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Kmart distribution center looking for more work
By Kalea hall
BAZETTA
Although several Kmart stores have closed, the Kmart distribution center in Bazetta Township remains open.
But slowing sales and closing stores have led to a slowdown and layoffs at the local distribution center on Perkins-Jones Road, causing the leadership there to look for more work from other retailers.
“We will continue to search for work for those people,” said Glenn Johnson, president of United Auto Workers Local 1112, which represents the center’s workers. “We will look at any place to utilize warehouse work. There are irons in the fire to try and find work for those folks.”
At its peak, the distribution center, which serves Kmart stores mostly in the Northeast, had 300 employees. Today, there are about 150 workers, Johnson said. The center had layoffs already this year and is expected to see more after the holidays, Johnson said.
“We want to live to fight another day,” he said.
Johnson believes internet sales and a change in the industry have led to Kmart’s struggle.
The company “has been struggling with its financial earnings,” Johnson said. “Any time the stores are affected by a loss of sales or lower volume, it affects the distribution center.”
In early November, Sears Holdings Corp., which owns Kmart and Sears stores, announced the closings of 45 Kmart stores and 18 Sears stores come late January. On the list is the Austintown Kmart. The coming closings are in addition to about 250 other store closings previously announced this year.
The Austintown Kmart will close nearly two years after the Boardman and Warren locations closed. Locally, there are still Kmart locations in Howland, Hermitage, Pa., New Castle, Pa., and East Liverpool.
“Sears Holdings continues its strategic assessment of the productivity of our Kmart and Sears store base and will continue to right-size our store footprint in number and size,” the company said in a statement about the January store closings.
Sears Holdings releases store counts quarterly. As of Oct. 28, there are 510 Kmart stores.
In late November, Sears Holdings Corp. reported a net loss of $558 million for the third quarter of 2017, which compared with a net loss of $748 million for the third quarter of 2016, an improvement of $190 million.
Adjusted earnings improved by $100 million to a loss of $275 million in the third quarter of 2017.
The company reported total revenues of about $3.7 billion during the third quarter of 2017, compared with revenues of $5 billion in the third quarter of 2016. Sears Holdings said store closures contributed to more than half of the decline.
“With the challenging retail landscape continuing to pressure sales, the improvement in adjusted [earnings] is reflective of the success of the strategic priorities we outlined earlier this year to streamline our operations, reduce inventory and minimize operating expenses, as well as our commitment to our goal of restoring positive adjusted [earnings] in 2018,” said Edward S. Lampert, chairman and CEO of Sears Holdings, in the third-quarter earnings release.