Here's some interesting reading from 24/7 Wall St., in line with the Sears/Kmart news from yesterday. (Still no word on whether the stores in Idaho Falls and Ammon are on the block, but we are keeping tabs.)
Ponder the fortunes of such former winners as American Apparel and Nokia. This article was posted in June, so there's some forward thinking going on here.
Do you still have a MySpace page out there gathering dust in the void? I do, but I wouldn't know how or where to begin to find it. Is there such a thing as an online janitorial service? It would be a lot of work, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's some genius out there coming up with an elegant solution even as I write this.
There's an interesting story about Bill Gates and a reporter who asked him in 1998 what he feared the most. Microsoft was at the peak of its profitability, and the reporter expected Gates to answer with the name of some big competitor -- Netscape, Cisco, IBM or whatever. Gates, a brilliant guy no matter what you think of him, replied he was most afraid of two guys in a garage somewhere with an idea that was going to turn everything on its head. At the time, very few people had heard about Google, which was being hatched by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in a garage in Menlo Park, Calif.
Sears Holdings Corp. announced this morning it will be closing 100 to 120 Sears and Kmart stores after poor sales during the holidays. No word on whether this will include the Sears store in the Grand Teton Mall or the Kmart on 17th Street, but we will be monitoring the news as it develops.
The Sears store in the Grand Teton Mall.
After booming holiday sales for many retailers, the parent company revealed Tuesday that Kmart sales were down 4.4 percent through Christmas Day. Sears sales were down 6 percent.
In the past, Sears Holdings has attempted to prop up failing stores. This time, the focus will be on cutting weak stores loose and focusing on locations where sales are stronger.
In a news release, the Sears Holdings' CEO Lou D'Ambrosio said, "Given our performance and the difficult economic environment, especially for big-ticket items, we intend to implement a series of actions to reduce on-going expenses, adjust our asset base and accelerate the transformation of our business model. These actions will better enable us to focus our investments on serving our customers and members through integrated retail - at the store, online and in the home."
Sears expects to generate $140 to $170 million of cash as the net inventory in these stores is sold plus the sale or sublease of the related real estate. D'Ambrosio said the company plans better inventory management and more targeted pricing and promotion.
Has anyone seen the new game show called "You Deserve It"? I think it is about as emblematic of our present day as anything I've seen recently.
It involves people going on TV to compete for the sake of friends or relations who are facing ruin because of their medical bills. For my own part, I think all of us deserve a health care system that doesn't hold the prospect of bankruptcy over the head of anyone who has the bad form to get sick or hurt. But let's go down that road some other day.
Since it's Christmas, let's address instead the question of who deserves what, if anything. This seems to be such a big concern for lots of Americans.
Take for example the Post Register's Goodfellow Fund, which I applaud for setting a new record this year. Money goes directly to local charities, which is great. Yet for the longest time (and perhaps even now), it advertised itself as helping people who are "down on their luck through no fault of their own."
In other words, "Relax, your donation is not going to be used to help lowlifes." Did they really need to say that? Apparently they felt they did.
When Jesus, whose alleged birth we celebrate today, fed 5,000 people with five loaves and two fishes, I don't recall him saying to anyone, "Take a hike. I know what you've been up to. You don't deserve this." The Beatitudes do not say, "Blessed are the deserving poor," and in Mark 10:18, he went as far as to say, "Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God."
Jesus came into the world to heal the sick, feed the hungry, and for the forgiveness of sins. He was not hung up on qualifications.
A lot of politicians have gotten themselves elected by appealing to Middle America's obsession with the notion that someone out there -- a welfare queen, an illegal alien, even a public school teacher -- is getting something he or she doesn't deserve, and that it's being paid for with tax dollars. The people who want us to focus on that have a lot of money to spread that message, way more than any church or organization that says our society should reflect ideals of equity and mercy.
This blessed day, enjoy your presents, your turkey or your tenderloin (which is on the menu at my house; I can't believe what it cost.) Be lavish with yourselves and each other, as God is lavish with grace and the peace that passes all understanding. None of us really deserve these things, which means all of us do.
This might not be the big announcement everyone is waiting for, but Costoco Wholesale, the international chain of membership warehouses, is evaluating locations in Idaho Falls and Ammon.
"At this point it's a feasibility study, but there's a good chance it will happen," said Brent Wilson of Pentad Properties, who is showing Costco possible locations. The company typically hires someone local who has an understanding of traffic patterns, local trends and zoning regulations.
Any incentive that a community can offer is taken into account. "It's not front page news, but it's not a big secret," Wilson said. "They want people to know."
Wilson is also involved with finding a new tenant for the T.G.I. Friday's building on Hitt Road. And no, it won't be Red Lobster. "There was interest, but Red Lobster's prototype is 7,700 square feet and that building is 5,234 square feet," he said.
Right now, Darden Restaurants, Red Lobster's parent company, is more interested in the Far East than it is in small town America, but something could happen in the Idaho Falls-Ammon area. "They are looking," he said.
Wind turbines dot the hills to the east of Idaho Falls. More could be on their way.
The Idaho Public Utilities Commission has done an about face on Cedar Creek Wind's proposal for more wind turbines in eastern Idaho, but they could end up in Bonneville rather than Bingham County. Here is a link to the Associated Press story:
