it took 57 years, but yeah...
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.
Im glad our sevice members wont be saddled with Kenmore garbage any more.
Mrs and I bought an overpriced oven there a few years ago. We were anticipating the relative quality so the price seemed acceptable. Had it delivered and the first time we turned it on I noticed odd hotspots on the element. About 8 weeks later the element burned through at those spots. It can happen. The Mrs didnt want me horsing with the new oven thinking I would void it. Service guy shows up 6 weeks or so later and charges a couple hundred. The first time we turned it on, more weird hot spots. Another 8 weeks or so pass, burns out at the hotspots again. They refuse to take it back and convince the Mrs to have their guy come out again. Weeks and a couple hundred for a service call later, the element gets hotspots the first time. Burns out 12 weeks or so later. This time I went and got the $40 element from an appliance repair store and fixed it the next morning. The element developed hot spots and burned through 12 or 16 weeks later. At this point theyre still claiming nothing is wrong with the oven and accusing me of repeatedly setting it on fire though Ive never had a similar problem with other ovens. I continue to replace the $40 element every 12 weeks or so for about two years. Then the $145 element for the broiler burned through.
Did I mention that the first time I used the stovetop that all the paint peeled off the controls area?
I went elsewhere and bought a new oven and havent had any problems since.
Kenmore: overpriced, bad service, abusive to the customers, fake warranty, trash product.
it took 57 years, but yeah...
yup, it was a different time... that Sears moved out of the city and became one of the anchor stores at the Mall that i haven't been to in thirty years accept for a hand full of movies
drove by there couple weekends ago and the whole place looked like a ghost town
I see this in Woodland Hills, CA (Los Angeles nearby) I go to Fry’s Electronics every so often and see what is in that photo except Safeway sign is replaced by Fry’s Electronics.
Very expensive area to rent.
A few blocks up the road they are replacing a Pratt & Whitney (former Boeing/Rockwell <-where the space rocket engines were built) with 4 million sq/ft of “mixed use” shopping and apartments. The apartments across from there already built look like something you house Japanese in as they are packed in. They are brightly painted several colors to catch the eye. It overlooks a bus stop parking lot.
You are correct, I remembered it wrong. Was working for Sears at the time, Manager of a catalog store.
I took a set of allen wrenches back to Sears years ago and the clerk was resistant, saying he worked in a shop. Well, I worked in a shop for 37 years, including heat treating, and I told him their wrenches weren’t even 29 Rockwell. I thought their clothes were boring and overpriced. I did lots of business with them in the 50s and 60s. I remain a critic of American management.
Remember that after it’s release the damand for that catalog was so heavy copies were not available shortly after it came out.
last thing i bought from sears was a video camera. after a few days i noticed that the autofocus was a little off, and returned the unit. they did not have a replacement, and sent mine out for repair. after two months i went back to inquire, and was told that it would be back the next day. when i did get it back, it had not been fixed. took a lot of aggrivation to get my money back - they wanted to upsell me a more expensive model.
pulled all my business from all the sears financial network, including hr block and their eyeglasses joint. never been back.
a phone call AFTER the event does not erase the ill will generated, especially when the ill will need not have happenned at all - had they fixed the camera in a timely and effective manner.
Jersey City store is staying open. Newport has grown in population. I am sure the store is busy on weekends.
I used to buy stuff from Sears regularly. Why, I even had a Sears “card”. Then as the years went by and the buyers got older and their taste in clothes, and everything else got older, my kids began demanding we go to other stores like Target and WalMart where the “neat stuff” was. The end came when I wanted to replace my Craftsmen drill and found the tools were made in China. I try not to buy Chinese tools because they are not high quality overall.
The last time I went into a Sears store it looked like it was going out of business with empty shelves and sparse appliances and clothing. The worst thing was no piece of clothing was cotton, wool or silk...all synthetics.
It's just the way it is going to be. There is nothing us old codgers can do about it.
I just smile. We both know a lot of examples about the inevitable that never came.
LOL I think they allowed a 29 day streak.
If this is true, why is Amazon getting into brick and mortar?
Yep
And mini bikes and go carts
Suburban Liberal Adult Very Entitled otherwise known as useful idiots.
I knew they were in trouble when (in 1992? -93?) they eliminated the foundation of their success, the mail-order catalog. Suddenly customers living away from physical stores had to travel, or find alternatives. Guess what they did.
The ONLY place inside a Lowe's or Home Depot I've ever actually received any help was at the paint department, and that's only when I needed a custom color mixed.
Beyond that, your post was 100% spot on! Also why I prefer going to the local Ace Hardware where I always find someone who's helpful and knows what they're talking about.
The whole of Sears could be had for a billion so why did Amazon spend 17 on whole foods.
Sears would havve given them warehouses and locations for a lot less.
Maybe it’s anyone in management who graduated from Harvard Business School.
Not in the same way. Amazon will not have large stores with wide selections. Instead, they will have small stores for returns/exchanges instead. They will serve a dual-purpose as distribution centers.
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