent closure. I suppose the opening of the TJ Maxx recently next to Stein Mart was just too much competition for Palais Royal. That store had been going downhill for years now, but it's sad to see the loss of a location that had been around for decades now. That store goes back a long, long time.
Less tears will be shed for the Walmart Neighborhood Market near me on Grant Rd. which is currently under liquidation and will close soon if it hasn't already. That store never seemed as busy as perhaps it should have been so it's surprising it lasted as long as it did given Walmart's history of quick hooks. Walmart now has a history of closures in this area which is pretty interesting.
In other news, the Mall of the Mainland Sears is now no more. It looks like the closing sale is over with. It also looks like a Harbor Freight Tools has opened up in the newer old Kmart in Texas City (the former Walmart/Venture/Woolco/BP location).
I do have some sealed VHS tapes which have Kmart price tags on them. I brought these from thrifts a handful of years ago. It would have been nice to add those audio cassettes to the collection, but sometimes thrift store lines can be unbearable. I don't visit thrifts very often these days, but I did stop by two local ones a couple of weeks ago and I saw some very interesting stuff. One had a ~1983 Sansui cassette deck in excellent condition for $25. It worked perfectly, but I could not justify the price so I didn't buy it. That same thrift had a pretty good collection of music for sale. The other thrift I went to had an antique Singer sewing machine from around 1940 for $100. I had no interest in such a thing, but it was an interesting museum piece if nothing else.
So, yeah, there are still interesting finds at the thrift stores, but it's becoming difficult for me to justify fighting the crowds in these places and dealing with congested parking lots and such. Still, they can be interesting occasional visits even if I don't buy anything.
I will have to check out Target this holiday season. I saw the retro items during the Summer except for the cassettes. I went about a week ago, and the electronics had been refilled including the video game selection. Walmart also has extra stock in the electronics department as of last night.
DeleteI am guessing that Nebraska Furniture Mart will be here eventually. It would be a shame if they ignored the largest Texas city like so many other companies do. At least In and Out Burger is finally coming to our area after missing out for so long.
I would not be surprised if the Champions Palais Royal comes back as a Gordman's. I think they are going all in on the brand. Palais Royal is a tired brand and does not really stand out. We may even see Stage stores in other locations that are Palais Royal now. It is a much cleaner looking brand that is taking over a lot of Bealls and other locations across the US.
Since the Nieghborhood Markets don't carry the more profitable items, it must be difficult for Walmart to make them work. The only way they can work is if they are constantly getting people to pick up extras such as bakery and cosmetics items that have better profit margins. There are a couple near me, but I rarely go to one.
I am so glad that I documented that Sears store back in the Summer. I was able to get all areas photographed in the store. I also have some electronic department photos that I can throw in when I do my farewell article.
The VHS tapes with the Kmart tags are an awesome collectible item. Sometimes unfortunately you can't wait in the line and miss out on something. I almost stopped in a thrift earlier today that is in the same shopping center where I needed to go to another store. I had a few other errands to run, so I did not stop in this time, but I was tempted.
Palais Royal seems to be a flawed format in the suburbs of a city like Houston. They really don’t offer much that something like Kohl’s and JCPenney doesn’t offer and those stores have much more. Add to that TJMaxx, Marshall’s, Ross, Burlington, and company to that list of competitors and it’s easy to see how Palais Royal might struggle. Perhaps Palais Royal works better in small towns or maybe in urban areas without much department store competition.
ReplyDeleteI think the Gordman’s format is better positioned to succeed in Houston, but that location in Champions Forest might be a tough spot for them. The same shopping center also has a Stein Mart and TJMaxx. The Stein Mart is in good condition and the TJMaxx just opened this year. That’s some stiff competition. There is also a Tuesday Morning in that shopping center for housewares competition.
I’m sure you’ve heard the news about the new round of Sears and Kmart closures. I believe the only store in the area impacted by it is a Sears in San Antonio. There will be very few stores left for either chain. I think there will only be 70 Kmarts left.
I think Sears and Kmart are going to have a rough Christmas season this year. Their Black Friday ads are very thin. They are only a couple of pages when other retailers have ads which look like books. I think I saw that Sears does not have any appliances on sale even though that’s supposedly a big day for appliance sales. One has to wonder what Lampert’s plan is because I don’t see anything that makes sense. I did see that Lampert is thinking of selling the DieHard name.
That Sears store in Kentucky was probably redesigned around the time that Sears started experimenting with The Great Indoors. I see some common themes. It’s a nice looking store even today. It’s too bad more Sears didn’t get that redesign. That whole mall looks pretty interesting actually.
I have noticed that Sears and Kmart no longer stock items I used to buy from them even relatively recently. This is the case online as well, it’s not just an in-store thing. It’s a real shame. I did notice that Sears was pushing Levi’s jeans quite strongly in their ads so at least they have one recognizable brand to lure people in, but it’s not like Sears has a monopoly on Levi’s jeans.
I suppose Target and Walmart are going in the opposite direction. They’re expanding their selection for Christmas. I’m sure that will work well for them. It seems that musicians are still putting music on cassettes so I wouldn’t be surprised if Target sells them again this year.
