Our "local" Sears, Cumberland Mall, Smyrna GA, huge store, just made the closing list. I'm astonished it stayed open as long as it did; they few times I've been in there the last few years the sales floors were almost as empty of merchandise as they were of employees. You had to send up a flare to get somebody to come to the checkout desk and sell you a screwdriver.

Sears has to be the greatest failure of the internet era (yes, worse than Blockbuster not buying Netflix IYAM). They had massive nationwide infrastructure already in place, well over a century of mail order experience, and could have snapped their fingers to become what Amazon is today, if they'd only had the foresight to go after online sales early.

[www.cnbc.com]

My KMart lives to die another day!

Surely there was still money in the Auto Service arm. I suppose they were too closely physically tied to the stores they were in. They could have spun off or sold the brand name, though.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/2018 09:18AM by Acer.

Will,

The Sears location local to me is closing, too. In November. Not a surprise since the store was never great in the first place. Still, I shopped there occasionally. Since it's a multi-level building in a corner location with good parking, it's just asking to be turned into another department store. Or, turned into an office building. There are lots of office buildings in the area but their parking facilities is horrendously awful. 'course, they could also break up the building into several smaller, specialty stores.

Robert

Looks like the closest Sears to me, about 35 miles away in Holyoke, MA has finally ended up on their list of closings. Sears Holdings also has a Kmart in Holyoke, that appears to not have reached the chopping block yet.

Both Sears and Kmart were places I shopped. There used to be a Sears catalog/small retail store with an appliance outlet and auto service in town here in Greenfield. That I shopped at least monthly until they closed it in the mid-'90's. Kmart had a store about 20 miles away in that I also shopped at regularly because it was about 5 minutes away from where I worked. That closed in the round of closings connected with Kmart's bankruptcy in 2002.

That left the stores in Holyoke. I used to go to the Sears there 2-3 times a year, the hour and a half round trip made it inconvenient to go more often. Haven't been in a few years, and never went to the Kmart in town there.

As Will says, Sears could have been what Amazon is today. But the management they had in the '80's and '90's was so shortsighted it blew the chance. They saw a small downtick in sales through their catalog division in the early '90's and decided to close it down and concentrate their operations in big mall stores. That also led to the closing of all of their small store locations in the mid-'90's. Never paid any attention to that new internet thingie until it was too late. And why they decided that big mall stores were the way to keep going I will never understand as by the mid-'80's it was already apparent big malls were losing their attraction.

Kmart's management during the '80's was probably worse. Once they had eased out the remaining Kresge family from management they pretty much let their store molder throughout that time. Only the newly opened stores stayed attractive for a while.

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Will Collier
Our "local" Sears, Cumberland Mall, Smyrna GA, huge store, just made the closing list. I'm astonished it stayed open as long as it did; they few times I've been in there the last few years the sales floors were almost as empty of merchandise as they were of employees. You had to send up a flare to get somebody to come to the checkout desk and sell you a screwdriver.

Sears has to be the greatest failure of the internet era (yes, worse than Blockbuster not buying Netflix IYAM). They had massive nationwide infrastructure already in place, well over a century of mail order experience, and could have snapped their fingers to become what Amazon is today, if they'd only had the foresight to go after online sales early.

[www.cnbc.com]

Completely agree. Sears could have had a comeback to dominate retail with just a few tweaks to its 1997 business model that would have made Apple's comeback pale by comparison.

Of course, JCPenney or Montgomery Ward could have done this too, and didn't; Woolworth didn't even try; and there's no particular reason WalMart or Target couldn't be in the position Amazon is in now either.

You can say a lot of stuff about Jeff Bezos I guess, but he succeeded in the face of a huge amount of entrenched competition that should have crushed him by Y2K.

It is time to let Sears/Kmart die with whatever dignity is still left. Shut it down.

JPK

if they'd only had the foresight

IF only...

Those two words are both the foundation and keystones of 20/20 hindsight. Unfortunately, hindsight is only somewhat helpful to visionaries; foresight is king.

With little fish falling prey to big fish, or just their ponds drying up, it brings to mind all the sci-fi dystopian TV shows (maybe some movies?) about corporations becoming the New World Order and replacing/becoming governments, stepping out from behind the curtain. LOL

---

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

Everybody matters or nobody matters.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

-An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

Mister, that's a ten-gallon hat on a twenty-gallon head.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

Quote
tenders
Completely agree. Sears could have had a comeback to dominate retail with just a few tweaks to its 1997 business model that would have made Apple's comeback pale by comparison.

