Since Christmas, the sad news of two American icons has brought back a flood of memories from my childhood and it has reminded me that nothing is forever.
The news regarding Sears closing 100+ of its stores (both Sears and Kmart) across the country may not have been a surprise to anyone, but it was still a sad reminder that Sears nor Kmart are giants in their respective stores. In the 1970s and 1980s, both Sears and Kmart were the place to go for anyone’s needs. Sears was the home of great brands like Kennmore, Craftsman, DieHard, and other lines. Sears even invented the Discover Credit Card back in the 1980s, and had businesses that included Caldwell Banker real estate, and Dean Witter Financial. And who could forget the Sears Catalog? Kmart was America’s discount store. But, beginning in the late 1980s, Target and Wal-Mart cut deeply into Kmart’s advantage, and by the late 1990s, Kmart was headed for bankruptcy. After emerging from bankruptcy, Kmart bought Sears out, but the combined companies continue to be hounded by Wal-Mart and Target on the discount side, Macy’s on the Expensive Mall side, Best Buy on the electronics side, and internet giants like Amazon.com. Sears and Kmart have struggled to re-invent themselves in recent years.
The second icon to have serious trouble is Kodak. Eastman Kodak was once a giant in American history. The Rochester, NY company was the undisputed King of Photography for a long time. Their cameras are legendary—Instamatics, Brownies, Retina, up to the Advantix. But, unfortunately, Kodak success in film cameras would eventually lead to its demise in the digital age—even though Kodak invented the first digital camera. The inability to see where the future was going cost Kodak, and a series of decisions that made people question what Kodak really wanted to do in the digital age has led the company to an almost certain bankruptcy. (Side note: what is it with Rochester, NY founded companies and the failure to see the next big thing? Look at Xerox and the fact that they literally invented computer operating systems, but ceded that business line to Apple and Microsoft.)
As a kid growing up, we always had Kmarts close to us. When we moved to Snellville in 1979, visiting a Kmart was a big deal. We could find clothing, toys, daily products, and other goods at Kmart (at least until one of my sisters started working at Richway in the 1980s). What we couldn’t find there, we could always find at Sears when we went to either Northlake Mall, or later, Gwinnett Place Mall. My family had the Sears charge card. Heck, we didn’t even have to go to Sears. We could always go to the local catalog store in Tucker to buy stuff as we needed.
It has been some time since I really shopped at Sears. Sure, we got a Washer and Dryer from them in 2009, but aside from that, I have rarely stepped inside their store to shop over the last decade. It’s almost as rare for me to visit Kmart, though I must admit I do go in there a little more to shop. Still, whenever I shop, it’s usually at JCPenney or Target, because the things I need I can usually find at those places.
My family was a photography family, or so I have learned through talking with various family members. When I was a young boy, we would take pictures with Kodak cameras, send the film to the local Fotomat to be developed, then enjoy the pictures. In the 1980s, we had a Kodak Disc Camera, which we used as our primary family camera. My first camera was a Kodak camera and I used it to take pictures across the country from Elementary School to College and beyond. For Christmas of 2003, I bought my first digital camera, a Kodak Easy Share, and I even got the accompanying printer. That camera would not last long, but I was able to replace it for free and the next Kodak digital camera would document the greatest moments of my adult life—the courtship of my eventual wife, our honeymoon, my trip to Australia, and finally, the birth of my son, Joshua. Shortly after Joshua’s birth, however, my love affair with Kodak ended, and the two cameras my family currently own are Nikons—a point and shoot for general stuff, and a digital SLR we use for special occasions.
Kodak and Sears/Kmart will not die. My gut is they will still survive, but not at the levels they once dominated. Some companies have a funny way of surviving, even after apparent liquidation (think Bennigan’s restaurants and Service Merchandise). Still, we will not see them at the levels they once were. Probably some 15 years in the future, I will come across a Mall, and see the Sears logo or drive past a Kmart, and it will bring back happy memories of my childhood. Maybe I’ll even see a Kodak product and remember how I use to love their cameras. But it won’t be the same. Joshua will not revere either company the way daddy once did.
I am saddened by their downturn. I wish they could continue to live on. But time marches on. And one day, every company will have to deal with what Sears/Kmart and Kodak are dealing with now—even Apple, Wal-Mart, Target, and other high-flyers of today.
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