I recently did some work on my home and I did almost all my shopping at Home Depot. I did some comparison shopping online at they were almost universally cheaper than Lowe’s. At the Home Depot I went to, the registers were replaced with self-checkouts. I didn’t want to do a self-checkout in this case so I was confused as to where to go. They did have a cashier working at one of the self-checkout stations who was acting as a normal cashier. I thought that was rather odd. Hopefully we’re not moving in a direction where cashiers are almost completely eliminated. I don’t know what Lowe’s is doing because it’s been months since I’ve been to one. I did notice, and I’m not surprised by this, that my contractor also used Home Depot for all his purchases except for some oil paint that was purchased from Sherwin-Williams.
The checkout lines at thrift stores can be a real pain. Thrift stores don’t have barcoded items so everything has to be entered by the cashier. It’s not unusual that someone is buying something where the price tag has fallen off. When that happens, the manager or pricer has to come out to figure out what the price is. Also, a lot of people buy glass knickknacks from thrifts and those have to be wrapped by the cashier in newspaper. Thus, the lines can move slowly. Goodwills are better than Family Thrift Centers in this regard, but even they can be difficult to shop at when the stores are busy.
Palais Royal seems to target older shoppers as well which is what Stein Mart does well with. Gordmans will be a test for the company, but I think it will help the brand out. I wonder how many of the locations will remain once the conversion is complete.
DeleteSears also added the Beaumont store to the closings, but only announced it locally. I was surprised that it had lasted this long to tell you the truth. As you may know, I have covered this store extensively. Parkdale Mall is a little over an hour away from me so I have been there a lot over the years. The Sears wing is the only part of the mall struggling as well. The Sears closing will open up the door for other types of development for that side of the mall.
It almost seems like there is no plan to save Sears/Kmart. It is truly sad to see these stores fall apart and know that their days are numbered. I would not be surprised if Deerbrook was next, the inventory is really thinning out.
Target is tied in with Toys R Us this holiday season. The Toys R Us website sends you to Target to order the products. It would be an awesome partnership if the Target toy department became a Toys R Us mini store. Walmart is adding a sizable collectable assortment in their electronics departments similar to Target.
Both Home Depots near me have done the same thing with the checkouts. I am not a fan of the setups because it seems to slow things down. For me, I can go fast, but a lot of people struggle with these checkouts. Aldi and Costco have a much faster and efficient checkout system than most places. Cashiers stay ready and they move fast. No self checkouts needed. I guess we can't escape the rise of technology.
Seems like the thrift stores have an old school way to key in the item code and then the price. It is not the best way to ring items up.
Sears is in really pathetic shape right now. Even Montgomery Ward at their lowest point was a far superior retail operation than what Sears is right now. It seems that Lampert isn't even trying to run a functional retail operation. I didn't hear about the Parkdale Mall closure, but I can't say I'm shocked to hear the news even if it is sad to hear about another Sears closure in this area. Sometimes the websites which report Sears closings use reader supplied information about closures if they don't get closure lists from Sears themselves. Perhaps the Parkdale closure slipped through the cracks.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the Mall of the Mainland Sears closed for good a few weeks ago, it seems the signs are still up on the old store. In fact, they are even lit at night (or were when I went by it). Perhaps this is an ode to the fake storefronts of the Mall of the Mainland past!
It seems that Sears and Kmart have added some pages to their Black Friday ads. Perhaps they realized how pathetic their initial ad was, but it's still pretty thin. One thing I noticed is that many of the items in the Kmart ad are also in the Sears ad. They even use the same models/photos in the ads.
Target seemed to be struggling a couple of years ago, but they've turned things around. I'm not really sure what they're doing differently, but it seems to be working. It's quite amazing how Target and Walmart generally do well even with the changes in the retail game. The strong get stronger and the weak get weaker it seems.
On the weak side of things, JCPenney seems to be stuck in the mud a bit. They aren't doing horribly bad, but their results are still pretty mediocre. I do notice that they are spending a lot on marketing this Christmas season though so at least they're still trying, but it's going to be difficult for them.
I read this week that Lowe's is going to close several stores in Canada. I don't know if their performance in the US is similarly disappointing. Lowe's seems like one of those companies that can turn their fortunes around ala Target, but perhaps they have not found the key to differentiate themselves from Home Depot the way that Target has made themselves look different from Walmart. Perhaps over-reliance on self-checkouts might do Home Depot in, but I don't know if Lowe's is any better.
I read that a large grocery chain in the UK is ending experiments with cashierless stores. While self-checkouts may have some benefits, it seems customers still want at least some level of cashiers on duty. Retailers are looking to cut costs as much as possible so I'm sure they're going to try to keep pushing self-checkouts even if customers repeatedly reject them. Short-sighted thinking like this could really hurt some retailers.
I noticed that CVS opened a newly built store on 249 and Veterans Memorial near I-45. This new store more or less replaces the ancient ex-Eckerd CVS at 249 & 45 that closed a couple of years ago. I have not been in the store, but it kind of looks like a vintage 1950-60s grocery store on the outside. New pharmacy stores are pretty rare these days and it's odd to see them use a different design from the cookie cutter 1990s designs CVS and Walgreens used for many years. I'm tempted to check out this new store just to see if it's any different on the inside than the typical CVS.
