Posted on 07/23/2004 3:04:39 PM PDT by Willie Green
Plagued by poor clothing sales, Sears, Roebuck and Co.'s second-quarter profits were about a third less than what Wall Street expected, and the nation's biggest department store chain warned of a bleaker outlook for the rest of the year.
It wasn't good news for Sears' employees, either.
Under pressure to prove it can perform as a pure retailer since last year's sale of its profitable credit business, Sears announced Thursday that about 3,300 jobs, or 1.6 percent of its U.S. workforce, are in the process of being eliminated this year. That includes layoffs of nearly 200 workers at its Hoffman Estates headquarters.
The difficulty in finding a silver lining in Sears' quarterly results prompted retail observers to question everything from the company's apparel strategy to the staying power of its management.
"At what stage of the game do you stop and say, `Is this a business we should keep investing in?'" said Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Michael Exstein.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Without their tools, Sears has nothing to differentiate it from a Goodwill store.
Coming Soon--Home Depot in Watsonville. It should be interesting.
The ONLY reason why I enter a Sears store is for tools and every now and then for a sale on jeans. (usually with coupons)
Alas, manana never comes
Yeah! I can't wait, truly. Our home supply stores are seriously lacking here. Are you from Santa Cruz?
We're hounded to death in the appliance and lawn dept, but ignored elsewhere.
I just browse in the Petite Dept, which is upstairs, in the back and the size of a postage stamp. I never buy anything tho.
Someone needs to tell these people that polyester went out along time ago.
sw
LOL!
Actually I agree with you on that. They do have quality tools. But they tried and (I think) failed in the stand-alone hardware business.
That was awful news.
Land's End always made great stuff.
I wonder how long before sears makes them glue the clothes together.
Ah, Aptos here. Howdy neighbor!!
Good question. Several years ago, they took on a new CEO (Alan Lacy). He's been systematically wrecking SR&Co, starting with their legal department, which he succeeded in utterly demoralizing. Almost right away, they lost their General Counsel, followed by quite a few of their in-house talent.
The automated complaint system Lacy put in place is a nightmare. I was dumb enough to buy a Kenmore sink disposal from them last summer. On a 5-year warranty, it crapped out in 11 months. Took two weeks and initiating legal action against them to get them to service it under warranty. Never again.
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