Kmart OFFICIALLY PHASING OUT GAMES SECTION. 20% Off Games Accessories! Clearance DEALS INSIDE! Post your finds here!

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CAGiversary!
EDIT - If you see any deals in your local Kmart post it in this thread. Spread the love. This post is no longer being curated so check the last post for YMMV local deals. 

20% OFF SALE ON NOW UNTIL THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE. (*Gwarr... Brains...*)

NOTICE

I am no longer affiliated with Kmart, so this isn't getting any future updates. Stay tuned to the latest post in the comment section. THANKS!

I looked into the plan for this fire-sale, and apparently they'll be rolling out clearance deals for the whole section. So 20% off, then 50%, or whatever comes to pass. Looks like different regions are getting different sales sooner than others, as well as higher volume stores getting different sales than lower ones. IF YOU HAVE INSIDE INFO, POST IN THIS THREAD SO CAGS IN YOUR AREA CAN GET A HEADS UP.

TIPS & TRICKS

  • All deals are YMMV.
  • Kmart bases it's clearance on how long an item has been in stock. It takes a few weeks, but even the most expensive items go on clearance.
  • ALWAYS ASK SOMEONE TO SCAN AN ITEM FOR YOU. Most older games are on clearance, but have not been labeled as such.
  • Lookout for "penny items", items that have been on shelf for so long they've been clearanced down to 0.01. They won't sell for that, but it's a great way to get GTA IV for $2.00, for example.
  • TAKE A PICTURE AND PRICE MATCH.  For Walmart and other retailers, this is all they need to price match. Make sure the label is clearly visible and don't forget to post it here and share the love. 
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Background Info
So I am an employee of Kmart and happened to see this memo pass through my local store. I can't repeat it verbatim, and I couldn't get a picture of the message due to being constantly on camera.

Basically the memo stated the "exit strategy" for the games section in retail stores. Stating that this was in essence brought on by having overstocked shelves (bwa hahaha) and not enough customers. However Kmart.com, Sears.com, and Shopyourwayrewards.com, would continue to sell games and consoles to meet peoples needs. So they're switching focus from retail to online.

The message continued to explain to sell down merch and fill the empty space with other merch. Eventually to clearance out the whole section if it didn't sell down.

So firstly, wait. Just wait and deals will come.

As a customer I have to say that Kmart has had nothing but crappy deals for the past few years. (On games) Focusing on SYWR points and mediocre sales to bring in customers rather than staying competitive with Amazon, Walmart, and pretty much any retailer that will actually give a deep discount. Therefore they have shot themselves in the foot and driven away most business. As a result of that they face what I call "the burger problem".

When Kmart doesn't get games in to sell, they can't sell them. But instead of getting more stock I guess they just say "X person doesn't want Y game". This is just like a survey of a small town saying no one in the town likes burgers, because no one eats burgers. Only to find out there is nowhere to eat burgers in the first place.

Why doesn't Kmart get games to sell? I don't know if Kmart as a whole does this, or just my store, but we don't get games on a truck. We get them in sporadically via UPS, and never before release date. We get limited quantities and then get restocks oddly. Over the holidays I got dozens of calls for titles we wouldn't get in for weeks. During Christmas we only got a handful of Xbox Ones and no PS4s, and since then only one Wii U and one 3DS XL, which may have been returns. In short they could be making money, but there is just some really bad policies in place that leave plenty of customers walking out the door. 

Then on top of that we barely make any money in markup. We buy games basically at cost, given only a few dollars. I've seen games we bought for 58.50 selling for $60. Same for all peripherals, a 20 charger may have costed 12 for us. I was really shocked about this when I first started looking into it. Whereas other sections of the store have a markup that's understandable. 

So now after all this poor management, they're getting rid of what has always been the best part of the electronics section - games. I remember there being something said about "better serving our customer's needs", the problem in the first place was that they didn't serve our needs. For the most part they were poorly stocked, AND THIS HAS KILLED THEM THE MOST.
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YMMV DEALS -  Post below if you find a deal in your area! Post here if you find a deal in your area! 