I wonder how much of the loan that Sears acquired is going to be used for inventory. Vendors are probably requiring cash on delivery for anything they order.
DeleteThe Parkdale Mall Sears started their closing sale a couple of weeks before the stores on the list. The store seemed to be doing well when I went there last Summer so it is a surprise they are now closing. The size of the Parkdale store is perfect for the amount of inventory that is left in our nearby locations these days.
Target is doing a lot of things right these days. Clothing and online store pickups are doing really good for the company. The recent remodels are helping out as well even if some of us are not a fan of the changes.
JCPenney is treading water right now. They are not doing well at all. They are going to have to close a lot of locations to become profitable again. There are many similarities to the decline of other department store chains happening right now at JCPenney.
I am surprised that Lowes is struggling these days. Their stores seem to be set up well and they have increased the amount of Craftsman branded products all over the store it seems. They have also kept the self checkouts to a minimum.
Expanding self checkouts is never a good idea. I can use them quickly, but most people can't and slow the lines down. The checkouts have constant problems, and the one employee is stuck going from one problem to the next, and that also slows the line down. Walmart stores are also expanding their self checkouts even at the Neighborhood Markets. It is just not a good idea.
That area of I-45 is doing much better these days. Most of the abandoned properties along that stretch have been redeveloped. CVS and Walgreens have to do something different to their stores to grow. Both companies are struggling to grow and both are closing locations.
Speaking of struggling pharmacies, Fred's is closing the last handful of their stores. A little more than a year ago Fred's seemed to be a fast growing chain that was going to become a competitor in the pharmacy market. Once the deal to pick up Rite-aid stores fell through, the company fell apart rapidly. I wonder how Fred's got into this position so quickly after nearly picking up another 400 locations.
Inventory and selection continue to be a problem for Sears. I was looking at an appliance the other day on the various chain websites and Sears had the least selection out of the chains I was looking at. That's even with factoring special order appliances.
ReplyDeleteIt appears that Best Buy has started to sell private label appliances. I'm sure it'll take them a long time to get the reputation that Kenmore has, but surely one of these chains could make an offer for the Kenmore name. Lampert looks to be wheeling and dealing. I do think the lack of exclusivity for the Craftsman name is hurting tool sales at Sears.
I was at a renovated Target recently and I had a good look around. It's kind of an odd experience. The white tile floors and drop ceiling gave the Target a bit of a retro look, but the store still felt fresh. I don't really mind the new decor all that much. One thing I noticed about Target is that although some departments have moved around over the years (electronics most notably), most of the Target store layout has not changed in decades even though they have replaced older stores with new ones.
Clothing seems to be Target's strongest department along with cosmetics. Target has a really big edge over Walmart in that regard. They are also considered more trendy than JCPenney and other department stores. It seems that female shoppers in particular really love Target. I can't really comment on their clothing because I don't shop at their clothing departments. I doubt the quality is good even if it is trendy.
I'll also say that Target's website has improved considerably. It wasn't good in the past, but now it's quite good. It's better than the clunky Walmart website.
I really can't explain Lowe's struggles. Perhaps they are perceived as being more expensive than Home Depot? I know contractors strongly prefer Home Depot over Lowe's. As far as paint goes, Home Depot sells the highly marketed Behr brand as an exclusive product and they also have the well-known Glidden brand. Lowe's now only sells Valspar (and a line of Sherwin-Williams, but S-W owns Valspar now). Perhaps the lack of variety is hurting them, but Lowe's does have a bigger appliance department than Home Depot. Anyway, if Lowe's still has traditional checkouts, I may have to shop there more often than Home Depot.
You're right that people have problems with those self-checkouts. Kroger often only has self-checkouts open at night and all the people buying beer have to wait for their IDs to be checked. Those wanting tobacco hold up the line as well. I've never found it convenient to purchase produce using the automated machines. If I have to buy something which does not have barcodes, I will use the regular checkouts if I can.
Speaking of Kroger, it seems they have changed their logo a bit. It's not wildly different, but the lack of the blue oval is a bit strange.
I once again did most of my Thanksgiving shopping at Randall's this year. They had some good sale prices on Thanksgiving staples. I wouldn't say that the store was busy, but at least it was busier than it had been in some previous visits. One thing I like about the Randall's I shop at is that it's smaller than most HEBs and Krogers so it's easier to go back and forth when doing a lot of shopping. I much prefer the decor of Randall's as well. The colors of the walls and floors are all soft and rather comforting unlike some of the brutal, uninviting industrial colors at other stores.
I heard about Fred's. It seems they over-expanded without creating a niche for themselves. Perhaps their failure is like that of Alco's or Phar-Mor back in the day (though Phar-Mor was certainly a unique chain). I find it rather odd that there isn't more nostalgia online about Phar-Mor, but maybe it's because they just weren't around for very long.
Just about every advantage Sears had is now gone. Best Buy has probably passed them in appliance sales now.
DeleteI took advantage of some of the Thanksgiving week specials on tools and toy department reductions.
