back in the 80s when they stopped selling guns, Sears started the long downhill spiral.
their tools are the only thing that kept them afloat this long, IMHO.
Just think of the position Sears was in to take over Internet sales. They were a huge money cow, that could have easily made massive investments early and their name would have drawn more people to Internet commerce right from the start. People could have ordered products to their home or to the local store for pickup.
They could have tapered off their brick and mortar ops, as they ramped up their Internet sales. It would have been like the 1890s all over again for them.
My guess is that their board of directors and CEO were all old-school retail and finance people who looked down their noses at the Internet as a minor competitor that they would eventually get around to incorporating in their business model IF it proved viable.
“Young people today have no idea what a Sears catalogue even was.”
I suppose I’m of the sorta younger set here at FR but I do remember the Sears catalog. Even remember the J.C. Penney and Montgomery Ward catalog. For some reason I remember liking the Ward’s catalog better than the others, don’t know why though. My mom collected “old” things and one of the items we still have of hers was a late 1890s Sears catalog. Hard to believe that they sold kit housing and wagons out of a mail order catalog these days.
“their tools are the only thing that kept them afloat this long, IMHO.”
It seems that Craftsman is just about the only thing that has kept Sears name in the news lately. I highly suspect that that line will be bought up by one of the big retailers (Lowes, Home Depot, etc) when Sears goes belly-up. Sears really isn’t known for anything else anymore.