Shop Smart. Shop S-Mart.
Posted on 11/29/2007 11:24:18 AM PST by Zakeet
Shares of Sears Holdings dropped below the $100 mark on Thursday for the first time in their two-and-a-half year existence after the company reported disastrous third-quarter results that suggest its days as a retailer could be numbered.
Fans of the company's chairman, Greenwich, Conn., hedge fund manager Ed Lampert, say that Sears may be a dying retailer, but it's cash can be invested elsewhere by a value-investing genius. Others say the path to riches at Sears lies in the hidden value of its real estate, which guarantees upside in the stock -- even in the event of a liquidation.
With shares of Sears down nearly 50% from their April all-time highs, such convictions are looking increasingly precarious as the U.S. housing bust threatens to plunge the economy into a recession. The company's cash flow is dwindling as its profitability sinks, and real estate values are mired in a cloud of uncertainty.
(Excerpt) Read more at thestreet.com ...
I retired from Sears after 31.5 years. I saw the company change from a pro employee, customer caring company to one of it’s our way or the highway. The customer really doesn’t count.
I took my money and ran. They do not care about their retirees. They raised the rates for health ins so high you can get better on the open market. I don’t look back now!
They still are... just american’s care more about cheap crap that funds the military build up of the nation that will kill their sons on the battlefield, than they do paying a little more for a better product and service.
Some stocks get slammed when they make expected profits but Wall Street wanted more.
“Craftsman Tools really are the best.”
90% of all my tools are Craftsman as is my air compressor, my lawn tractor and my work-bench. Good stuff.
That’s the same behavior of EVERY Credit Card...
I’ve had em jack me up, when they’ve never been late, 1 payment late to someone else was the excuse for it.
Lesson isn’t avoid sears..its avoid buying on credit PERIOD.
A practice I no longer do at all.
Yeah, sure thing.
Their tools break so often, one spends half his time taking them back for replacements.
You don't know much about tools I see.
OMG, we’re K-Mart!
Both Sears and K-Mart are horribly managed.
Shop Smart. Shop S-Mart.
“They still are... just american’s care more about cheap crap that funds the military build up of the nation that will kill their sons on the battlefield, than they do paying a little more for a better product and service.”
Shhhhh... there are a lot of people hoping you won’t notice and will just enjoy your cheap crap.
Back when they carried guns in their sporting goods dept.
Then they quit and then they started donating to anti-gun organiations like the Brady Bunch. That’s when I stopped shopping at Sears.
When I found out that Levi went the same way, I started buying Wrangler, fit better and cost less.
I’ve been in a Sears exactly two times in my life.
I have bought one thing. A stove. A stove that they dented when they delivered it.
And then I saw that same stove at Lowe’s for about $50 cheaper.
“Appliances are about the only thing I buy at Sears.”
I bought a super-high-efficiency furnace a/c unit from sears some years ago. The first five years I had it, every winter it would die. It has never worked satisfactorily and I won’t ever buy another appliance from them because of it.
It struck me as insulting to people's intelligence to imply that it's okay to buy such an expensive and important item without consulting the guy it's supposed to be for. A spouse blindly following that commercial could even cause conflict in the household on Christmas day.
Sears was already having problems of it's own as well.
Now the combined companies are back to looking at how much they can make from selling the real estate from their failing stores again.
The thing that kills me about Sears is they sell a “quality” product and then do the strong sale on the extended warrenty.
There is a Sears/KMart near where I work. Anytime I’ve been in there it’s mostly empty. They’ve revamped the store several times. Their latest gimmick is selling “gourmet” food. I noticed a bag of Kettle Chips for $5.69. I can get the same thing at the Trader Joes across the street for $3.69. The only thing “gourmet” is the price.
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