Target has really improved a lot recently. The Toys R Us website link will also help them out. Even though Toys R Us does not have the site traffic they once did, it will bring extra people onto the Target website.
Speaking of Toys R Us, The Galleria TRU store will open tomorrow. It is one of only 2 stores that will open this year for the company. They plan on 10-20 stores in 2020. I plan on stopping by sometime before Christmas to check out the new store. I am glad they are back.
Lowe's must have an identity problem, it is hard to explain why they are struggling now.
A new HEB in Kingwood has hurt the Kingwood Randall's near the highway. I don't know how that store is going to survive, it was dead on my last evening visit. Randall's has been sending coupons but they are not great deals that would bring people in. The HEB that opened is very plain and not too inviting. The layout of the store is strange and it is in a high traffic area. Either way, HEB is taking away all of the business from Randall's.
Phar-Mor should have more attention with how that company fell apart. They did not last long here at all though.
Part I:
ReplyDeleteBest Buy almost certainly has passed Sears in appliance sales. I suspect Home Depot and Lowe's have as well. Sears has so few stores that they aren't even a national retailer anymore. The combined Sears and SHOS sales may only be good enough for fourth place, but I have not seen the official numbers. It'll be interesting to see if Best Buy can make the Insignia brand something like Kenmore.
I was at Lowe's recently and I can confirm that the store near me still has traditional checkouts. That gives them an edge over Home Depot, but I still feel like some hardware items I saw were better at Home Depot than Lowe's without there being a difference in price. I'll probably still end up shopping at both.
I recently visited the Northern Tool store for the first time. It seems like a similar store to Harbor Freight, but Harbor Freight sells more stuff. Northern Tool seems to have slightly better, more professional stuff though, but some of their hand tools still seem like cheap Chinese specials. Some of them were already rusty even though they are new. Anyway, I did see that they sold some Craftsman tools. These aren't Stanley Craftsman tools, but rather real Sears Craftsman stuff with Sears parts numbers and such. I wonder if they got those in a liquidation sale or if they have some deal with Sears.
I have not been to Sears yet this Christmas season, but I will go there very soon. I do have a list of things I would like to buy from there. I would have had a larger list, but there's a lot that Sears had two years ago which they no longer sell and I'll have to buy that stuff from elsewhere. It's been a while since I've been to Sears so I'm looking forward to stopping in, but I do know the lack of selection will be somewhat depressing. Still, it's not Christmas without Sears and so I will buy what I can from there as long as they're around.
You're braver than I am if you go to The Galleria during this season. I suppose seeing the new TRU will be nice. I will say that I did some shopping last weekend and the B&M stores are noticeably less busy than they were even 5 years ago. Online shopping has really taken a bite out of B&M store traffic. It's easy to see why the malls are struggling.
I was dragged to Kohl's after Thanksgiving. I had to go to Kohl's on Thanksgiving day a few years ago and it was terrible. A line to get in, long lines to check out, and a jammed store. Well, it wasn't nearly as bad this year. There were a lot of people there, but I think they were mostly employees. Every register was manned and some registers even had two clerks as one worked the register and the other bagged. There were also a lot of employees walking around the store with clipboards. Although I wasn't there at the store opening, I was there not too long afterward. Still, I was able to get in, get what we wanted, checkout, and leave the store in less than 15 minutes. A few years ago, the same process took almost two hours at Kohl's!
Both home improvement chains surpassed Sears in appliance sales a few years ago. You are right, Sears can't be considered a national chain anymore. Several states are down to one or less Sears stores. I guess you might be able to add the Hometown and Outlet stores to get a better count.
DeleteI need to go to Sears again, but I have not had an opportunity. I have read stories on the Sears Layoffs page on how the company is doing and it does not look good. I did make it to San Jacinto Mall for a possible final trip. San Jacinto Mall is scheduled to close on January 5th 2020. They had a big event this past weekend that I missed by a day. There are still a few stores in the mall worth checking out, but they will probably all close just after Christmas.
I went late on Friday so I missed some of the worst crowds. There was a decent amount of foot traffic inside of TRU. The store is geared mostly towards the Elementary aged child.
That is strange that Northern Tools has Sears Craftsman tools even when the Sears stores are hurting for inventory. I guess Sears did not make the payments needed to secure that inventory.
I am not surprised that Kohl's was staffed up for Thanksgiving. They are one of the retailers teetering on the edge of profitability. They have been more aggressive than Sears and JCPenney with improving stores and adding a better variety of products. They want to make sure they have a hassle free experience for their customers.
Part II:
ReplyDeleteThe Randall's near the new Kingwood HEB is surely doomed. The Barker Cypress and 290 Randall's next to the HEB there was a zombieland until it closed and has now been turned into a Star Furniture. Still, design and decor are a problem at HEB and it seems the Kingwood store is no exception. Those things really drive me away from HEB even with their stellar prices. I'd rather shop at Randall's and I usually do as long as Randall's puts the stuff I want on sale. Unfortunately, Randall's does not mail me coupons (perhaps because I live too far away from one), but I do use their online coupon system which works much better than the similar Kroger system. I also still shop at Kroger quite a bit, but their sales can be frustrating.
