I’ve actually been surprised Sears has lasted as long as it has. Except for tools (which probably is what keeps it afloat) everything else is sub-par quality (selling the same crap they do in K-Mart) the stores always seem empty and many times they occupy very high rent-space.
The Sears nearest me is the same way. It’s always like a ghost town in the place.
My experience with Sears is different. I like Sears it's my first stop when doing a major purchase.
I bought a Kenmore Elite stand mixer for $179 at Christmas, got it home and a screw fell out immediately. And was stripped so I couldn’t screw it back in. So took the dumb thing back and got a KitchenAid which I guess I should have done to begin with.
Didn’t compensate me for my time and frustration though.
It pains me to see Sears go down the crapper. I've tried to remain a loyal Sears customer ever since I turned a wrench in their automotive department during college over 20 years ago. They just can't (or won't) compete anymore. Case in point, I'm currently in the market for a second full-size refrigerator to replace the cheap mini-fridge in my garage that crapped out last week. Sears is not only more expensive (by $50-100 depending on the cubic feet) than both Lowes and Home Depot but they want to charge me $59 to deliver the new fridge and another $10 to haul away the old one. Lowes and HD will do both for free!