[brownsfan]

It’s a sad irony that Sears was a pioneer of shop at home, (Sears catalog), and shop at home, (internet), is doing them in.

This is more of a business model and image issue. Sears is seen by younger shoppers as being Grandma’s store. And Kmart is seen as Walmart without the low prices.

[Red Badger]

I like to go to K-Mart.
There’s never a crowd...........

[KarlInOhio]

And Kmart is seen as Walmart without the low prices.

Or usable aisles. Whenever another store makes it difficult to get from one place to another with too many in-aisle displays and pallets of merchandise (I'm looking at you Kroger) I say they are getting K-marty.

[Timber Rattler]

Sears' online operation is a mess. Last year, I bought an item online, and was overcharged for it. The incompetent customer service people couldn't fix it, and when I took it to my local Sears store, the store manager couldn't even fix it. In fact, he called the customer service people himself and could not get anywhere with them either. Embarrassed, he finally admitted that the stores and the online operations were two entirely different entities and that there was no integration between the two.

The year before that, I bought an air filter cartridge online, and they sent me an empty box. It took two acts of Congress to get that resolved too.

[tubebender]

“You’ll never hear a woman say she bought this dress at Sears” = Mrs Bender 30 minutes ago after hearing of the closings on the radio...

[garbanzo]

Apparently Sears needs to copy A&F and Hollister and have shirtless models hang out in the lobby of the their stores.

[PUGACHEV]

It's sad, but when I was a child in the ‘50s, Sears was strong in every department; today, it's only the Craftman band that survives. As far as I remember, the Sears brands used to be Ted Willimas for sporting goods, J.C. Higgins for bicycles, and Tower for cameras and photographic supplies. I am sure there were others that I do not remember, including, believe it or not, houses. In fact, I used to live in a Sears house in the Chevy Chase section of D.C. that was built in the ‘20s. It was a very nice house: very well built and well designed.

[stylin19a]

I think the whole brick & mortar model is going to change drastically. We got a peek at it when Best Buy had to cancel confirmed on-line orders shortly before Christmas because of no product.

Yet dollar stores are thriving....

anecdotally, it was mostly on-line and gift card shopping for the guys in our house, while the women had to go to the store to do touchy-feely.

[CodeToad]

“and shop at home, (internet), is doing them in.”

That isn’t doing them in. Their LOUSY business practices are doing them in. They still use a 1980’s computer system for cash registers that takes 10 minutes just to try to make a return, or crashes so often that I don’t think there has been a time in the past several years I didn’t have to wait for them to try to get the sale through. They simply are doing themselves in.

[wtd]

To compete, Sears needs to provide something it’s competitors don’t. They had it and lost it. Perhaps if they tried it again, they can survive with a last ditch effort. Just bring back the annual catalog - mailed once each year - and in late August, mail out the Holiday Wish Book. Speaking for myself, I continue to purchase more items from mail order catalogs than online, and I find myself less inclined to shop in malls in the weeks prior to the holidays.

[Rebelbase]

Those old Sears Catalogs are a lot of fun.