Thread Number: 88371
/ Tag: Other Home Products or Autos
Sears Stores Disappearing |
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Post# 1129306   9/22/2021 at 14:20 (917 days old) by reactor (Oak Ridge, Tennessee-- )   |   | |
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I have been reading that there ae only 24 (Sears Full Line) still open in the United States, including Puerto Rico. Three of these 24 are schedule for closing very soon.
This is not counting some of the Specialized stores such as Sears Appliances and Sears Home Stores, which are franchised owned. The last store in Illinois, Sears headquarters and home state, has now closed its doors. From what I understand, the CEO, Eddie Lampert had personally purchased the remaining stores from the bankrupt Sears Holding Co., (which owned both Sears and KMart) himself and formed his own Corporation "Transformco" which now operates the remaining stores. Some hail Lampert as a hero trying to keep the remaining stores alive, others seem to see him as an opportunistic vulture who is making a LOT of money by selling off the remaining stores and property, or renting out the former store properties to others. They cite that his personal wealth seems to growing by leaps and bounds while Sears, oddly, cannot seem to pay off its debtors. Lawsuits are abounding from suppliers, who cannot get paid for their products. The remaining stores are having difficulty getting stock as many suppliers won't sell to Sears anymore for they are not getting paid. Lampert claims he wants to keep a few of the larger Sears full line stores open along with the sub-stores such as Sears Home and Life. Whether Lampert is a saint or devil (a very rich devil) remains to be seen. Either way, it seems the Sears Stores we grew up with, which had a little bit of "everything for everyone," may soon be a relic of the past. To me, Sears started going down hill about the time they ended their catalog business in '93. I noticed some (but not all) store employees were becoming rude and arrogant. Maybe this occurred only in the stores I frequented and not country wide. I remember when TV was going digital and we were getting the government coupons (I think they were for $40) to help offset the cost of the convertor box. I took my coupon to s Sears store, in the Dayton area, and as I was checking out I gave the clerk my credit card (not a Sears card but a VISA) and he said they would not accept a credit card if I used the government coupon to purchase the convertor, I had to pay cash. I just barely had enough in my wallet that day to cover it. A few years back, and I shared this before, I was in the appliance department at Sears, and an elderly woman was there attempting to buy a refrigerator. She was quite elderly/ She must have come by bus. She was there to buy a refrigerator. I overheard their conservation. Apparently, there was an appliance sale that started the next day. The employee would not sell the refrigerator to her as the sale had not begun. I heard her say she saw it in the newspaper. He said it didn't matter because the start date was for the next day. Another employees saw there was a problem and went over to them, and instead of helping he just reaffirmed that they wouldn't sell it to her. I heard her say once again, "But it was in the paper." He just said no, we can't do that. I didn't hear either one apologize or even act sorry. I should have walked over and said something, but it wouldn't, I am sure, made any difference. I know there are lot of economic reasons why Sears went into the toilet. However, from personal experience I think there were other reasons as well with stock often being low, and employees that just didn't seem to care about customer service, or even being nice for that matter. I remember the Sears of the 1960's where you could get almost anything you wanted and the employees, at least for the most part, seemed as if they couldn't do enough for you. Another era gone..... This post was last edited 09/22/2021 at 15:44 |
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Post# 1129336 , Reply# 1   9/22/2021 at 20:13 (917 days old) by goatfarmer (South Bend, home of Champions)   |   | |
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Post# 1129360 , Reply# 3   9/22/2021 at 22:59 (917 days old) by wayupnorth (On a lake between Bangor and Bar Harbor, Maine)   |   | |
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Post# 1129730 , Reply# 5   9/27/2021 at 11:16 (912 days old) by reactor (Oak Ridge, Tennessee-- )   |   | |
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Post# 1129781 , Reply# 6   9/27/2021 at 18:30 (912 days old) by goatfarmer (South Bend, home of Champions)   |   | |
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Post# 1129792 , Reply# 7   9/27/2021 at 20:36 (912 days old) by pulltostart (Mobile, AL)   |   | |
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I think the success (and ultimately the failure) of the store was due to two factors.
First was THE catalog. Think about it, Sears was like an early Amazon. If John/Jane Doe could get their hands on a catalog and had access to a telephone they could order almost anything they needed. The catalog almost functioned like a primitive internet. The store could almost exist without benefit of 'brick and mortar'. However, after they eliminated the catalog, they were totally dependent on a literal store - just a few years before all retailers found out they weren't necessary.
The second thing that helped make Sears was easy credit. In the years just after WWII, when households were booming and growing at an unprecedented rate, financing a purchase at Sears was no problem. Need a washer? Pick a payment plan, make a down payment, and it's yours. Other retailers offered layaway, but Sears offered credit. I remember advertisements for young people to build their credit by opening an account at Sears. In the early 1970's MasterCard and Visa appeared on the scene and within a few years everyone had credit and didn't need Sears. Universal credit took away an edge that Sears had for a long time.
lawrence |
Post# 1129795 , Reply# 9   9/27/2021 at 21:19 (912 days old) by wayupnorth (On a lake between Bangor and Bar Harbor, Maine)   |   | |
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