ff
Sad. It would an interesting read if some MBA type did a thesis on why Sears climbed, stalled, spun, and is now just a few feet above the ground still in that spin.
They used to have it all, basically.
Then made tons of bonehead decisions. Like outsourcing their credit operations to some credit-card outfit.
That’s pretty much when I stopped shopping there. I doubt I’ve spent $100 there in 15 years.
Sears, once the World’s Largest Store (WLS radio in Chicago was owned by Sears, this was Sear’s slogan so the store’s radio station became WLS)
but we seldom see a corporate management drive an established firm right down the sewer .. like we’ve seen at Sears in recent couple of years or so
today, you can visit very nice big Sears store.. and roll a bolling ball down the main aisle, there are so very few customers. And their online operation is, imho, both poorly presented and also imho their customer service is a giant RIPOFF operation, steal from the customer.. send her gift cards with zero balances, etc.
I see other legacy companies like Sears who have failed to realize the impact of the internet on commerce.
It was a great ride.
Sears and it’s hefty-sized catalog, they had everything. So long, old Americana friend.
No matter what happens to the company itself, as far as I am concerned the “Willis Tower” will always be the Sears Tower.
The end of an era.
.
During the bad weather I visit a large mall near my house to get my exercise.The Sears store in that mall is now undergoing a major rehab/redesign...which I find strange given the company’s reported troubles.
They’re already completely gone from Canada. Screwed over all their pension-holders in the process. Only a matter of time until the whole thing goes belly-up, I’m afraid. And it’s a shame - for a long time, until not too many years ago, Sears was my go-to place for a lot of things.
It is hard to run store of this type where the main demand is for guns, knives, and baseball bats.
I’m glad my grandfather isn’t around to see this.
L
In the early 80s, when Walmart was expanding into Oklahoma and other areas, the prez of Sears was interviewed and asked what he thought about their expension and whether it was a threat. He responded, ‘who do they think they are? Sears?’
It was about a decade later when Walmart, Inc., passed Sears, Inc., in value.
Sears Tower doesn’t even exist in Chicago anymore. It is now renamed and called Willis Tower.
I think time passed Sears by, but it should be respected for what it meant to America, for maybe a century, and given a decent burial.
Sears has for years seen falling sales — down 45% since early 2013. Meanwhile,
its debt load has spiked to over $4 billion, and it’s losing well over $1 billion
annually.
The company closed nearly 400 Sears and Kmart stores last year. The upcoming
round of closures will leave it with fewer than 940 stores, down from 3,510 six
years ago.
Two years ago, Kmart had 941 stores. After the upcoming round of closures,
it will have about 400.
http://www.businessinsider.com/sears-closing-stores-list-2018-1
At its peak, it was a truly great store to shop at for middle-class Americans. Up until the late 1980s, it still had a chance to thrive, but bad management sunk them. My parents used them for everything back in the day. Tools, car batteries, clothes, stoves & fridges, taxes, investment with in-store Dean Whitter kiosks & on & on.
They still do. Some of the Sears stores that were closed down became flea markets.
Ah, store number 1380. Lots of good memories from that store.
Sears built a new store here (a Sears Grand) maybe 10 years or so ago. Yesterday, it was announced that the store was up for sale, but Sears would lease the store after the sale. Thing is, the parking lot is always empty.
K-Mart, owned by Sears (or vice versa) is practically discouraging customers. I was looking for garden plants next to their garden center today. But to buy some plants I was told to take them into the store—the garden center door was “blocked off”.
Dead store walking.