In Retreat, Sears Set to Unload Stores [Obama's America: End of An American Retail Giant]

Wall St. J ^ | February 23, 2012 | MIGUEL BUSTILLO AND DANA MATTIOLI

[Steelfish]

FEBRUARY 24, 2012 In Retreat, Sears Set to Unload Stores

[Subscriber Content Preview] BY MIGUEL BUSTILLO AND DANA MATTIOLI

After seven years of trying to rebuild the iconic retailer Sears, hedge-fund manager Edward S. Lampert reversed course on Thursday, announcing that Sears Holdings Corp. will unload more than 1,200 stores in an effort to raise up to $770 million of much-needed cash.

Many on Wall Street interpreted the move as the beginning of the breakup of the company. Sears on Thursday reported a loss of more than $3 billion for 2011, and same-store sales have fallen for six straight years. The company's shares, which fell below $30 last month, rose almost 19% on Thursday to $61.80 on news of ..

[LibLieSlayer]

Mark for later reading.

LLS

[LexRex in TN]

Unfortunately Craftsman tools are no longer of the quality that they once were, either.

[kevkrom]

I think it’s unfair to lay the decline of Sears at Obama’s feet simply because Sears has been in a complete and utter tailspin for well over a decade, exacerbated by the foolish decisions to acquire/merge with K-Mart and to sell their exclusive Craftsman line outside of their own store and catalog system.

Sears used to be the best place to go for appliances, but it would take longer to check out and schedule a delivery, thanks to poorly-trained staff and antiquated systems, than it took to shop and compare the items in the first place.

[neocon1984]

You hit the nail on the head. Poor management over the last 20 years doomed Sears. Their primary asset is land.

[smokingfrog]

http://www.sears.com/president-barack-obama-knit-scarf/p-08816325099P

[delapaz]

This is altogether bad. I’m going to miss the ability to look up and order the part for a 1972 Sears garden tractor when they are gone. Ditto for appliances.

they have a nice online site with diagrams and parts numbers.

For those who are worried about Craftsman, Lowes has Kobalt, and I was told that everything that was good about Craftsman, Kobalt has, including lifetime guarantee, etc. Also that it was Craftsman people that started Kobalt anyway.

It may that it’s all just Stanley tools underneath made to somewhat better specs.

[Wilum]

Yes, Craftsman.

I bought one of the last contractor's saws Craftsman sold and I would put it up against any I've seen recently in the box stores! It replaced my Dad's 45 year old 8 inch Craftsman table saw. My drill press and Band saw and several power tools are craftsman. I would be lost without Craftsman.

I've used their on-line service and its been pretty good so far. Just have to catch the sales.

[MrB]

Which is the reason no paying customers go.

[smokingfrog]

I’ve bought some Kobalt stuff and it doesn’t compare to Craftsman by any means.

[Wilum]

...Lowes has Kobalt

I just purchased their sliding miter saw and was beyond my expectations. Nice and solid and accurate right out out the box.

[N. Theknow]

Only thing that can save Sears is to hire a homosexual and/or lesbian spokesperson to bring in more customers to their "enlightened" and diverse stores like JC Penney has done.

Oh! Wait! KMart already tried that. Never mind.

[Eye of Unk]

As a master mechanic I would have to get any Craftsman tools at a strong discounted price, I’m too spoiled by the higher quality Snapon tools. The feel is different, the tolerances are different and the steel is definitely different.

Even the Snapon cloned tools from Taiwan look and feel better than the Sears branded hand tools.

About the few things that I will buy from Sears is the widescreen TV’s over the years, theirs are better for the most part, the prices are better. Every single HDTV I have bought from Walmart which has been three over the years has turned to crap within a month.

[wally_bert]

I gave up on Craftsman electrical tools years ago. The handtools I will buy from time to time. I still have some of my first ones I got as a teenager back in the early 80s and held up just fine. I had one return. A 3/8 ratchet had a messed up ball/spring out of the box in the early 90s.

[q_an_a]

Good observations - I would add that Wards owned Foot Locker and their “electric avenue” was Best Buy before they opened nationwide. If wards turned the stores into a series of mini stores promoting what worked instead of “crappy looking” aisles of old fashioned retailing they would still be in business.

[usnavy_cop_retired]

Yep. I’m so glad that I’m retired and living overseas. This year is going to get ugly. This is just the beginning of the layoffs that will happen before summer due to energy regs, (power plants closings due to EPA), high fuel prices, Obamacare cost/fees kicking in , 100,000 military being RIF’d, and of course, the One’s Green energy bankruptcies. Have to give to him, he is almost done destroying the US.

[CharacterCounts]

This century’s Sears & Roebuck is Amazon.com.

With any decent management, this century's Amazon should have been Sears & Roebuck.

This is the company that invented direct marketing to the home. For them to completely miss the concept of internet marketing (until it was far too late) is a textbook example of poor business forecasting.

[Graybeard58]

exacerbated by the foolish decisions to acquire/merge with K-Mart

Merge is accurate, acquire is not. K-Mart acquired Sears - which makes it even more pitiful.