I think toward the early 1990s...Sears was in decline and simply not making an attempt to recapture the market. I walked into the home-town Sears where I grew up as a kid around 2005, and noted that at 4PM on a Friday....there were fewer than twelve customers in the whole store. I think at that point, they could have stopped opening in the morning hours.
I noticed the same thing in various cities where we’ve lived.
The main stockholder in Sears/KMart must be banking on selling the real estate since his storys will largely be empty...
Call and then go to Sears in Muncie “America’s Hometown” IN and same thing: practically tumbleweeds rolling down aisles but few customers.
Sears auto dept. assures me, `No charge for installation of Die Hard Gold car battery’.
Go away, come back to pay—there’s a charge for installation.
Register jockey: “There’s always an installation charge.”
I ask for manager: he says `No one could have told you that’.
I replied, “Your people did over the phone and then here at the counter about an hour ago.
Him: `Sorry, can’t help.’
Me: `Sorry, I won’t be back.’
All Sears has to offer at this point is service—bad service, in my experience.
I was in a mall over Christmas where every store was packed EXCEPT the Sears.
They had emailed me a coupon for $10 off a $40 purchase.
I spent close to an hour in the store and could not find forty bucks worth of stuff I wanted to buy.
They’re toast.