I noticed that Palais Royal was advertising that this would be their final Black Friday ever. I gather that all Palais Royals will close and that at least some of them will be converted into Gordman's. I saw something in the Beaumont newspaper about this, but otherwise details are sketchy. I'm not sure if Bealls and other Stage formats will all be turned into Gordman's as well.
I was wanting to order some CDs online during Black Friday. Barnes & Noble is my usual destination for such things, but I've noticed that they're really not offering online coupons like they used to. It used to be common for B&N Online to offer 15-20% off total order coupons, but those are very rare these days. They only had 10% off on Black Friday and 15% off on Cyber Monday. They've also upped their free shipping minimum to $35 from $25.
Given this lack of discounting, I decided to order from FYE. They had 30% off. Well, the FYE website was seriously messed up and it wouldn't even let me proceed from the shopping cart. I decided to abandon the FYE plan and I ended up placing the order with B&N using their 15% Cyber Monday coupon instead.
It's really quite disappointing that B&N isn't discounting like they used to given their poor reputation for prices to begin with. I will say that both FYE and B&N had lower regular prices than Amazon to begin with, but still. As for FYE's messed up website, I don't see how that chain can expect to survive with problems like that. I've ordered from them before without problems, but I don't know what the issue is now. Their website is still slow for me even several days later. I hope they can fix these problems. I'd hate to lose them as an option.
Phar-Mor wasn't around for long, but I certainly shopped there quite a bit while they were around. They had good prices and a large selection of items. Aside from clothes and garden stuff, they had just about everything a Kmart would have had. Their video rental department was truly memorable as well. The only grocery store video department that came close was Randall's, but Phar-Mor was cheaper. We did the majority of our video rentals at Phar-Mor. They had a little room for rentals and it was highly decorated with neon and Hollywood themes. Young people today will never understand that short-lived and under-documented aspect of retail!
I tried Randall's a couple of times this month, but rarely found anything at a decent price. The Kingwood store was nearly empty once again. I did get one of their mail flyers but it was only a small discount for either $75 or $100 in groceries.
DeleteAll Stage stores will either close or convert to Gordmans. The company is moving aggressively to close and convert the stores to the Gordmans format. The article I read said that it only takes about 2-3 weeks to convert the stores once they are closed.
With as little traffic as the FYE sites probably have, it is strange that things are not working anymore.
Barnes and Noble should be doing everything they can to lure shoppers back. I am surprised that they are being this stingy with discounts. I noticed that clearance books have been moved into the formerly empty shelves inside of their music and movie section. It is sad that the music and movie department is dying.
I do remember Randall's movie rental department was well stocked. I still have some VHS tapes that I bought from their final clearance sales when they closed those departments off. I don't remember the one from Phar-Mor. It sounds like a retro paradise.
Part I:
ReplyDeleteI have made a couple of visits to Sears since my last reply in this post. I took advantage of their buy $100 and get $100 in SYWR FreeCash points promotion so I'll probably be making a few more visits to Sears in the next couple of months to use those points. My visits were to the Willowbrook Mall Sears.
Inventory at the Willowbrook Sears is, as predicted, a bit thin. I didn't get a good look at the electronics department, but it seems that the small couple of aisles they had of electronics on my last visit are gone and were replaced with more mattresses. Also, a little section near tools which used to have washing machines in it now has mattresses on it as well. Sears seems to be going all-in with mattresses even if it might be costing them some appliance floor space. I didn't really check out the appliances so I don't know if they've freed up some space elsewhere for that.
The tool department is less stocked now than it was last year. The racks with power saws and sanders is almost half bare. Of the handful of tools I purchased, only one of them was made in 2019 (Sears Craftsman tools have date codes on the packages). The rest have dates from 2018 prior to the bankruptcy. I really wonder how much new stock Sears is getting in these days, but I suppose they are at least getting some new stock since one thing was from 2019. The 2019 tools package does list Transform Holdco as the company and not Sears Brands like the pre-bankruptcy tools.
The men's department was more of a mixed bag. Like I noticed before, Sears now sells more suit separates than they used to a few years ago. OTOH, they don't sell some of the national brand shirts like they used to. Aside from mattresses, one of the most stocked parts of the Willowbrook Sears is their men's denim department. They not only sell the three leading brands (Levi's, Lee, Wrangler) to go along with their own Roebucks brand and Dickies, but they have several styles of each brand. I'm not sure if this is new inventory or old, but it's a bit surprising that Sears would emphasize stocking denim over things like tools. I'm not complaining though, Sears prices on denim were hard to beat especially given the promotions and they had plenty to choose from.
Thanks for the update on the Willowbrook Mall Sears. I have not been there for several months now.
DeleteI have not taken a good look at the tool packaging, but I have noticed some strange new brands taking over.
I need to stop by and use my $10 in points over the next week or so. The point promotions are getting harder to shop for. I was disappointed that a lot of the items Kmart carried that I liked were out of stock or discontinued.Thanks for the update on the Willowbrook Mall Sears. I have not been there for several months now.
I have not taken a good look at the tool packaging, but I have noticed some strange new brands taking over.