I think by that time it was already too late. Sears had closed down the catalog and connected delivery operation already by that point and too many in management were committed to that.

Edit: Meant to add they all cashed in on their golden parachutes 7 years later if they were still at Sears.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/2018 10:44AM by JoeH.

Count me in ....they are tearing down the building and building something else in its place. I bet it will be a restaurant.

Our sears at the end of the mall has been shuttered for several years. The K Mart was torn down, and they are building a Meijer.

I've heard rumors around here (Little Rock AR) that the Sears will become a CostCo, which would be great in a land dominated by Sam's Club.

And agree with Will; Sears suffered from Old Fogy Syndrome. The powers-that-be saw the new business model as a fad rather than a threat, and didn't pay enough attention until it was too late. (What's-his-name from Comcast famously said something along those lines not long ago about streaming; that it was a fad and that it was not how people watched TV, and they'd all come back to Comcast soon enough.)

---

(BTW, it's spelled < y'all >.)

....so is this a lesson learned for all 'old fogies' out there.....to 'keep up with the times'......and not to yell for kids to get off the lawn.....???

---

_____________________________________

I reject your reality and substitute my own!

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tenders

Quote
Will Collier
Our "local" Sears, Cumberland Mall, Smyrna GA, huge store, just made the closing list. I'm astonished it stayed open as long as it did; they few times I've been in there the last few years the sales floors were almost as empty of merchandise as they were of employees. You had to send up a flare to get somebody to come to the checkout desk and sell you a screwdriver.

Sears has to be the greatest failure of the internet era (yes, worse than Blockbuster not buying Netflix IYAM). They had massive nationwide infrastructure already in place, well over a century of mail order experience, and could have snapped their fingers to become what Amazon is today, if they'd only had the foresight to go after online sales early.

[www.cnbc.com]

Completely agree. Sears could have had a comeback to dominate retail with just a few tweaks to its 1997 business model that would have made Apple's comeback pale by comparison.

Of course, JCPenney or Montgomery Ward could have done this too, and didn't; Woolworth didn't even try; and there's no particular reason WalMart or Target couldn't be in the position Amazon is in now either.

You can say a lot of stuff about Jeff Bezos I guess, but he succeeded in the face of a huge amount of entrenched competition that should have crushed him by Y2K.

Sears had to collect taxes from you while Amazon did not for decades. It was rigged against Sears. How do you compete against that?

The gReat Recession took the wind out of Eddie Lampert's sails.

Best Buy invested millions in revitalizing its stores and presence. Lampert's hedge funds efforts continue to pick at the Sears carcass .

---

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The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is the knowledge of one's own ignorance. -Benjamin Franklin
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Quote
RAMd®d
. . . With little fish falling prey to big fish, or just their ponds drying up, it brings to mind all the sci-fi dystopian TV shows (maybe some movies?) about corporations becoming the New World Order and replacing/becoming governments, stepping out from behind the curtain. LOL

Some big companies have already begun to influence politics by refusing to do business with organizations or causes they don’t approve of.

---

Where is there dignity unless there is also honesty? - Cicero

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. —Wendy Mass

Sears did not keep ALL its eggs in the big mall basket. They did experiment with dedicated hardware and home stores in smaller shopping centers, you know, those non-enclosed strips that seem to be all the rage these days, that they keep building here in Pittsburgh despite the death of brick and mortar. That was in the 1990s, before the current "leadership" did whatever the heck it did to kill the chain.

My father relied heavily on the Sears in Silver Spring (MD). Our local Sears in the Natick Mall (MA) is still here, and we shop there for clothes and other items (I bought my lawnmower there), but the sales people are pretty lonely.

Retail is chancy, at best. The list of failed 'one-floor' department stores in our region that have failed is long. Sears outlasted all of them, which is saying something. If you think Amazon is here forever, just wait.

/Mr Lynn

---

"Hillbilly at Harvard"
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On the river in Saxonville.

And yet south of the border you walk into a Sears and it is well-staffed with professionally-clad employees who will patiently explain the differences between models (at least in the "electrodomesticos" section) & then write up your order for pickup at the checkout desk.

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mrlynn
My father relied heavily on the Sears in Silver Spring (MD). Our local Sears in the Natick Mall (MA) is still here, and we shop there for clothes and other items (I bought my lawnmower there), but the sales people are pretty lonely.

