Sears circling the drain

[Brad Johnson]

Appears Sears is likely calling it quits. Announced the closing of another 77 stores, and before Christmas no less. The rest are having clearance sales. Might be time to make a tool & shop stuff run.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/10/23/news/companies/sears-store-closings/index.html

Brad

[Monkeyleg]

Might be time to make a tool & shop stuff run.

Sears was okay for tools the last 10-20 years because you could return them when they broke. If they're gone, you can't return them to anyone.

[Brad Johnson]

If they're cheap enough, who cares. Screwdrivers, pliers, sockets, maybe even a toolbox or a couple of spare shop stools and creepers. Stuff that rarely breaks but eventually gets shoddy enough you just want a new one.

Brad

[RoadKingLarry]

Is Sears going out or just shutting down retail? The local Ace hardware stores have been selling Craftsman tools for a couple of years now.

[MechAg94]

If the local Sears wasn't at the mall, I might go there.  I don't go near the mall unless I have to. 

My only other impression was I used to use Sears car batteries because I could walk to a local Sears Hardware.  None of those batteries lasted a full 3 years.  Switched to a much better brand at Autozone and had much better performance. 

[Regolith]

If the local Sears wasn't at the mall, I might go there.  I don't go near the mall unless I have to. 

My only other impression was I used to use Sears car batteries because I could walk to a local Sears Hardware.  None of those batteries lasted a full 3 years.  Switched to a much better brand at Autozone and had much better performance. 

We had a car battery fail in a Sears parking lot, so we went into Sears to get a replacement. The salesman sold us a battery he swore would work.

It didn't fit. 

So we took it back in to return it...and the rat bastard said he wouldn't take it back! 

We eventually convinced him it was, in fact, in his better interest to take it back, then walked across the road to Walmart and bought one there.

[TechMan]

I read the article as the clearance sales are only happening at the 77 stores that are closing not every store.

[Hawkmoon]

77 stores is an average of approximately 1-1/2 stores per state. How many stores does Sears operate in the U.S.? I can think of two mall anchor stores and a Sears hardware all within 10 or 12 miles of my home. I don't think this is the beginning of the end. At least ... not yet.

[Fly320s]

77 stores is an average of approximately 1-1/2 stores per state. How many stores does Sears operate in the U.S.? I can think of two mall anchor stores and a Sears hardware all within 10 or 12 miles of my home. I don't think this is the beginning of the end. At least ... not yet.

46 Kmart stores and 31 Sears stores are closing, so less than one Sears per state.on average.

[vaskidmark]

46 Kmart stores and 31 Sears stores are closing, so less than one Sears per state.on average.

The two K-Mart stores locally closed a few years ago.  While the buildings stood empty the crime rate in the neighborhoods dropped dramatically.  One has reopened as some sort of discount furniture store and the other is a church-based one-stop charity/welface center.  Both locations are off the "blighted areas" list, whereas they were on it when the K-Marts were open.

If the Sears store in town closes nobody will miss it very much, except for the automotive service shop (not the accessories sales) which is considered to be fairly decent.

Go figure.

stay safe.

[TechMan]

77 stores is an average of approximately 1-1/2 stores per state. How many stores does Sears operate in the U.S.? I can think of two mall anchor stores and a Sears hardware all within 10 or 12 miles of my home. I don't think this is the beginning of the end. At least ... not yet.

From the OP's article: 

The company reported that it had nearly 1,900 U.S. stores between the two brands as of the end of August, down 166 from a year earlier

[Brad Johnson]

What makes this set of closings different is they are to happen immediately, as in before Christmas. Large retailers can easily gross as much in the 60 days prior to Christmas as they do for the rest of the year combined. For a retailer to close a location during the single largest sales period of the year is telling.

Brad

[KD5NRH]

What makes this set of closings different is they are to happen immediate, as in before Christmas. Large retailers can easily gross as much in the 60 days prior to Christmas as they do for the rest of the year combined. For a retailer to close a location during the single largest sales period of the year is telling.

Depends; they could be concentrating resources in areas they considered overserved.

[Firethorn]

Depends; they could be concentrating resources in areas they considered overserved.

It's still telling...  As in they don't believe that the stores can cover 2 months of costs in their busiest times of year...

[mtnbkr]

Depends; they could be concentrating resources in areas they considered overserved.

At least one or two of the stores are not in overserved areas (I know the areas).

Sears is struggling.  My semi-retired dad works there part time as in sales.  They're doing all sorts of stupid things, stuff that customers don't necessarily see.

Chris

[Boomhauer]

Might be time to make a tool & shop stuff run.

The last few years of Craftsman USA production weren't too hot and the Chinese production stuff is just no bueno...the only thing at Sears worth a damn these days is the third party stuff such as Knipex pliers, Estwing hammers, some of the Gearwrench stuff, and so forth.

