The death spiral continues...

[K Frame]

Like the old Chinese execution of Death by a Thousand Cuts, only this is Death by a Thousand Closings...

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sears-kmart-store-closings-list-030519645.html

Here's the list of the stores that are closing: https://searsholdings.com/docs/080619_store_closing_list.pdf

I just don't understand how the Sears near me at the Fair Oaks mall still survives...



Edit in: oops... I was wrong... The Sears at the Fair Oaks mall has closed as of last year. I completely missed that. Not to say that I'm surprised...

[makattak]

AH! Looks like mine is finally closing. I was surprised it didn't make the last round of cuts.

We've been in there many times. Can't remember the last time I bought something though. Most things are overpriced and the store is pretty empty.

Amusingly, this is while I've noticed a significant uptick in the numbers of people visiting the local mall. OTHER stores seem to be doing well.

[Declaration Day]

The one a mile from me is not on that list.  I have no idea why.  The auto shop portion closed down 5 years ago, and I never see more than 30 cars in the entire parking lot.  I went in a couple months ago for the first time in at least ten years, to buy a refrigerator.  I had the entire store to myself.  The building is hideous, and given its prime location, the land could be put to much better use.

[WLJ]

There was a time when you could order a house from a Sears catalog and then fill it from the same catalog.

[HankB]

With its nationwide sales, service, and distribution network already in place along with a thriving mail order business, Sears was in a prime position to fill the new internet sales slot - but they didn't even try. That slot is now held by a little company called Amazon.

A succession of incompetent and - IMHO - downright corrupt leaders brought down this iconic department store.

I'm just outside Austin, TX; AFAIK the nearest surviving Sears store is down around San Antonio; all the local ones were shuttered. (There may be a "hometown" store a bit closer.)

[BobR]

We are losing one locally. That will leave us with one as an anchor in a mall. I am not sure how they stay alive, every time I go in there it is like I am one of 2 or 3 customers.

bob

[K Frame]

There was a time when you could order a house from a Sears catalog and then fill it from the same catalog.

There was time when you could walk into a store and buy opium, dynamite, whiskey, and a gun and no one batted an eye, either.

[makattak]

The other amazing thing that I got from this is that there are still KMart stores around to be closed. Wow!

[BobR]

There was time when you could walk into a store and buy opium, dynamite, whiskey, and a gun and no one batted an eye, either.

Well, three out of four is not bad for a personal best.

bob

[cordex]

Well, three out of four is not bad for a personal best.

Were they out of whiskey?

[HankB]

There was time when you could walk into a store and buy opium, dynamite, whiskey, and a gun and no one batted an eye, either.

They really tightened up on dynamite sales after 9/11, even though dynamite wasn't involved.

I haven't been fishing since.   

[lee n. field]

I checked.  Closest is a good hour away.  Many in towards Chicago.   Euuuu.

[grampster]

Technology notwithstanding....The MBA's drones coming out of business schools around 30 years ago had the bright idea that people, especially executives, should not be career employees of companies.  They spread their incompetent notion and infected the country.  So now all of the nitwits who were destroying companies just started moving around wrecking everything they touched while getting themselves wondermous golden parachutes.

[Hawkmoon]

Technology notwithstanding....The MBA's drones coming out of business schools around 30 years ago had the bright idea that people, especially executives, should not be career employees of companies.  They spread their incompetent notion and infected the country.  So now all of the nitwits who were destroying companies just started moving around wrecking everything they touched while getting themselves wondermous golden parachutes.

Ah ... someone else noticed.

[Triphammer]

With its nationwide sales, service, and distribution network already in place along with a thriving mail order business, Sears was in a prime position to fill the new internet sales slot - but they didn't even try. That slot is now held by a little company called Amazon.

snip

Sears did try, they were among the first. Back when internet access was through portals on Compuserve & AOL, Sears had a portal called Prodigy (I think) you could order anything in there catalog there & have it delivered or pick it up in the nearest store. What WALMART does today. I there in-store kiosk they were promoting such futuristic ideas as kitchen computer terminals & smart refrigerators that would order groceries automatically.

[Brad Johnson]

A succession of incompetent and - IMHO - downright corrupt leaders brought down this iconic department store.

This.

Viewed through the lens of business history, Eddie Lampert's actions are a textbook example of how to kill a successful company while making sure your pockets are well-lined. Even their real property holding side, Sears Holdings Corp, has plummeted from a high of $42.95 in May 2015 to under thirty cents a share as of yesterday. From what I can find, that's way undervalued against their physical assets. It gives all the indications of someone intentionally driving prices down so they can buy it up and start re-capping the assets. In fact, I've been thinking about starting an online trading account. I may just do that and use SHC as a low-cost test run. $500 would get me around 1800 shares of SHC. Hold it as a hedge for when Lampert makes his move.

Brad

[WLJ]

Sears did try, they were among the first. Back when internet access was through portals on Compuserve & AOL, Sears had a portal called Prodigy (I think) you could order anything in there catalog there & have it delivered or pick it up in the nearest store. What WALMART does today. I there in-store kiosk they were promoting such futuristic ideas as kitchen computer terminals & smart refrigerators that would order groceries automatically.

Prodigy was formed in the 80s by Sears, IBM, and CBS I think.
I worked at Sears in the computer sales dept in the 90s and I can tell you that there was pretty much zero interest in prodigy coming from Sears at that time and Prodigy was sold off in 96 just as the internet boom was taking off.