Retail is chancy, at best. The list of failed 'one-floor' department stores in our region that have failed is long. Sears outlasted all of them, which is saying something. If you think Amazon is here forever, just wait.

/Mr Lynn

I know that one well, White Oak I would call it. I spent many hours there as a child, hiding between the racks of clothes while my mother shopped for us. Our boredom was spared the day they installed a Nintendo GameBoy demo unit in the kids clothing section. Although, sitting on the riding mowers was always a hoot, as was "working out" on their home exercise equipment.

That location seems to be doing OK for now, and in fact I would be surprised to see it go given how much community has been built up around it. Still, a Costco in that area would get tons of traffic, located pretty much dead center between the one in Wheaton and the one in Beltsville.

The Cincinnati metro area is losing two more, which leaves only one store way out east (not counting the outlet store that focuses primarily on appliances). Two other stores closed earlier this year.

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vision63
Sears had to collect taxes from you while Amazon did not for decades. It was rigged against Sears. How do you compete against that?

Baloney. Amazon has been collecting sales tax from me for well over a decade. They have been collecting sales tax for many other states that long or longer as well They have only been in business for just over 2 decades. Many other businesses have managed to compete with Amazon. Most of the damage done to Sears was self inflicted.

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Acer
Sears did not keep ALL its eggs in the big mall basket. They did experiment with dedicated hardware and home stores in smaller shopping centers, you know, those non-enclosed strips that seem to be all the rage these days, that they keep building here in Pittsburgh despite the death of brick and mortar. That was in the 1990s, before the current "leadership" did whatever the heck it did to kill the chain.

That experiment was half-hearted at best. Limited stock and ability to order items, they did not want them to compete in any way with those big mall stores they were banking on. From what I recall, maybe one in this area survived long enough to be converted to whatever Sears Holdings created for small outlets.

I still recall the half or full page ad they put in the local paper looking for someone to partner with them and open one in town. After the way they had closed the catalog store with outlet and auto service several years before was not surprised they had no takers. They had also pressured the local operator of the Western Auto to take over their former space and its lease, that ended up putting him out of business due to higher operating costs.

P.S. Related to another topic, Sears did acquire Orchard Supply Hardware in 1997. Later when ownership transferred to Sears Holdings as part of Kmart buying up Sears, it was saddled with $400 million in debt in 2005. Servicing that debt was cited in their bankruptcy filing in 2013 after being spun off as an independent company in 2012.

Quote
Bill in NC
And yet south of the border you walk into a Sears and it is well-staffed with professionally-clad employees who will patiently explain the differences between models (at least in the "electrodomesticos" section) & then write up your order for pickup at the checkout desk.

Yep, Sears of Mexico was sold off to Carlos Slim starting in 1997. His company now owns 100% of it since 2007.

Sears left Kauai years ago. Sports Authority moved into that space and then went under too. Now they are closing the K-Mart. I'm hoping Target moves in.

Some big companies have already begun to influence politics by refusing to do business with organizations or causes they don’t approve of.

Already?

That's been going on for a very long time. Also not what I'm talking about.


The two Sears stores near me (well, 25min riding time, longer by car) are still in business. Though I went to one looking for a Torx driver and their tool section, looked like something out of Best Buy— several empty spots on the wall where product should have been.



Sears left Kauai years ago.

Huh. It was there the last time I was there, but that too was years ago.

---

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

Everybody matters or nobody matters.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

-An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

Mister, that's a ten-gallon hat on a twenty-gallon head.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

They tore down the local Sears when it was closed last year or the year before. They are/were in the process of building a new store... Orchard Supply. Oops. Now, I wonder what they'll do. Will they finish building it, or just leave it half finished?

Sears really became irrelevant in the major population centers years ago. In many of the less traveled areas of our great nation, however, they held on by sheer inertia. Even that is now gone.

Don't these places have WalWarts?

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JoeH

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vision63
Sears had to collect taxes from you while Amazon did not for decades. It was rigged against Sears. How do you compete against that?

Baloney. Amazon has been collecting sales tax from me for well over a decade. They have been collecting sales tax for many other states that long or longer as well They have only been in business for just over 2 decades. Many other businesses have managed to compete with Amazon. Most of the damage done to Sears was self inflicted.

Quote
Acer
Sears did not keep ALL its eggs in the big mall basket. They did experiment with dedicated hardware and home stores in smaller shopping centers, you know, those non-enclosed strips that seem to be all the rage these days, that they keep building here in Pittsburgh despite the death of brick and mortar. That was in the 1990s, before the current "leadership" did whatever the heck it did to kill the chain.