[HankB]

My mother has a Sears card, and they sent her a notice that she had some "surprise points" worth $10. So she decided to use them . . . she asked me to help her find a new toaster on the Internet at Sears' website.

So with her looking over my shoulder, we found one, Sears brand . . . ON SALE!  We ordered it for store pickup.

Went to the store . . . nobody there knew how to process the "surprise points." Went through 2 or 3 folks who couldn't make the system work, finally got the manager. He went in back and brought out the toaster . . . IT WAS AN <EXPLETIVE> DEMO THAT HAD OBVIOUSLY BEEN DROPPED!! No indication at the website that it was anything except new. They didn't have another, and couldn't/wouldn't order another at the same price. Needless to say, we told them to keep their <expletive> POS.

Sears used to sell their own line of guns under the "Ted Williams" brand - that ended decades ago. I had problems a few years back with a Sears pressure washer, and in Design News magazine's Made by Monkeys column, Sears Kenmore appliance have been "featured" repeatedly.

Sears will NOT survive without a thorough housecleaning at the top. And I won't shed a tear when they fold.

[Boomhauer]

My mother has a Sears card, and they sent her a notice that she had some "surprise points" worth $10. So she decided to use them . . . she asked me to help her find a new toaster on the Internet at Sears' website.

So with her looking over my shoulder, we found one, Sears brand . . . ON SALE!  We ordered it for store pickup.

Went to the store . . . nobody there knew how to process the "surprise points." Went through 2 or 3 folks who couldn't make the system work, finally got the manager. He went in back and brought out the toaster . . . IT WAS AN <EXPLETIVE> DEMO THAT HAD OBVIOUSLY BEEN DROPPED!! No indication at the website that it was anything except new. They didn't have another, and couldn't/wouldn't order another at the same price. Needless to say, we told them to keep their <expletive> POS.

Sears used to sell their own line of guns under the "Ted Williams" brand - that ended decades ago. I had problems a few years back with a Sears pressure washer, and in Design News magazine's Made by Monkeys column, Sears Kenmore appliance have been "featured" repeatedly.

Sears will NOT survive without a thorough housecleaning at the top. And I won't shed a tear when they fold.

Their site to store ordering system is near unusable.

The Sears name and brands (Craftsman, Kenmore...) used to denote quality and service...but not in the past couple of decades.

Sears is a mere shadow of itself and just need to go on and die rather than hanging on until the end...

[Doggy Daddy]

I really decided Kmart was not on my preferred list about a year ago.  The checker held up the entire line to process a person's application for a Kmart credit card.  Took "more than a minute".  Meanwhile, paying customers stood, stewed, and at least one decided that he would be avoiding Kmart as much as possible going forth.  I've seen others go under.  I see a lot of the same signs here.

[White Horseradish]

Sears wants out of the brick and mortar retail business. They are, however, gearing up to compete with Amazon in selling third party stuff.

[Boomhauer]

Sears wants out of the brick and mortar retail business. They are, however, gearing up to compete with Amazon in selling third party stuff.

Sears. Compete. With. Amazon.

  that's a good one...

[Strings]

I've been in several Sears and K Marts over the past several years (my company does the inventory on both).

Sears has been kinda running scared the last year or two. You won't see it as readily on the sales floor (although it is showing there too now), but in the back room. Used to be, I would be in the back room of the store in Sheboygan for several hours: this year, I was done there in about an hour and a half. They just are NOT keeping stock on hand.

As for K Mart: they are the perfect example of how retail workers shouldn't act

[cordex]

Sears wants out of the brick and mortar retail business. They are, however, gearing up to compete with Amazon in selling third party stuff.

Everybody wants a piece of the "marketplace" game. Walmart and Newegg are both doing it but neither are even close to competing with Amazon yet. Sears doesn't even have the juice necessary to compete with Walmart in that arena, much less Amazon

[tokugawa]

The last few years of Craftsman USA production weren't too hot and the Chinese production stuff is just no bueno...the only thing at Sears worth a damn these days is the third party stuff such as Knipex pliers, Estwing hammers, some of the Gearwrench stuff, and so forth.

 I have been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the Taiwanese tools I have purchased- much better than the mainland commie stuff.

[HankB]

The Sears name and brands (Craftsman, Kenmore...) used to denote quality and service...but not in the past couple of decades.

How true . . . my mother still has a Kenmore cannister vacuum that's a good 30 years old, and it still sucks just fine.     And an old Kenmore freezer is still in service in my home. Craftsman hand tools were always favorites. (Sears power tools, not so much.)

I seriously doubt Sears' current offerings will provide comparable longevity - from what I've read about other folk's experiences, much of the engineering expertise has gone into making Kenmore appliances break down just after the warranty expires.

I remember when Sears and K-Mart merged, the PR flacks were crowing that K-Mart would be improved by instituting Sears business practices . . . looks like exactly the opposite occurred. (As I predicted 'way back then.)