The once nationally recognized iconic American company Kmart is finally closing its last store in the United States — sort of. In a market dominated by Walmart and Target, how can struggling retailers carve out a niche and avoid the pitfalls Kmart encountered?

Once a fierce rival of Walmart, Kmart’s decline is nearly complete.

At least publicly, a number of U.S. mall owners have stated that any Sears locations closing as part of bankruptcy proceedings will provide a long-awaited chance to redevelop their shopping centers with healthier, traffic-driving tenants. Do you see more positives than negatives in Sears’ bankruptcy filing?

The truth is not many retail industry watchers believed that the company was “fighting like hell” to turn its business around. A new Wall Street Journal report that Mr. Lampert’s ESL Holdings has offered to buy the company’s Kenmore brand is unlikely to change that perception. Will an acquisition of the Kenmore brand by ESL Holdings help Sears Holdings achieve a turnaround?

November began yesterday and retailers wasted no time in touting the great savings, exclusive offers and special events they have planned for the Christmas selling season. Do you think retailers that have not started Christmas promotions are already behind the competitive curve for the season?

Kmart wants female consumers to know that it is all about positive body image. That’s the message the mass merchant hopes is getting through with its decision to rename its plus-sized clothing sections as “fabulously sized.” Will Kmart’s approach to marketing and merchandising “fabulously sized” women’s clothing prove successful?

What is your critique of Kmart’s “Disguise” and Walmart’s “Holiday Helpers”? Which do you think does a better job of connecting with each company’s core customers while reaching out to new shoppers?

Layaway programs are going strong and retailers from coast-to-coast are trying to capture their share of the 17 percent of all shoppers that, according to Deloitte, make holiday purchases using this method. Are concerns about the costs associated with layaway programs still valid?

Amid reports that Kmart is being phased out, Sears Holdings insists that it is in the process of transforming Kmart from a traditional brick and mortar chain to a new type of retailer. Do you see Kmart’s plan to move inventory straight to the sales floor as a sign the company is focused on transformation?

In a continuing effort to “to bring fun back to shopping,” Kmart recently introduced a new series of t-shirts for its store associates as part of their dress code. What do you think of Kmart’s fun-themed transformation? How might slogan t-shirts add to the customer experience and associate morale?

It seems like Kmart has been looking for a new strategy for decades, but now the company believes it may have found a way to get its business moving in the right direction — buying liquidated merchandise and selling it to customers. Do you think that Kmart Strategic Merchandising Group will be able to deliver on its promise of brag-worthy deals?

Promising “awesome deals on party essentials to make a fantastic football bash,” Kmart last week became one the first retailers of the season looking to capitalize on the ever-expanding Super Bowl party opportunity. Can you suggest any creative approaches for reaching Super Bowl spenders?

It’s déjà vu all over again at Kmart, which is bringing back its “Bluelight Specials” once more in an attempt to drive incremental sales inside the chain’s stores. Will bringing back Bluelight Specials do more to keep existing customers in Kmart stores or attract new ones?

In week one of the RetailWire Christmas Commercial Challenge, Target’s “Alice in Marshmallow Land” outdid Walmart’s “Gift List.” Week two saw RadioShack’s “Toyland” top Best Buy’s “Our Best” spot. This week, Big Lots faces off with Kmart. Which does the better job of connecting with each chain’s core customers?

Last week’s announcement that Sears and Kmart were expanding store pickup for online orders to the chains’ more than 2,000 locations didn’t get a lot of attention because, well, it came from Sears and Kmart. How effective will Sears’ and Kmart’s new cross-store pickup program be in building the chains’ online businesses? Will it have positive effects on their stores, as well?

Having an ad go viral may be the dream of ad managers and their agencies, but being viewed a gazillion times on YouTube and elsewhere is no guarantee that views will turn into sales. A case in point is Kmart, which has produced not just one, but three videos that have gone viral this year. Do you think that a commercial going viral can actually wind up hurting a retailer or brand?

Like its sister company, Sears, Kmart has achieved a degree of success with its layaway plan by catering to consumers on the low-end of the economic ladder. Now, Kmart is following the lead of its older sibling by catering to cash- and credit-strapped consumers with the launch of a lease-to-own program. Will we see more retailers offering lease-to-own programs following the apparent success at Sears?

Two commercials: Each created with the goal of drumming up consumer excitement and driving traffic and sales. The third episode of the RetailWire Christmas Commercial Challenge, we offer up new spots from Kmart and Walmart for you to critique. Which will do the best job of driving business this holiday season?