That experiment was half-hearted at best. Limited stock and ability to order items, they did not want them to compete in any way with those big mall stores they were banking on. From what I recall, maybe one in this area survived long enough to be converted to whatever Sears Holdings created for small outlets.

I still recall the half or full page ad they put in the local paper looking for someone to partner with them and open one in town. After the way they had closed the catalog store with outlet and auto service several years before was not surprised they had no takers. They had also pressured the local operator of the Western Auto to take over their former space and its lease, that ended up putting him out of business due to higher operating costs.

P.S. Related to another topic, Sears did acquire Orchard Supply Hardware in 1997. Later when ownership transferred to Sears Holdings as part of Kmart buying up Sears, it was saddled with $400 million in debt in 2005. Servicing that debt was cited in their bankruptcy filing in 2013 after being spun off as an independent company in 2012.

It's 2018 JoeH. A decade ago was 2008. The majority of Amazon's existence, no tax collection. Couple that with free shipping. Rigged

Quote
rz
They tore down the local Sears when it was closed last year or the year before. They are/were in the process of building a new store... Orchard Supply. Oops. Now, I wonder what they'll do. Will they finish building it, or just leave it half finished?

In my state these structures are bonded to be completed ('completion bond'). They may remain empty but the building will go up.

---

Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/2018 07:04PM by Speedy.

My mother worked for Sears for 32 years, so I literally grew up in a Sears store. The store in OKC was built in 1954 and had the first escalator in the state. I spent many hours on those escalators.

I saw Sears go from an excellent retail store to a sad establishment.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/2018 07:10PM by fmgtech.

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mikebw

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mrlynn
My father relied heavily on the Sears in Silver Spring (MD). Our local Sears in the Natick Mall (MA) is still here, and we shop there for clothes and other items (I bought my lawnmower there), but the sales people are pretty lonely.

Retail is chancy, at best. The list of failed 'one-floor' department stores in our region that have failed is long. Sears outlasted all of them, which is saying something. If you think Amazon is here forever, just wait.

/Mr Lynn

I know that one well, White Oak I would call it. I spent many hours there as a child, hiding between the racks of clothes while my mother shopped for us. Our boredom was spared the day they installed a Nintendo GameBoy demo unit in the kids clothing section. Although, sitting on the riding mowers was always a hoot, as was "working out" on their home exercise equipment.

That location seems to be doing OK for now, and in fact I would be surprised to see it go given how much community has been built up around it. Still, a Costco in that area would get tons of traffic, located pretty much dead center between the one in Wheaton and the one in Beltsville.

No, the Sears in White Oak was a later arrival, I think. The one in Silver Spring was on Colesville Rd between the intersection with Georgia Ave and the B&O overpass. I doubt if it's there now; the area has been all built up since the addition of the Metro. It was back in the '50s that we patronized that store.

Later, when they created the Wheaton Plaza Mall, I used to shop at the large Montgomery Ward's there; still have tools I bought, c. 1970: Power-Kraft, good stuff.

/Mr Lynn

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vision63
It's 2018 JoeH. A decade ago was 2008. The majority of Amazon's existence, no tax collection. Couple that with free shipping. Rigged

I said over a decade, for less than half their existence there were a number of states they did not collect sales tax for. They sold their firs book in late 1995, less than 23 years of existence. During most of that time they were not that large of an operation, not competition to Sears or any other store of that kind. The first several years they only sold books, many states do not have sales tax collected on those either. People forget they were still relatively small even the first few years of this century, they only reached $1 billion in sales in 2000.

The reality was that they operated under the same rules as any other mail order company. They only were required by law to collect sales tax for states they had a physical presence in. Yes, they fudged for some time in a few states by claiming a subsidiary operation was an independent entity, but that ended after rulings against them.

As for free shipping, you could get that or low cost shipping for many items to be picked up at store locations. It sounds nice to claim that as something that counted in the early days, but it was not offered until 2002 and only on orders over $99 at the time.

If you want some company to blame, look at that monster retailer whose name begins with "W". They aggressively located stores and priced goods to be in direct competition with large department stores like Sears. As an almost completely retail store company after shutting down their catalog operation, Sears never really developed a strategy to compete against them.

Amazon is not the only place on the internet that has free shipping.

Lots of places now.

I have something on the way from Bike Nashbar via free shipping.