I need to stop by and use my $10 in points over the next week or so. The point promotions are getting harder to shop for. I was disappointed that a lot of the items Kmart carried that I liked were out of stock or discontinued.
Part II:
ReplyDeleteAll in all, the store looked well-stocked, but clearly they don't have nearly as much as they used to if you check out each department closely. It's rather surprising that the store looks as well stocked as it is given these problems. I did notice that all the registers had new cash registers on them with color touchscreens for the clerks to use. I suppose Lampert did invest in that. They had been using those old registers from the early 1990s before that. Also, rather surprisingly, most of the registers were manned during my visits even though I was there late taking advantage of their extended Christmas hours (I think they were open until 12am or 1am this past weekend). You'd think this would make for short lines and checkout times, but that most certainly was not the case. Even simple transactions take longer than they should and most people don't have normal transactions at Sears given all the points stuff and Sears Card questions. This has been a problem at Sears for a long time now.
I did finally get a Sears 125th anniversary bag even though those are a bit outdated at this point. It seemed like every department had bags with different designs on them. I'll try to keep that bag as a souvenir. The vintage 'Thank you for Shopping at Sears' sign from 1981 in the men's department exit was lit up brightly as well. That's always a pleasing sign. I wish I had taken a picture of it.
I will say that the toy department at the Willowbrook Sears is quite well hidden and rather unimpressive looking. It's on an old tool department rack over by the sporting goods. I saw some kids playing around there so I guess people know where it is, but it's not as good looking as the toy department at the old Mall of the Mainland Sears.
I read an article that someone took a wedding ring they brought from Sears back to Sears to have some warranty work done on it. Sears sent it to a jeweler in another state, but now that jeweler refuses to return the ring because of debts owed to him from the bankruptcy. I'm sure that couple can't be pleased about that!
It's hard to believe San Jacinto Mall will make it into the 2020s, but it sounds like the mall won't make it much past the start of the new decade.
Kohl's does seem to be trying hard to keep their business going. I have not been to JCPenney this season even with their heavy advertising. Maybe I'll make it there before Christmas, but I won't shed any tears if I don't. At least Kohl's now has a small electronics department so they do feel like a bit of a department store.
I can't blame Stage for moving quickly towards the TJMaxx/Ross model. Given how many clothing closeout stores there are these days, I wonder how all these stores can continue to get decent inventory. I wonder if major brands are intentionally making 'closeouts' for these stores or if the department stores really have that much unsold inventory. I did read something this week about how Amazon destroys much of their returned clothing and shoes because it's not worth the time to sort through it to see what might be re-sellable and what isn't. I suppose that goes to show what the markups are on clothing if they can just destroy that much potentially good inventory, but environmentalists aren't happy with that kind of massive waste.
I wonder if FYE fixed their website. I also don't think they are in any position to have problems like that during the busiest shopping period. It's sad to hear of the continued reductions in music and video at Barnes & Noble. It's been around a year since I've been to one of their stores. The last one I went to was the Baybrook area store. They still had a decent music and video department at that time, but I don't know about now.
It is interesting that at least one Sears store has upgraded registers. I will have to stop by the store someday soon.
DeleteI am surprised that they still have toys. Deerbrook and Pasadena are either sold out or down to their last table of toys. I am glad you were able to get a 125th anniversary Sears bag. I managed to save a few myself.
I saw that article about the ring. It is sad to hear about people having issues because of Sears.
San Jacinto did close for good on January 5th. I was there for a short walk through, but I spent a couple of hours there the previous Friday night. They will probably be quick to demolish the remaining mall corridors.
I did not go to JCPenney or Kohl's this holiday season. Neither store really appeals to me these days. Actually I did buy one t-shirt at JCPenney in San Jacinto Mall, but that was it.
I never thought about what happens to the returns to Amazon. That is very wasteful. Stage stores will be in competition for some of the same merchandise as TJ Maxx and Ross, so we will see how it works out for them. It is a better business plan in my opinion than to keep the older regional store brands going.
Part III:
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Baybrook Mall, they finally replaced their sign on I-45. They still had a sign for Sears on their old sign, but now they have new signage very similar to the new signage at Willowbrook and Deerbrook Malls.
Perhaps you'll have better luck with the online coupons from Randall's. I do get nice coupons there. Sometimes even the coupon prices are expensive, but some deals are good. They give you coupons for things you buy frequently so that helps.
Randall's and Phar-Mor had the nicest video rental departments that I can remember. I remember renting Sega Master System games from Randall's because they actually had those oddities back when most supermarkets only had NES games. In fact, I think I brought a used game from Randall's once, but I can't remember what it was. Albertson's had a decent movie rental room, but Albertson's came to town here just as supermarket rental departments were drying up elsewhere. Also, I don't remember them having any neon or anything like that. The Fiesta near Willowbrook had a 3rd party movie rental business up at the front of the store.
Kroger just had movie rentals in a normal aisle of the store and it wasn't very impressive. I don't remember renting anything from Kroger. It's possible the ~1993 Kroger Signature stores had fancier movie rental rooms to go along with their KFC/Pizza Hut/Taco Bell Express stores they briefly had, but I can't remember them having fancy video rental rooms.