For all the grief some retailers are taking for plans to open stores on Thanksgiving night, you would think there would be more of an uproar over Kmart’s decision to once again swing open its doors at 6:00 a.m. on that morning. How much of a benefit will Kmart receive from opening before sunrise on Thanksgiving Day?

For several years, retailers have sought to get an earlier and earlier jump on the competition with ads and promotions for the Christmas holiday selling season. Kmart has pushed the timeline even further this year starting 105 days before Christmas. Are consumers paying attention or tuning out early commercials for the holiday season?

From a modern day advertiser’s standpoint, there’s almost nothing better than one of your commercials going viral online, the most recent and obvious case is Kmart’s “Ship My Pants” spot. Are there common elements among commercials that go viral online?

Sears Holdings is testing a new version of its MyGofer store pickup service aimed at busy urban professionals. After ordering online, customers pick up their purchases the same day at the flagship Sears State Street location. How much more or less popular will in-store and/or curbside pickup services become over the next five years?

On Friday, Kmart joined Toys ‘R’ Us and Walmart in heralding an ever-more competitive layaway program. The company announced it is waiving the fees that shoppers pay to open its interest free, pay-over-time program through Nov. 17. Are layaway deals worth it for retailers?

With very few other retailers offering layaway programs, Kmart has a point of difference in the market. Now, the retailer is promoting a five percent discount on layaway purchases made for back-to-school. Do you see layaway as a positive means for Kmart to differentiate itself from competitors during the back-to-school season?

While the reappearance of layaway programs have been great news for many, something even better is happening across America. In Grand Rapids, Michigan a woman entered a Kmart and asked to see a list of layaway accounts, chose three and paid them down to a $10 balance. Could retailers be doing more to tap into the altruistic nature of some shoppers?

Kmart is looking to get closer to Hispanic consumers with the production of an eight-part Spanish-language series running on YouTube called ‘Madres y Comadres.’ Will Kmart’s efforts on YouTube, Facebook, etc. translate into greater awareness and eventually share of the Hispanic consumer market?

An interesting article in dbusiness, the Detroit business magazine, attempts to explain how Kmart blew the huge lead it had in the discount channel and collapsed into bankruptcy. In hindsight, what were the main reasons that Kmart lost its leadership position in the discount channel?

Consumers are interested in what others have to say about the products they are thinking of buying, apparently part of the premise behind Kmart’s decision to post reviews of various video games next to products in its stores. Is there room for customer product reviews in stores?

Kmart is hoping to clean up with a new laundromat concept it is testing in Iowa City, IA. Do you think Kmart’s Kwash laundromat service will help boost sales in Kmart stores as consumers take care of their laundry and shopping at the same time and in the same place?

While many retailers have done away with layaway programs, others such as Kmart have benefited from filling the void. Kmart’s parent company, Sears Holdings, said it saw double-digit growth in the program between 2008 and 2009 as more than three million went the layaway route. Will the demand for layaway programs lessen as the economy rebounds?

Last week, Kmart made a mistake. It sent out an email to customers offering them a link to a coupon worth $10 off any purchase of $20 or more. The coupon, however, neglected to specify geographical limitations and instead said it was valid at all locations. What lessons can be drawn from this incident with Kmart?

Kmart announced earlier this week that it was going national with its Smart Assist Savings Card, which provides customers who have lost their jobs with a 20 percent discount on roughly 1,500 private label items in the chain’s stores. Will consumers reward Kmart for its “good deed” in offering the Smart Assist program?

An early version of an Advertising Age article online yesterday offered a surprise for Kmart fans. According to the initial draft that went online, Kmart saw its sales dip only two percent in the most recent quarter…. Has Kmart hit on a strategy that will enable it to succeed in the competition for consumer dollars?

The shoe department used to be something that Kmart outsourced. That changed when the chain decided to take over its own shoe business. Do you see it as a positive that Kmart took over its footwear department rather than outsourcing it?

Kmart won’t have to worry this year about those pesky websites that post Black Friday deals weeks in advance of the official start of the holiday season as the chain has decided to kick off Black Friday two days after Halloween. What are your thoughts on Kmart’s recent marketing initiatives including its layaway program and “Early Black Friday” promotion?

With all the talk recently about the possibility that the U.S. could be facing economic conditions not seen since the Great Depression, the question arises as to whether a retailing invention created in the 1930s is ready to make a comeback at stores and on websites across the nation. Is the time right for layaway programs to make a comeback at retail?

Kmart is intent on further differentiating from the competition by offering consumers who fill a prescription at one of its pharmacies the option of buying 10 popular over-the-counter (OTC) private label medicines for just $1 each. How effective do you think this program will be in driving Kmart’s Rx and OTC medicine business?

Ever since Kmart and Sears agreed to merge, one of the projected benefits of the deal was thought to be that popular exclusive brands would be made available to shoppers at both companies’ stores. While there has been some migration, it has been limited in scope. That, however, may be about to change with the announcement yesterday that Craftsman tools will be sold in nearly all the 1,400 stores operated by Kmart in the U.S. What will Craftsman mean for Kmart’s business now that the brand will be sold in almost all the chain’s stores?

Many retailers are expecting Christmas to be a bit less cheery this year and are taking steps to make the most of the selling season by aggressively managing inventories and by placing greater emphasis on exclusive items, according to Women’s Wear Daily. What factors (inventory control, in-store merchandising, advertising, etc.) will be most critical this holiday season for retailers trying to grow both their top and bottom lines?

For many retail watchers, the scene played out in Monty Python and The Holy Grail where a cart is pushed through a village and the cart-master calls out, “Bring out your dead!” has a striking similarity to what has been happening at Kmart. With numerous announcements about its impending comeback, but little evidence to support it, many wonder how long will it be before its cart-master (AKA Edward Lampert, chairman of Sears Holdings) shuts off the lights once and for all. Are Kmart and Sears beyond the point of reviving?

An arbitration panel has unanimously ruled that Charles Conaway, the former chairman and CEO of Kmart, was not guilty of “fraud, deliberate mismanagement or corporate looting,” as accused in a suit brought by creditors of the company. What is your reaction to the arbitration panel’s ruling in the suit brought by the Kmart Creditors Trust against Charles Conaway?

The decision by management to close three Super Kmarts in the Memphis, Tenn. market has increased speculation that the chain and its Sears Holdings parent intends to get out of the supercenter business altogether. Should Kmart and parent Sears Holdings get out of the food business or is there an opportunity for the company to fix what is clearly broken?

A survey conducted by ForeSee Results, an Internet services provider out of Ann Arbor, Mich., assessing customers’ satisfaction with the prices, merchandise and Web site experience of 40 top-grossing retailers with online offerings saw Kmart.com ranked last with a score of 69. What impact (positively or negatively) does a customer’s experience with a Web site have on physical store performance and how does the store experience affect the online business?

Kmart is looking for more than a few good men for Father’s Day and beyond. The retailer is directly targeting male shoppers with dual Craftsman and NASCAR displays in 300 Kmart stores for the holiday. Is Kmart getting its fair share of male shoppers? What will bringing in more men mean for the retailer?

The Kmart in Troy, Mich. is one of nine nationally currently testing Sears’ products in its stores. Other “new” Kmarts are located in Boca Raton, Fla., White Plains, N.Y., Bohemia, N.Y., Silver Spring, Md., and Burbank, Calif. Sears’ brands, however, are not the only thing new to this Kmart. Is Kmart on the right track with the store and product changes it is making?

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Kmart Holding Corp. said it plans to convert 400 Kmart stores to Sears’ locations over the next several years. The retailer did not identify stores to be converted or what banner (Sears Essential or Sears Grand) they would operate under. Forget the negativity. If you’re advising Kmart/Sears management, what do you have them do to make the merger work as a retail business?

According to a report by The New York Times, Kmart is hipper than it used to be and plans on becoming even more closely identified with products that are both cool and inexpensive at the same time. Is Kmart moving in the right direction under the design leadership of Lisa Schultz and Matthew Morris?

A temporary pharmacist with strong religious convictions found himself in court after refusing in July 2002 to fill a prescription for birth control pills for a University of Wisconsin-Stout student. Should a pharmacist be required to fill a prescription even if it is against his/her religious beliefs?

David Pilgreen was tired of seeing his employer kicked around and he wanted to set the record straight. That was his first mistake. Where do you stand on the right of employers and employees when it comes to talking out of work about things that go on there?

Richard L. Cozart, who was once the director of Kmart’s supplier diversity initiative, said his former employer said all the right things publicly but, in practice, discriminated against suppliers run by African-Americans, and that he was unfairly fired from his job for, in effect, doing it too well. How big is the gap between the rhetoric and the reality with retail company supplier diversity initiatives?