Posted on 12/04/2014 12:38:36 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Sears is shutting down hundreds of stores.
The chain announced today that it is accelerating store closings to 235 this year, 100 more than previously planned.
Sears' total net loss for the quarter was $296 million.
Sears' and K-Mart's collapse is "inevitable" and could happen by the year 2016, retail analyst and author Robin Lewis writes on his blog.
"These two retail brands are dead men walking," Lewis writes.
"As a retailer they're at the point of no return," David Tawil, cofounder of Maglan Capital and an expert in distressed retail companies, told Business Insider earlier this year. "The real question now is when does it all end?"
The company, which has currently has 800 namesake stores and 1,100 Kmart stores, has lost $6 billion since 2012. Suppliers are growing concerned that they won't receive payments for merchandise.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
I agree with you completely. Their catalog sales was so far ahead of its time that it really is uncanny. It worked too. The other thing coming full circle here is Amazon considering clicks and bricks.
Rebranding Sears into Amazon wouldn’t be as far-fetched as it sounds. Before long, you’ll be able to pick up Sears for the price of a Central Park hot dog. Amazon picks up all the real estate cheap. They gut the stores and remake them in a brand new way - like they were going to anyway.
Lots of cheaper tools have lifetime guarantees now.
I think it was. I don't think their catalog business was ever unprofitable, the higher ups just decided to go all in for retail outlets.
I don’t know how Harbor Freight makes it...but the one near me is still in business.
If you need some oddball tool, but are probably only going to use it once or twice, why buy Snap-On (the only tool brand worth a crap)?
Same was twice said of Apple.
As a child, I spent many an afternoon lost in their Wish Book.
That might work in our largest metropolitan areas, but they better be careful about going into too many areas. Amazon is still not profitable. Online sales is their thing and they better not monkey with it too much.
Craftsmen and Kenmore make money.
Everything loses money.
They should reduce their store footprints by 2/3 and sell tools and appliances.
Yep, and many kids used the Sears catalog to pick out what Santa was supposed to bring them.
The ranch where I hunt deer has a Sears house on it. It was built almost a hundred years ago, IIRC.
Very good point. Would be very interesting to see who was behind this decision. My bet is that it was someone / or a group of people who were ‘pedigreed’ from ‘name brand’ university business programs.
They should do the above, and convert the rest of their business to an ‘online Sears catalog’ business, as suggested above. Yes, they would be into this waaayyy late, but they have a name to sell, and could potentially make it work.
The reason why I stopped shopping at Sears was because all of the salespeople made me feel like I was standing in line at the Social Security office or the Post Office.
Yes, the chi-com stuff is crap. But, the Pittsburgh tools are pretty good.
Me too! I was really sad when Montgomery Wards went. As a kid, that’s where we shopped; at the huge Wards in Oakland, CA. I used to get candy from the big candy isle.
Are they following the Roebuck part of that Company?
You can google "70s Sears Catalog" and get blasted right back into the past. I was just looking at some pages I actually remember from back then.
I work at a factory that supplies product sold under the Diehard label and just yesterday I overheard sales guys fretting that not only might we not get paid outstanding debt, but that going in to bankruptcy they can bill us for whatever they paid in the previous 90 days. I don’t understand how that works, but they were having a serious discussion of the financial liabilities of continuing to supply Sears with product.
Over the last few years, I have replaced my Kenmore Washer, dryer and fridge. The washer and dryer that I replaced had only lasted about 20+ years. The fridge was still working; we jut wanted something new after a kitchen remodel.
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