:360: Xbox 360 DEALS  :360:

Select titles 20+% off

:xb1: Xbox One Deals  :xb1:

Select titles 20+% off

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:ps3: PS3 DEALS  :ps3:

Select titles 20+% off

:ps4: PS4 DEALS  :ps4:

Select titles 20+% off

:vita: VITA DEALS  :vita:

Select titles 20+% off

________________________________________________________________________

 
:wiiu: Wii U / Wii DEALS  :wii:

20%off

:3ds: 3DS / DS DEALS  :ds:

3DS XL - @190 @ 20%off

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[+..••] Accessories DEALS [+..••]

Afterglow Universal Headset - $30

:xb1: Xbox One Charge Kit - $20

Giotek EX-05 Universal Headset - $20

Thanks again. Remember to post your deals in the comment section.  :)

EDIT - KMART CLEARANCE 2.1 thread, added consoles, added tips, condensed backstory down into spoiler, erected a sofa, planted seeds for world domination. Just check the last post for local deals.  

 
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This isn't good news. The Kmart is within walking distance from my house and whenever I went there to pick up something, I would look in the game section. I even bought my PS4 there. So long old friend.
 
went to Kmart this morning. The associates were taking apart the racking and glass doors. They had all the games condensed into a single narrow glass case.  Everything I price checked (zelda WWHD, Hyrule warriors, dragon age, AC unity, Destiny, DK Tropical Freeze and some others) were all MSRP.  

 
kearns710 said:
went to Kmart this morning. The associates were taking apart the racking and glass doors. They had all the games condensed into a single narrow glass case. Everything I price checked (zelda WWHD, Hyrule warriors, dragon age, AC unity, Destiny, DK Tropical Freeze and some others) were all MSRP.
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Mine has 2 copies of Hyrule Warrior, but they are still at MSRP also.

 
I'm not sure about this. I asked the lady that has worked in electronics for years if they were stopping selling video games and she said "no, they are getting a new supplier for them and have to sell all the games they have now before they get new ones".
 
[SIZE=medium]My two closest KMART stores closed a few months back so I recently hit a store in a neighboring city and the game section was already entirely gutted, with almost nothing left. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Best wishes and happy hunting but if you plan on going out of your way to hit up a store I’d call first and see if they even have a game section. [/SIZE]

 
Stimes said:
I'm not sure about this. I asked the lady that has worked in electronics for years if they were stopping selling video games and she said "no, they are getting a new supplier for them and have to sell all the games they have now before they get new ones".
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[SIZE=medium]A retailer of KMART’s size should be getting product directly from the publisher so I doubt her statement is true. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Regardless, KMART as a company is on the skids and will probably be entirely gone within a few years. As others have noted, it is amazing they’ve held out this long. [/SIZE]

 
Sad but not surprising. About a month and a half, two months ago they took out two of the cases out of four, and still there are more empty spaces than filled ones. Controllers and stuff were getting bare boned as well. I have gotten some good scores since I live in a rural area, like $1 Wii U protector kits and Vita adapters. I'll watch to see if Wii remotes will go down further, as they are already on clearance at my store.

Hope they can recover, and good luck to all CAGs looking for deals!

 
I still have $650 or so of credit at kmart/sears.

Most of the store near me got rid of games about 2 years ago.

I did get lucky in November at a store and I picked up

Deadpool $6 (both systems)

Wonderful 101 $6

ASURA'S WRATH PS3 $6

sonic racing wiiu $6

Blops 2 wiiu $6
 
Sarang01 said:
Also, what idiots sell games that close to cost?! I mean $58.90? Don't they go directly to wholesalers? I mean wtf?!
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It's a double-edged sword. The more units a retailer purchases from a distributor, the lower the cost per unit. Kmart isn't ordering as much games as it has in the past, so it doesn't get them very cheaply (it's a bit better than $59.80 I'll wager, but that has to do with internal accounting which I don't want to go into right now1). Since they're selling games with such a tight margin, they can't offer sales that are competitive with other stores (*cough* Wal~Mart *cough*)2. So they don't sell as many copies, which means that they order less to fill shelves, which means they get a crappier price per unit, and the downward cycle continues.

1 What the heck. Sears Holdings probably sells the product to itself. For several reasons, including but not limited to tax purposes and leaving the option open to sell off the individual business units, the books will show that the warehouse unit receives a product for one price and "sells" those products to their own stores for a slightly higher price.

