Business Insider/Jessica Tyler Parts of the floor were falling apart at Kmart.
- Kmart parent company Sears Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday. The company says it will close 142 Sears and Kmart stores before the end of the year, and its CEO, Eddie Lampert, will step down.
- The rise of e-commerce, declining foot traffic to malls, and a higher demand for off-price products are just some of the factors that have caused department stores to suffer in recent years, and Kmart is no exception to that.
- We visited a Kmart store the day after the company filed for bankruptcy, and it was a complete mess.
- READ MORE: Inside Sears' death spiral.
Sears, Kmart's parent company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday.
The company says it will close 142 stores before the end of the year, and its CEO, Eddie Lampert, will step down.
Sears has been closing stores and selling off assets following years of crippling sales declines. The company currently operates 687 Sears and Kmart stores, according to its bankruptcy filing. That's down from nearly 2,000 stores in 2013.
The rise of e-commerce, declining foot traffic to malls, and a higher demand for off-price products are just some of the factors that havecaused department stores as a category to suffer in recent years.
"The problem in Sears' case is that it is a poor retailer. Put bluntly, it has failed on every facet of retailing from assortment to service to merchandise to basic shop-keeping standards," said Neil Saunders, the managing director of GlobalData
Kmart stores seem to be facing the same issues. When we visited the discount store the day after the company filed for bankruptcy, it had rusty shelves, huge empty spaces, and piles of boxes left around.
Here's what it was like: