Sears Researching Possible Move From Illinois

ABC ^ | 5/9/2011 | HOFFMAN ESTATES/ap

[tobyhill]

Sears Holdings Corp. is researching a possible move of its headquarters and 6,200 jobs out of Illinois, a company spokesman said Monday.

The retailer has had preliminary discussions with the Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates, where it is located, and has commissioned an economic impact study, said spokesman Chris Brathwaite.

"We do owe it to our associates and shareholders to consider options and alternatives and intend to be very thoughtful and thorough in our deliberations," Brathwaite said.

State and local incentives that Sears receives will expire in 2012, Hoffman Estates Mayor Bill McLeod said. The town and company have been talking for about a year, he said, and Hoffman Estates hopes to extend the tax breaks for another 15 years and keep the largest local employer in town.

[Lysandru]

Yippee! Another Democratic triumph.

I am sure that my homies back in Indiana would love to have them.

[iowamark]

Most of their customers have gone to Bentonville, Arkansas. They might as well go there, too!

[N. Theknow]

Coming soon to Chicago......the Usedtobe Tower!

[mountn man]

Its already been renamed the (What you talkin’ bout) Willis Tower.

[Dr. Sivana]

I have always been okay with Sears, and wouldn’t hold a move against them.

HOWEVER, my Craftsman line trimmer’s battery died after two years. I went into Sears fort a replacement. They did not have them in stock, and they wouldn’t order one for pick up in the store. The same battery is used on the current modl, so it wasn’t close to obsolete. I had to order it on line, or use the 800 number for shipment to my mailbox.

If I am going to have to order on line, there is no point in getting the trimmer from Sears. I went to Sears on the pretense that I would get parts and services on my terms.

It turns out that Sears.com is the exclusive vendor of this battery, and at $60, is so grossly overpriced (worst since the GE RO replacement faucet, which cost more than the entire unit!) that I will just wind up getting a competitor’s model and give the Sears one away. Besides, the line feeding mechanism worked like crap anyway.

[Perdogg]

I used to love Sears as a kid because they would have all of the neat NFL gear; I had a Dallas Cowboys coat I got from Sears that some asshat stole. Now, I am sorry to say, they sell rubbish.

[gusopol3]

Are there any good line trimmers?

[mountn man]

There is a Cabelas in the same town. They had two floors of merchandise. Hoffman Estates taxed the store based on its retail floor space. Between a combination of sales not quite being as brisk as planned and Hoffmans taxes, Cabelas closed off the entire second floor, and laid off about 1/3 its work force.

Its a real shame, I enjoyed browsing through both floors. Still enjoy going to Cabelas, but its not the draw that IT WAS.

[GatorGirl]

I used to love those super thick catalogs.

My sister and I used to cut out rooms, people, playgrounds, etc....from the Sears catalog and play paper dolls for hours on end.

And at Christmas time—the “Wish Book”.

[Allegra]

I used to love Sears as a kid because they would have all of the neat NFL gear; I had a Dallas Cowboys coat I got from Sears that some asshat stole. Now, I am sorry to say, they sell rubbish.

I haven't been in one in a long time.

But I have fond memories of when I was a kid and we were stationed in Italy, we'd get the Sears catalogues in the mail. Mother would order a lot of our school clothes from there and we'd pick out Christmas presents from that catalogue.

Mother was pretty stealthy with those Christmas deliveries, but I remember how excited we'd get when the school-clothes deliveries came in late summer and my sisters and I would excitedly try on and model our new stuff. (My brother was way too cool for that. LOL)

[EQAndyBuzz]

San Antonio would be a nice place for them to go.

[jersey117]

I’m beginning to see a trend. Everyone’s tired of getting ripped off.

[Arm_Bears]

The management at Sears has a fiduciary responsibility to maximize shareholder return. (I’m sorry to say that Mrs. Bears owns stock in this dog.) If that involves moving to reduce costs, so be it.

[Graybeard58]

My sister and I used to cut out rooms, people, playgrounds, etc....from the Sears catalog

I may be older than you but that's not what my family did with it when I was a kid.

[JusPasenThru]

Not to worry. The Obama administration will declare the move illegal until it’s signed off by every union in America.

[Wage Slave]

Stopped going there when they changed all the signs in the store to bilingual.

[Thebaddog]

Governor Quinn signed on to a bad tax deal and everybody knows he can be rolled. This started with Caterpillar and Quinn deserves the pantsing he’s getting. The problem is that the thieves downstate have already spent the tax revenue and it will have to be made up somewhere. It might be more borrowing or taxing the white folks who keep voting democrat for no good reason in this screwy state.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I got tired of throwing away the consumer grade ones every couple of years and bought a commercial grade Husqvarna at the local pro-gardening small shop. Paid 2x to 3x consumer price, but it is lasting and lasting.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Yeah, something is indeed wrong at Sears in that their store operations are completely separate online operations. Over Christmas I ordered a fairly expensive gift for my baby daughter but Sears shipped the wrong item and overcharged me to boot. The local Sears store manager was powerless to fix the problem and I had to deal exclusively with their 1-800 customer service department, which was a pretty miserable experience. The hapless store manager was both embarrassed and angry, especially after he spoke with the 1-800 customer service people himself on my behalf and got no where.

Personally, I think the merger with K-Mart has done great harm to the Sears brand, and their website has gone to pot too.