Posted on 02/23/2022 3:16:59 PM PST by algore
The reality is if you boycott every company that has been trashed on FR you absolutely must become Amish, LOL.
Just makes it harder for democrat men to meet democrat women.
LOL!! Whenever anyone posts a company or product to boycott, either the company is nowhere near me, or I never used the product to begin with.
I’m torn by the news. I worked in a K-Mart in West Nashville for a year or so in 1984. (Electronics department selling Commodore 64 computers, as well as the occasional fridge). They were OK to work for. But in the late 90’s I tried shopping at the one in Smyrna, TN and it NEVER failed that “If I wanted it? They didn’t have it.” And I’d have to go to Wal-mart to get it. So, after a while, I just stopped going there. I figure lots of other people did the same.
I bought an assortment of resistors and capacitors a while back, and I have plenty of old power supplies and other scrap electronics to remove parts from.
And parts I’ve needed to order, are things that Radio Shack wouldn’t have had anyway, like low ESR capacitors and surface mount MOSFETs.
I wonder if Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and Family Dollar did as much to kill Kmart as did Dillard’s, Target, and Walmart. I think they got crushed between the “high end” traditional retailers, and the “low end” dollar stores.
What’s sad is Sears should have had a tremendous windfall in the early 90s, when Tim Allen made Sears, and Craftsmen’s Tools especially, a centerpiece of his comedy routines.
Might be a video of that somewhere....
Cleaning out my dad’s garage after he passed away last year, I found some new-in-the-box steel shelves with a K-Mart shipping label on them and a store address. The date on the label was sometime in 1983!
The address was to a space in North Park Mall, on North Ave in Villa Park, IL. I had forgotten that there was a K-Mart there. It wasn’t a strip mall either, so the K-Mart must have connected to the interior of the mall—I don’t remember.
As I recall there was also a Dominick’s grocery store and a JC Penney (outlet?) in that mall.
There’s also the fact that Sears began as the mail order “Amazon” and should have been able see what was happening with the internet.
The real problem IMO is that Eddie Lampert had already decided to kill Sears and Kmart because he was only interested in the real estate which he would personally control.
the one day I really needed a resistor I remember calling batteries and bulbs, and mentioned they should really carry some common electronic parts, they told me there was a reason they survived and Radio Shack failed.
Apparently there are a few Radio Shacks still around, but I suspect they are just RSINOs
I believe they died due to corporate arrogance. I built stores for K-Mart, WalMart, Target and others. In the 80s K-Mart was convinced that WalMart was Hicks and Target was a nothing. They treated those they dealt with like you were beneath their dignity.
The day the Sears Wish Book came was one the best days of the year growing up.
In the 80s, elementary school children made fun of K-Mart. They grew up and became customers.. presumably not of K-Mart, though.
At least that way you still have a store serving your town. All of the Sears and Kmart buildings in SoCal are now empty. Maybe not as critical here as it would be to smaller cities without other options.
Sears should have been on the web before Amazon considering the Sears Catalog was already famous.
Parents just don't understand.
Dang! I missed that one (Fry’s gone.) Even the last time I was there (Chicagoland store, around 2018) they had lots of good stuff. I bought 8(?) of their house brand flash drives on sale.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but I doubt that has anything to do with their decline. Plenty of thriving businesses support gays and abortion.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.