2 When retailers refer to the competition or "other stores", they're almost always referring to Wal~Mart.

 
Stimes said:
I'm not sure about this. I asked the lady that has worked in electronics for years if they were stopping selling video games and she said "no, they are getting a new supplier for them and have to sell all the games they have now before they get new ones".
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Grammaton-Cleric said:
[SIZE=medium]A retailer of KMART’s size should be getting product directly from the publisher so I doubt her statement is true.[/SIZE]
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This is actually plausible though I'm not sure how likely. It's entirely possible that they won't be purchasing games directly from publishers anymore. If this is the case, expect the KMart game section to look more like Big Lots than Best Buy. They might purchase a few big titles (Madden, Call of Duty, Halo, Nintendo first party games, etc) that are guaranteed to sell well, but most of the games are going to be closeout sales from other retailers. The third party company would be responsible for the stock and the displays at each store.

This is not totally uncommon. I once worked in a store where Lego "owned" four feet in our store. Only Lego products could be in those four feet and Lego representatives came down and chose what to put in that section and they put out product and merchandised the section to their likes. This should not be confused with a merchandise deal where a company such as Phillip Morris offers discounts and promotions on their products in exchange for a certain amount of display area or a specific location merchandising location. (I really hated dealing with tobacco sales reps. If any smokers want to know why cigarettes are x cents higher at one store on the same street, it's because the owners are sick of dealing with their $*@!# shenanigans.)

 
Stanley the Bugman said:
This is actually plausible though I'm not sure how likely. It's entirely possible that they won't be purchasing games directly from publishers anymore. If this is the case, expect the KMart game section to look more like Big Lots than Best Buy. They might purchase a few big titles (Madden, Call of Duty, Halo, Nintendo first party games, etc) that are guaranteed to sell well, but most of the games are going to be closeout sales from other retailers. The third party company would be responsible for the stock and the displays at each store.

This is not totally uncommon. I once worked in a store where Lego "owned" four feet in our store. Only Lego products could be in those four feet and Lego representatives came down and chose what to put in that section and they put out product and merchandised the section to their likes. This should not be confused with a merchandise deal where a company such as Phillip Morris offers discounts and promotions on their products in exchange for a certain amount of display area or a specific location merchandising location. (I really hated dealing with tobacco sales reps. If any smokers want to know why cigarettes are x cents higher at one store on the same street, it's because the owners are sick of dealing with their $*@!# shenanigans.)
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[SIZE=medium]That’s interesting.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]And it makes sense. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]I do wonder if they would go down that particular route at this juncture given their tenuous state but who knows? [/SIZE]

 
Good. They're games service section was consistently horrible. Literally some of the worst customer experiences of my life. No one seemed to care about games there, so I'm glad they're cutting their losses. Now they can focus on their primary market which it...who...the people who live right next to it and have no competitors to go to?

 
I could actually see them going the way of some stores during Christmas time, like when Best Buy has games put out in displays or bins by 3rd party distributors. It would lessen the foot traffic at K-mart to exclude all games/electronics, but I can see where keeping up is beyond them. Still, whatever entity they work with would have to trust that they'll get paid, so it makes any assumptions difficult to predict with any certainty.

 
UcanSUKtheFAC said:
Good. They're games service section was consistently horrible. Literally some of the worst customer experiences of my life. No one seemed to care about games there, so I'm glad they're cutting their losses. Now they can focus on their primary market which it...who...the people who live right next to it and have no competitors to go to?
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This goes back to KMart having one person staff multiple departments. It isn't unheard of to have some old bat who is technically the head of the shoe department to also be covering sporting goods, electronics, housewares, and hardware.

And the reason said old bat is covering all of those departments is that during the week, most of your teenaged and college aged staff are at school; and she's the one who should of retired years ago, but probably lives alone, either because her husband died or because she made shitty life choices or got screwed into the new retail sector with no unionization, and has to go back to work when she should be enjoying the last few years that she has left.

We are seeing the result of Reagan's "race to the bottom" economics mixed with the online age. Some of the companies out there saw what was happening, (like Best Buy seeing Circuit City and CompUSA), and they made the necessary adjustments, (price matching online retailers and debatably "stepping up" customer service). We're going to see KMart and Radio Shack go away, because they ignored the signs, and failed to adapt.
 
preston181 said:
This goes back to KMart having one person staff multiple departments. It isn't unheard of to have some old bat who is technically the head of the shoe department to also be covering sporting goods, electronics, housewares, and hardware.

And the reason said old bat is covering all of those departments is that during the week, most of your teenaged and college aged staff are at school; and she's the one who should of retired years ago, but probably lives alone, either because her husband died or because she made shitty life choices or got screwed into the new retail sector with no unionization, and has to go back to work when she should be enjoying the last few years that she has left.

