Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

We Went to Sears For The First Time In More Than 10 Years and Instantly Saw Why It's Dying
https://www.thestreet.com/amp/slideshow/14193621/1/we-went-to-sears-for-the-first-time-in-more-than- ^ | 6/24/17 | Lindsay Rittenhouse

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.


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: customerservice; retail; sears
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 241-242 next last
To: Charles Martel
Sears near me has been stocking less and less ...
Other than Craftsman tools, the only other product I'd buy there was paint. It was reasonably priced, easy to use and wore like iron.
Three years ago I went into my local store to buy more paint and the entire department was gone. Shocked the hell out me.
I ended up at Lowe's and while the quality of their paint was okay, I just don't think it'll wear like the Sears ...
41 posted on 06/25/2017 9:31:14 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Chode; All

and the Christmas catalog was the best....who didn’t spend hours pouring over the toy section in the back when they sent it out 40+ years ago...


42 posted on 06/25/2017 9:32:46 AM PDT by God luvs America (63.5 million pay no income tax and vote for DemoKrats...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: neverevergiveup

Sears was the Amazon of its day.

The current owner bought Sears and KMart for their real estate.


43 posted on 06/25/2017 9:33:45 AM PDT by Moonman62 (Make America Great Again!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: oh8eleven

In 1886 Richard W. Sears founded the R.W. Sears Watch Company in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to sell watches by mail order. He relocated his business to Chicago in 1887, hired Alvah C. Roebuck to repair watches, and established a mail-order business for watches and jewelry. The company’s first catalog was offered the same year. In 1889 Sears sold his business but a few years later founded, with Roebuck, another mail-order operation, which in 1893 came to be known as Sears, Roebuck and Company. In 1895 Julius Rosenwald, a wealthy clothing manufacturer, bought out Roebuck’s interest, and he reorganized the mail-order business. Sears meanwhile wrote the company’s soon-to-be-famous catalogs. The company grew phenomenally by selling a range of merchandise at low prices to farms and villages that had no other convenient access to retail outlets. The initiation of rural free delivery (1896) and of parcel post (1913) by the U.S. postal service enabled Sears to send its merchandise to even the most isolated customers. Rosenwald succeeded Sears as president of the company in 1909.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sears-Roebuck-and-Company


44 posted on 06/25/2017 9:35:03 AM PDT by tflabo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: RoosterRedux

most CEOs have a business degree but clueless about business.

For them a widget is a widget. They can’t tell the difference between a gm car, screwdriver, or pair of socks.


45 posted on 06/25/2017 9:36:02 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: oh8eleven

Was in downtown Baltimore 1978 or thereabouts. Stores closed on Sunday because of blue laws. Suburb stores open.


46 posted on 06/25/2017 9:36:41 AM PDT by morphing libertarian
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: Hojczyk
Then along came Home Depot

Then along came Harbor Freight.

47 posted on 06/25/2017 9:37:42 AM PDT by P-Marlowe (Freep mail me if you want to be on my Fingerstyle Acoustic Guitar Ping list.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Hojczyk
In the 1980s all the construction workers went there for tools..

Then along came Home Depot

Sort of. Then along came the cheapening of Craftsman tools. Electric tools were being made by the cheapest international manufacturer that guaranteed the tool wasn't going to last very long. And when the tool failed, it was impossible to fix because Sears had no idea who made the tool in the first place.

Plus, Craftsman mechanics tools used to be an industry standard, but they decided to cheapen those as well. The last time I bought Craftsman sockets they were about the same quality I'd find at the dollar store.

48 posted on 06/25/2017 9:39:04 AM PDT by LouAvul (The most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Texas Eagle

Lowes too. Bought a whole box of canned lights there for my kitchen ceiling redo. Electrician said wrong ones take them back and gave me the number for the correct ones. When returning them I told the gal to please call someone to meet me over there. I went.....and waited, and waited. Finally went back to the return register and said wtf? She said she’s cutting pipe. I said can’t you call someone else? Nope. I just have to wait. I finally flagged down another employee and more or less forced them to find the lights I needed.


49 posted on 06/25/2017 9:39:08 AM PDT by sheana
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: ARGLOCKGUY

Home depot/Lowes/Walmart/Target/Amazon has made Sears/Macy’s/JC Penny’s OBSOLETE.


50 posted on 06/25/2017 9:39:54 AM PDT by Brooklyn Attitude (The first step in ending the War on White People, is to recognize it exists.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ARGLOCKGUY

I haven’t been inside a Sears store for more than 10 years,

*****************

I think you aren’t alone in that regards. Thus
one of the reasons Sears, etc are on the wane.


51 posted on 06/25/2017 9:40:31 AM PDT by deport
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: al baby

No one knows how to count back change anymore.


52 posted on 06/25/2017 9:43:29 AM PDT by MileHi (Liberalism is an ideology of parasites, hypocrites, grievance mongers, victims, and control freaks.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: sheana
Sounds about right.

I have discovered one sure-fire way to get a Lowe's or Homo Depot employee to notice you. Start climbing one of those roll-around ladders.

They come up out of the grave to tell you you can't do that. Oh. By all means. Have it your way. Get it for me. They instantly do their Homer Simpson impersonation. D'oh!

53 posted on 06/25/2017 9:43:53 AM PDT by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all -- Texas Eagle)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: Brooklyn Attitude

...and mcdonalds replaced the order takers.

will robots service helpers bring back the stores?


54 posted on 06/25/2017 9:44:39 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: deport

craftsman was sold off (by the woman in charge?) and it did not matter because most people know Stanley makes them anyways. The name is meaningless.


55 posted on 06/25/2017 9:46:26 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: sheana

Another way to get a Low’s or Homo Depot employee to notice you is to pretend like you’re going to undo one of those scissor-like barricades they put up when they pretend like they’re doing something with a forklift down an aisle.


56 posted on 06/25/2017 9:48:02 AM PDT by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all -- Texas Eagle)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: MileHi

I know its silly and today they have computers. my first experience making change was at a gas station in the mid 70s with just a silly cash drawer out on the island


57 posted on 06/25/2017 9:48:44 AM PDT by al baby (May the Forceps be with you Hi Mom Its a Joke friends)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: ARGLOCKGUY

Cheap shot clickbait headline. Did the author expect Sears to be flourishing? The organization’s decline has been well covered without this kind of garbage that passes for news. Check financial performance if we want to know how the org is doing.


58 posted on 06/25/2017 9:50:55 AM PDT by HonkyTonkMan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Moonman62

I grew up in a poor town. The periodic Sears and Monkey Ward catalogs worked fine as toilet paper.


59 posted on 06/25/2017 9:51:52 AM PDT by batterycommander (I learned my Artillery skills from the United States Marines. USNA 65)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: MileHi
No one knows how to count back change anymore.

I swear they display the change on the registers graphically, you know, graphic of dollar bill, quarter, nickel etc. The current spate of public school scholars even when the register states the amount can't figure the right bill/coin combo. Had a cashier give me $18 ones and coin for change when I paid with a $20. The drawer had plenty of $5s and $10s, they just couldn't figure it out. Gave a cashier exact change once and the moron asked what coin the nickel was.
60 posted on 06/25/2017 9:51:59 AM PDT by redcatcherb412
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 241-242 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson