Last Sears in Michigan Is Closing, Marshall Has The Last KMart

Maybe it's because we've read too many of these store closing stories, or maybe you have to be of a certain age, or maybe it's because it reminds me of my dad and mom taking me to the "giant" Sears store, eating the salted cashews, learning I was "husky" and playing my Silvertone guitar, the first of several over my youth; whatever the reason, it's sad to hear that Sears is closing its last store in Michigan. (It's the one at Westland Shopping Center, at Wayne and Warren Rds, in metro Detroit.)

Maybe your memories are of the Sears store in downtown Kalamazoo, across from where Portage Road splits off, or where the cop shop is now off Crosstown Parkway, or even at the Crossroads, (mine was at North and Harlem Avenues, in Chicago. They just razed that site after a plan to turn it into a multi-use shopping and condo complex fell apart.)

Sure, nothing last forever, but like so many institutions that are falling apart these day, most of this is due to stupidity and greed. Sears was Amazon before Amazon. They had the infrastructure in place for over a century with their booming catalog business that could easily have been adapted to online shopping.

It happened to Montgomery Ward, it's probably going to happen to JC Penney. But a good share of the blame belongs to the managers without any vision as to the future.

There is one small shred of good news. There's one last Kmart store in Michigan, and it's in Marshall. What's its future look like. Who knows. This store is run the same geniuses who ran Sears and the rest of Kmart into the ground. There's some Sears outlet stores in small towns, but those aren't owned by Sears anymore.

According to reports, this is the last Kmart in Michigan, in Marshall. (Google Street View)