We are seeing the result of Reagan's "race to the bottom" economics mixed with the online age. Some of the companies out there saw what was happening, (like Best Buy seeing Circuit City and CompUSA), and they made the necessary adjustments, (price matching online retailers and debatably "stepping up" customer service). We're going to see KMart and Radio Shack go away, because they ignored the signs, and failed to adapt.
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Um Circuit City and Comp USA are gone....

 
Grammaton-Cleric said:
[SIZE=medium]A retailer of KMART’s size should be getting product directly from the publisher so I doubt her statement is true. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Regardless, KMART as a company is on the skids and will probably be entirely gone within a few years. As others have noted, it is amazing they’ve held out this long. [/SIZE]
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With Crazy Eddie at the helm it's amazing they made it through Christmas....wait, he did loan Sears $400 Million from his hedge fund....nothing wrong with throwing your hedge fund people's money under the bus when you've already done that with the companies you purchased.

 
Derrick1979 said:
I did and still Those stores are closed even after Adapting sort to say... Bestbuy is just the devil of Retail electronics thats why they are still around... lol
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He is saying that Best Buy saw the mistakes the other companies like CC and CUSA were making, so BB adjusted their behavior.

 
slowdive21 said:
He is saying that Best Buy saw the mistakes the other companies like CC and CUSA were making, so BB adjusted their behavior.
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I got that but really has bestbuy wised up at all or just survived on the fact there is no competition now? the ones by me have some questionable customer service and when you actually do need help and find a blue shirt and ask I usually get the "I dont work in this department" and they say they will call someone and no one actually comes lol... My favortie are the snooty bastards they have working in the Samsung area or the Apple areas....

 
i picked up the last copy of  :3ds:  fire emblem: awakening for $16 today, had a clearance tag with a date of 2/2/15 on it so must have just been marked yesterday

 
donjuan81 said:
i picked up the last copy of :3ds: fire emblem: awakening for $16 today, had a clearance tag with a date of 2/2/15 on it so must have just been marked yesterday
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Just pre-ordered a new 3ds for the first time and that'd be a great get so I'm going to go run by the one close to my home and see if they got that. May have them scan Bravely Default too, just in case.

Went and left.. disappointed. :'(

 
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Derrick1979 said:
I got that but really has bestbuy wised up at all or just survived on the fact there is no competition now? the ones by me have some questionable customer service and when you actually do need help and find a blue shirt and ask I usually get the "I dont work in this department" and they say they will call someone and no one actually comes lol... My favortie are the snooty bastards they have working in the Samsung area or the Apple areas....
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That's why I said "debatably" stepped up their customer service. Basically a case of "your results may vary". In my area, the people are helpful, but pester the shit out of you, especially the Direct TV reps. But, the service is better. Getting Best Buy to price match Amazon is pretty much the reason I even turn up there. The problem with my store is that the less popular titles are rarely in stock.

For instance, I got $10 in gift coupons last month. Amazon had the Sherlock Holmes game for Xbox One on sale for like $25 one day. I was going to make Best Buy match it, and use the gift coupons on it, making it $15. But, of course, it's out of stock. But, at least Best Buy tries to adapt, with the price matching and the somewhat better service, even if they were lacking the online retailer's in stock items. KMart didn't even try on any of those three things.
 
In a related note, as of late 2014 my local Sears has also gotten rid of their (small) games section behind glass. I'm guessing a lot of (If not all) K-mart/Sears stores are gonna go bye-bye.

 
burbs1989 said:
In a related note, as of late 2014 my local Sears has also gotten rid of their (small) games section behind glass. I'm guessing a lot of (If not all) K-mart/Sears stores are gonna go bye-bye.
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The Sears here closed down a couple of years ago. I can't say I ever remember them even having games, since I've lived here, (since 2006). The two KMarts are ramping up to remove the electronics department altogether, and heading for closing in 2016, when their contracts expire, it looks like.
 
Ferrari Racer said:
Michael Jackson made a game?!
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It was ghostwritten.

I'll see myself out....

Versafied said:
2010 and 2011 were the best years of K-Mart in regards of gaming.

If anyone remembered Josh aka SHC-Gamer, he was busting out deals left and right

However, bad customer service at most locations and some people abused the coupon system which made K-Mart meh again.
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I remember being so jealous of the people who got to take part in those awesome deals; I remember, around the same time, Amazon had the 10-15 dollar gift cards when you preordered a game. Good times...

preston181 said:
This goes back to KMart having one person staff multiple departments. It isn't unheard of to have some old bat who is technically the head of the shoe department to also be covering sporting goods, electronics, housewares, and hardware.

