Posted on 06/25/2017 8:56:12 AM PDT by ARGLOCKGUY
I haven't been inside a Sears store for more than 10 years, until Thursday, June 22. And, wow, did I learn a lot.
Mainly, I came away with a better understanding of why Sears Holdings Corp. is closing an additional 20 stores on top of the 245 it already planned to shutter. And why it has failed to turn a profit in 29 out of the last 37 quarters and seen same-store sales decline in 11 of the past 12 quarters.
I observed alienating treatment of a loyal customer at the store in Jersey City, N.J., which was also messy and uninviting inside.
When I came upon customer Stephanie Rosso, a resident of Jersey City, she was struggling with four employees to get a simple return transaction completed for a dryer she'd bought and sent back to the warehouse that day with the delivery man. Normally, getting a refund takes about two minutes tops.
Lowe’s... What is funny is when you grab the pipe and start cutting and threading it on their machine that has the interlock number written next to the keypad with a Sharpie pen!
Well I hope my son retools his job skills to work in the brave new world.
To quote Homer Simpson: “It’s funny because it’s true”
Sometimes companies just have to die before the right time arrives for rebirth.
Of course, it is a lot easier for us armchair generals.;-)
“The traditional shopping center is for old people and is rapidly dying out.”
I’ll be 64 in a couple of months. This ‘old’ person shops online for almost everything. I’ve lived in my current locale for maybe 11 years and have been to our mall maybe 10 times.
Amazon, Walmart, Thrive, food storage sites, women’s clothing & shoe sites all deliver right to my door. When the weather is bad here and driving is tough, the post office still drops off my box o’stuff. I love it.
A few weeks ago I had to return a blouse I’d ordered online to Penney’s. I thought I’d get out of the house and return it in person instead of mailing it back. Well, I walked all over the store looking for the catalog desk. No signage, no nothing.
I finally asked a sales clerk and was told I could make a return at any desk. Wonderful. When were they going to let the customer know? (never was directed to the catalog desk, maybe that’s gone)
The salesperson was nice enough (it is the Midwest, after all), but it just reinforced online shopping to me, even if every now and then you have to mail something back.
Went to our local store at the mall about 10 years ago to get a tool. My impression at the time was, OMG this store looks like I'm in a third world nation. Never went back and they bulldozed the store about 4 years ago to put in a Super Dick's Sporting Goods and a Field and Stream store.
There was a story here some time ago - within the last two years — that the profitable divisions were Kenmore (appliances), Craftsman (tools), and Diehard (car batteries). I think they sold off Craftsman since then.
Fall 2006 was when all three went and started implementing the college designed marketing plans, and all of them by the end of 2007 lost at least a third of their value. 2007 was also the last year that Sears issued their very stripped down wish book. (the big books stopped being published in the US in 2005.)
Today if you can find a Radio Shack still open, you’ll have entered a Time Warp and gone back in time. They are all closed now!
“Sears stores had a candy counter”
Forgot about those. Love them as a kid.
I am a big fan of Ace hardware. They are a little more than HDepot, but there is always somebody around to help you.
It used to be a joke in our family that if my Dad was going to Sears, you did not go with him. Any other store was safe. He would go into sears and get so aggravated at the staff for not knowing anything. As a youngster it was embarrassing. As an adult, it was amusing.
I’ve never had such an experience at a Sears - ever. I guess it depends on where you live. :-)
Having cashiers hawking credit cards doesn’t help.
Sounds like our visits to the May Company in Los Angeles during the 1950s. We would get dressed up in coats and ties and spend the day there shopping. If we were there into the evening, we would often eat at the Italian Kitchen, a restaurant located across the street, before getting on the Santa Ana Freeway to head home.
I keep getting this strange feeling that colleges will be our downfall.
Some of the best businessmen and thinkers I have ever known were not college grads.
I worry about myself because I am (though frankly, I never thought much of it...except for the math).
I like the management style that pushes the decision making down to the lowest person in contact with the problem...down to the front lines.
Of course, with the decision making power comes the responsibility for success.
Eff it up and you get the axe.
Get it right and your authority grows.
Over a 15 year period I replaced about thirty, 100 foot metal craftsman tape measures on one $20 purchase.
Nobody goes there any more. It's too crowded. 😁
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