You can relive the Randall's movie rental department in this classic 1992 video which I have shared before. I'm having a harder time finding video of the Phar-Mor movie rental department. This very 1990s looking 1990 Phar-Mor commercial has a very brief clip of it. If nothing else, you can get a sense of the neon they had. If you search on YouTube, you can also get the documentary that PBS did about the downfall of Phar-Mor and the fraud involved with it. Aside from that, there isn't much preserved information about Phar-Mor on the Internet that I know of. That's quite sad given the quirky nature of the store.
I replied to this comment first, I will get to the remaining comments soon. I actually like the new signage at the malls. I have not seen the new Baybrook sign yet, but I like the Deerbrook Mall signs.
DeleteRandall's is pulling the plug on my nearby stores in Kingwood. Both Kingwood stores, 1 in Clear Lake, 1 in The Woodlands, and 1 in Spring are all closing by February 5th. I am not surprised, Randall's has been getting pushed out by competition. I did not try out their online coupons, but they are running a store closing sale at each location.
There is a really awesome old school video store in Portland Oregon. Look up Movie Madness, it is very impressive. It has to be one of the last video stores of its type. I really miss the experience that movie stores offered. We would still rent movies from Blockbuster even up until the end. We would regularly go there and Hollywood when they were still around. Those chains unfortunately killed off local Mom and pop and grocery store video departments.
Speaking of video games, Gamestop is struggling and closing stores. A lot of people are speculating that they will fade away like the movie stores. Video games are going digital at a fast rate, which is killing the sales at Gamestop. They are closing a round of stores right now, but they still have thousands across the USA.
The Willowbrook Mall Sears did indeed run out of toys at some point. I visited the Sears again on the weekend before Christmas and the toys department was basically empty. I suppose it's good that they sold everything they had, but perhaps they just didn't have enough inventory.
ReplyDeleteI will say that the Willowbrook Sears was a busy place the weekend before Christmas. I had not seen the store busy like that in a long time. They had every checkout open, including rarely open ones like the lawn & garden one, and the main corridors of the store were so busy it was hard to walk through them as people were carrying packages and such. I tried to take in the sights because who knows if I'll ever see Sears busy like that again. I was quite shocked to see it that busy to be honest, but I suppose the last weekend before Christmas still has some drawing power for B&M retailers.
I will say that the Willowbrook store did get some more tools sometime between early December and the last weekend before Christmas because some of the aisles and pegs that were initially rather bare were restocked in the tool department.
Kohl's and especially JCPenney had poor sales this past Christmas season. JCPenney had a big marketing push so the lack of sales there is a really bad sign. I'm not sure what else they can do at this point to try to regain customers.
I hear the situation at Fry's is quite dire as well. Supposedly they are moving to a consignment model for inventory. I have not been to a Fry's in a while, but I'm hearing that the shelves are really bare right now. Their ads do show some new products though so perhaps they still have new stock in some areas, but not all.
I read about the Randall's closures in the news this week. Somehow, those closures made the top stories list on all the major local news sites. Anyway, the first thing I thought of when I saw the list are our discussions about how the Kingwood locations were doomed due to competition from HEB. The Clear Lake store also had a new HEB open up near it in around 2017 or so. Fortunately, the nearest Randall's to me in Champions does not have much local competition so maybe it'll stick around for a while. That location may now become the nearest Randall's for Spring/The Woodlands and Kingwood shoppers, but I can't imagine anyone from those locations except for maybe Spring will drive all the way to Champions to shop at Randall's.
The Belden's supermarket in Meyerland is also closing here soon and I'm sure it's not a coincidence that a new HEB is going up near it. HEB is really crushing the local competition. In fact, I recently learned that the Food Town next to the HEB across from Klein High School on Louetta closed earlier in 2019. I shopped at that Food Town a few times so that's a shame. The Belden's was a respected independent grocer who had a very retro but well-maintained 1980s looking store if you never saw it. At some point, I wonder if the growing HEB monster in the Houston market may cause even Kroger and Walmart to close some locations.
These remaining independent rental stores are really quite interesting. I read about one in Australia last month which still rents VHS tapes. Anyway, I preferred grocery store video departments to the big rental chains because they were cheaper and more convenient. I did rent from Blockbuster occasionally, although I think I mostly rented games from them up through the original Playstation days.
It seems to me that Gamestop is doomed. I hear they are trying to sell the pop culture toys that FYE has in their shops. I don't think that'll be enough to keep them going. At the very least, they'll have to close many stores to try to survive. Perhaps they'll do better in rural locations where Internet speeds aren't great and people may still need discs. Perhaps GameStop can specialize in retro gaming, but there's only going to be so much interest in that.
I guess the toy department was an attempt to cash in on the demise of Toys R Us. As of yesterday, the Deerbrook Sears has removed all traces of the former toy department. The tool department is undergoing a reset with less shelving. Some items have been stretched to try and fill space. The Christmas/Outdoor department is sitting empty with no outdoor items up yet. Mattresses have moved into more spaces stretching into former kitchen item spaces.