And the reason said old bat is covering all of those departments is that during the week, most of your teenaged and college aged staff are at school; and she's the one who should of retired years ago, but probably lives alone, either because her husband died or because she made shitty life choices or got screwed into the new retail sector with no unionization, and has to go back to work when she should be enjoying the last few years that she has left.

We are seeing the result of Reagan's "race to the bottom" economics mixed with the online age. Some of the companies out there saw what was happening, (like Best Buy seeing Circuit City and CompUSA), and they made the necessary adjustments, (price matching online retailers and debatably "stepping up" customer service). We're going to see KMart and Radio Shack go away, because they ignored the signs, and failed to adapt.
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I know some old people who like working retail just to have something to do. Best Buy isn't doing too hot either. Granted, not as bad as Sears, but still.

 
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Truly sad.....pretty soon it will be Wal-Mart and Amazon and that's about it! Just that many fewer jobs for folks to try and make a living and that many fewer deals on games...😥
 
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My father in law has worked at Kmart for a number of years now. Sounds like a lot of Kmart CEOs have wasted company funds on personal use and just frankly poorly managed the company.
 
The CEO knows EXACTLY what he is doing. He's allowed the store sales to dry up and last year started to move Sears and KMart properties into a real estate trust. The one thing that Sears and Kmart have that is worth real value is their real estate holdings. Once he has all the value in tax free trusts that he controls, he'll declare bankruptcy and close all the stores. There's always been a method to his madness. We're just seeing the end of it now.
 
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Derrick1979 said:
I got that but really has bestbuy wised up at all or just survived on the fact there is no competition now? the ones by me have some questionable customer service and when you actually do need help and find a blue shirt and ask I usually get the "I dont work in this department" and they say they will call someone and no one actually comes lol... My favortie are the snooty bastards they have working in the Samsung area or the Apple areas....
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But there is competition - online retailers and target and Walmart still have opportunities. Best Buy wised up in the form of GCU, which has caused all gaming money not spent on PSN or eshop or steam to be spent with them.

I don't shop with them because circuit city isn't here. I shop with them because they are competitive.
 
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My store is near empty of gamming stuff you could probly fit it all on one ENd cap. to help fill up the case some they have like 20 copies of a just dance wii game spread out and the bottom where the systems where filled with head phones. They are also clearanceing out all the namachi head phones

 
Found Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock and that Disneyland kinect thing for $3

Saw Rune Factory Tides of Destiny for $15 on wii

Saw bravely default and forgot about asking for the price.
 
Good riddance to bad rubbish, I say. Kmart has been on a very sharp decline the past 3 or so years, with regards to their game section (and I suspect everything else). Given that the closest one is 25 minutes away and they never have anything even remotely worthwhile in stock, I won't be sad to see them go.

To pile on, their preorder policy with the online store (anyone who got bit by the Smash Bros. can attest to this) is flat out awful. No deal can entice me to want to shop with them again, in store or on their web sites.

 
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well, in the past year ive got an xbox one with kinect for $400 with $80 sywr points back and a mariou/luigiu wii u bundle for $225 with $75 back in points, so ill miss kmart, well, closing sales at kmarts anyway.

 
ritchardf said:
well, in the past year ive got an xbox one with kinect for $400 with $80 sywr points back and a mariou/luigiu wii u bundle for $225 with $75 back in points, so ill miss kmart, well, closing sales at kmarts anyway.
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Yeah, there were some crazy deals on non gaming stuff too. I was only a minor point roller, but there were even money makers. I bought 2 tvs for $99 in points and got back $70 in points IIRC (but it was a huge headache). I wish I could have payed more attention when we had the kmart guy on here.

 
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This thread is sad. I remember the good old days of Kmart's gaming greatness. I even have a Dead Rising 2 shirt from picking the game up at launch. 

RIP in piece Josh. All the CAGs who shopped at Kmart and Amazon PC Digital misses you.

 
My best gaming find I've ever found at Kmart was when I walked into the one in my home town (while home from college) back in 2002 or so, and found 6 copies of Super Metroid on a low shelf marked at $10 each as if they'd just been taken out of the box.

Let that sink in for second.

 
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