Posted on 05/26/2006 12:22:51 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
(AP) HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. Sears Holdings Corp. says it is closing 20 of its hardware stores, including nine in Michigan and one in Illinois, because of sluggish sales.
"These closings are related to the performance of the stores. They were identified by senior management as underperforming stores," said Larry Costello, a Sears spokesman for Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based Sears Holdings.
The stores are expected to remain open through the end of June while liquidation sales are held, Costello said.
The closures will leave Sears with 119 hardware stores nationwide.
Costello declined to say how many workers will be affected but said the company is trying to find them jobs at other Sears or Kmart stores in their areas.
Most of the hardware stores closing in Michigan are in the greater Detroit area.
The Michigan closures affect stores in Canton, Warren, Chesterfield Township, Sterling Heights, Woodhaven, South Gate, Westland, Fenton and Taylor.
The others are in Wauconda, Ill.; Carmel, Ind.; Troy, Ohio; Toledo, Ohio; Houston; Richmond, Texas; Albuquerque, N.M.; Bridgeville, Pa.; West Seneca, N.Y.; Rotterdam, N.Y.; and Laurel Springs, N.J.
"Our mall stores will be a good rescue for tools and other related items once those hardware stores close," Costello said. "We have lots of tools, paint, lawn and garden products in our mall-based stores."
Sears Holdings was formed when Kmart Holding Corp. acquired Sears, Roebuck and Co. on March 24, 2005.
Plus people are buying the cheapo hardware from Wal-Mart, IMO.
Sears supports our troops and families. I'm happy to do business there.
I don't go to Sears for hardware, I go to my local hardware store or Lowes. Now for tools...that's a different story.
Yep, they do. I was offering them tips on how to compete. They should have reinvented themselves and opened smaller, neighborhood-friendly stores in suburban areas that focused on hardware. Trying to become "the softer side" was a huge mistake, IMO.
I think Sears hurt themselves with the time period between dropping their catalog sales and being able to get on the 'net. It may be just my perception, but it doesn't seem as if they've ever really recovered the same level of customers.
They will buy Tractor Supply...TSCO
Probably mostly losing out to Home Depot and Lowes.
It's kind of a shame too. Sears is actually pretty good for hardware. I tend to shop at Home Depot but the training of its employees is atrocious, in my opinion.
Good luck finding anything, or finding an employee to help, at Home Depot. O.S.H. is much better: smaller stores and helpful people.
Why buy the stanley made sears tools when you could buy the same stanely made home depot or stanley made lowes tools?
I would very much rather have a toold chest of craftsman hand tools but competition has made the snob appeal less important.
Then Kmart bought Sears, and then some genius decided they wanted their hardware store to be more like Home Depot or Lowes or the Sears mall stores, and decided to clear out half of the hardware and sell appliances!
The store closed about a year after that.
I always thought the hardware store did pretty well. There were usually people in it every time I went, granted the markup on a bag of bolts or something probably isn't that great, but they add up, and if you have the time, you may end up looking around and buying more stuff.
I never understood the plan to sell appliances in a hardware store. l
Oh the wonders of the MBA class. Yup, it all started back in the 60's I guess because I remember there was a chain of local hamburger joints in Miami, Fl called Royal Castle which sold those little hamburgers that you could buy for, I guess .15 each, but the great thing about the place was that you could get two things you could not find anywhere else, fresh squeezed(in front of your eyes) orange juice, and Birch Beer which were both served in frosted mugs taken out of the freezer. Well, Royal Castle was doing so well that they were bought out by a big ole company(can't remember now just who) and the first thing the bean counter MBAs did was get rid of those frosted mugs and fresh squeezed oranges. Too expensive and a drag on the bottom line don't ya know. So, as they say, the rest is history. About 5-7 years later Royal Castle was history.
So I guess the moral of the story is, CLOSE ALL OF THE DAMN MBA SCHOOLS and start doing business the old fashioned way.
Yea, I know, forget it old man. You can never go home...
Tim Allen is deeply saddened.
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