DeleteI did not see Sears on the busiest days this season. I did go late on one weekend to Pasadena and Deerbrook.
Frys featured a newly restocked Las Vegas store on their Facebook page. As for the rest of the stores, they have not gotten much new stock in yet. I want to stop by some of our local stores to see how they are doing.
One of the fears that people have is that HEB will raise prices once Randall's closes. I would not be surprised if this happens, but they still have to compete against Kroger and Walmart stores in this area. I do like HEB, but the Northeast side of Houston needs more variety.
Hollywood video was my go-to video rental store. They were the first chain to rent newly released movies for 5 days. I always hated the rush to watch and get a movie back on time. Blockbuster was notorious for laying down the hammer on late fees. With Hollywood, you had more leniency. Hollywood also had more variety from what I remember. I used to rent games from the Mom and Pop stores because they would let you return the game for another one if you did not like it. As long as you came back with the game on the same day you rented it. The chain stores always seemed to be out of the best games during the NES/Super NES era of games.
Gamestop has way too many stores. I stopped by one of their stores that is closing, a lot of the collectible items were still left with few games. I think way too many stores are selling those items now. Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and even closeout stores are selling a lot of the same collectibles that Gamestop has. I have also noticed that the stores were recently reconfigured and have less games than before.
Toy departments are probably not highly profitable at this time of the year so I'd imagine Sears would be wise to mothball those until maybe the late summer or something like that. It's hard to say. That said, Sears needs stuff to fill their stores and I'm sure they are struggling to get their hands on inventory of any kind.
ReplyDeleteI heard about the tool department reset on that Layoffs forum you told me about. I found that site a bit hard to follow, but I suppose there are some insiders on there providing interesting looks at the situation. Anyway, you're right that it's becoming harder and harder to find things at Sears to buy even with SYWR Freecash. I feel that the prices for what they do sell are competitive, but they just don't sell nearly as much as they used to. I can confirm that the electronics department at the Willowbrook Mall Sears has been completely eliminated.
It's good to hear that Fry's might be on the rebound, but we'll see what happens with the local stores. I will say that I was kicking the tires on replacing an appliance and I visited all the local chains which sell appliances. Of all of those, including Conn's, Best Buy was the only place that had what I would call an even remotely knowledgeable salesman and he was very nice as well. If that's the case at all/most of their stores, I could see Best Buy gaining a lot of marketshare in appliances.
HEB already has different prices at different stores in my area. The ones with less competition have similar regular prices as the other HEBs, or so it seems, but they have different sales circulars and the locations with more competition have more aggressive pricing. These differences in sales makes it difficult to shop at HEB because I have to go to a particular location if I want the sale items in the circular that comes in my local newspaper. Anyway, the increasing domination of HEB is concerning to those of us who like some variety in grocery shopping options and, as you say, it does present some questions about future prices at HEB.
I heard good things about Hollywood Video, but I don't think I ever actually went there. I don't think they had a location in this area until pretty late in the video rental game. I don't know if Movie Gallery was a big chain or not, but they did have a location in this area and I liked their stores. The thing I remember about them and some other mom-n-pop rental locations in this area were their plush carpets. I suppose that's an odd thing to remember though!
I really don't see a future for Gamestop. I consider it surprising that they're still as big as they are given the nature of the gaming business. As you say, geek toys are pretty common in all kinds of retailers these days. I used to shop at Gamestop occasionally some years ago, but I really don't game much at all these days so I just don't have much use for them. I did like buying cheap used sports games from there some years back, but oh well. It was always a gamble as to whether their highly scratched game discs would work anyway.
On the retro gaming front, I saw a video review for a Commodore 64 console remake out of the UK. Unlike a lot of these console remakes, this one actually got a good review. The size and design really mimics the original C64, the controller actually works well, and it takes USB flash drives so that users can load pretty much any game they can find on the Internet in addition to the handful of games that it comes with. The console has not been offered for sale in the US yet, but supposedly that is coming in the next year. If it's priced right, I might like to buy one of those.
Toys are a good impulse buy item and one of the departments that they kept full. The toy vendors seem like they still have confidence in Sears, it was one of the few well stocked Kmart departments as well.
DeleteThere are some commentors on the layoffs page that have been saying incorrect or are very late with their information. One goofy commenter even wrote that Sears corporation was moving out of the Sears tower to Hoffman Estates, lol.
Best buy has been quietly stepping up their customer service. We recently made a purchase and used their price match to get something in store for the Amazon price. It was a fairly quick process.
I did not realize they have different sales prices in their sales fliers at HEB. They will more than likely increase prices in the Northeast side of town when Randall's leaves in February.
Movie Gallery was a big chain and I think they were purchased by Hollywood Video at some point. Not a lot of video stores had carpet so I don't think it is a odd thing to remember.
One thing that Gamestop did not take advantage of is the retro game market. Gamestop always moved the older items out of their stores to make way for the new. I still prefer physical game copies, but companies are moving away from them. Consoles like the new Google Stadia are not even offering physical copies at all.
Just about every older console is getting a re-release. I think it is a great idea to give fans a way to play the older games on a modern TV. I loved the mini NES and SNES consoles and still play them.