Many summers ago I bought a trailer house which contained an old Norge Washing machine roughly 20 some odd years old. I used that washing machine for another 10 years without issue. Finally, the water level sensor quit and I didn’t know it was fixable. I went to Penny’s and purchased a machine just like the one I had.
The new one had every single feature that the old one had, but I wasn’t happy that it had nylon gears instead of metal ones. Didn’t occur to me to see if they could be switched out at the time. Could have used the ones from the old machine. Come to find out, the machine was made for Monkey’s by...Norge. Not a name you see very often anymore, but their washer was not only durable, it did an excellent job.
That new machine lasted over 20 years. I gave it to a family of 7 so it got used multiple times, daily!
At the time, Sears wanted 6-800 bucks for most of their models, most were computerized and I didn’t buy into it.
Both stores were in the mall, so it was no big deal to check out Monkeys. They had the model I wanted for the price I was willing to pay and was less than $350 with tax.
I took it home and installed it myself...no big deal except for the fact that I dropped the old machine on my foot as we moved it, damaged the joint on that foot which still ails me from time to time to this day.
Most recent purchase was 2 years ago; a Magic Chef 2.2CF tub apartment size washing machine without the agitator. I love that machine! It’s little, but does one heck of a job, is fully automatic with tons of cycle choices. Bought it online, on sale and it was delivered for free. It was brought up a flight of stairs and right into my apartment. Thank you UPS for your good service! Got it only 2 days after ordering online for a whopping $5.00 for express delivery.
I used to love Penny’s. I don’t know what happened to them but back in the day I bought sheers and drapes from them, they cost a small fortune, but they lasted over 30 years! The drapes were supposed to be dry clean only, but I did a gentle/cold with them and they were just fine. The sheers simply never aged, and were beautiful. I lost them in a move.
I purchased a bed quilt from them for my daughter, and she still has that thing, and uses it still! It was purchased in 1987.
They used to have some good stuff, but I don’t know any more. Haven’t been in Penny’s for years, and I’m not much for browsing.
I do know I’m not impressed with some things I’ve seen at Sears..over priced for the quality as far as I’m concerned.
I was through their store daily all summer and wasn’t impressed.
Yes, privately owned hardware stores DO tend to give much better service than the big box stores. I stopped using HD for that reason several years ago...oh, I think I went to buy some lumber and I couldn’t get anybody to wait on me. And when I did, they did their darnedest to give me the warped out stuff.
So now, their CEO is in charge of Penny’s? :(
Why would a person want a washing machine without the agitator?
Seems like a fundamental service that you’d want wash machines to provide.
Hi!
Sears and JCP have two major problem...
1. destruction of employment (’middle’ or ‘working class’ population ... especially these last 7 years! ... that’s Sears an JCP’s customer base
and
2. competition from some new online sales outfits
You’d THINK Sears and JCP could adjust but it has not worked out too well. Sears tried to go upscale (put mink stoles in next to the paint department, for example)....to go after the smaller number of people who can still afford to buy a lot of stuff.. and to go after the higher profit margins inherent in expensive merchanise.... but not every woman wants to wear a Craftsman mink coat, it seems?
and
they’ve both shifted the quality of some of their merchandise down, too, trying to go after the much-increased number of unemployed folks, etc... but people already know where their local WalMart is...and go there,
And both Sears and JCP have not=so-wonderful websites....
it is a lot easier to purchase online from Amazon or ebay than it is from Sears, and the JCP website can be a holy terror at times. ODD, given that both companies have a long history of successful catalog sales (Sears having almost invented catalog sales)
the first thing both stores need to do is improve their online sales websites
they then have to strengthen their core sales competencies, Sears such as tools and JCP such as soft goods ..... customers have been drifting away from these as the stores have been experimenting with other things (losing focus, as we say). the core competencies are still defensible, i think, but Sears has to make sure its tools and appliances (hard goods) have or recapture their quality... and make sure that message gets out there.....Penneys has tried mixing so much cheaper clothing and drapes, etc into its mix that some customers don’t trust the JCP label for quality anymore, and that’s a big loss to the store... Both should rebuild their core competencies, then ..and only then...expand out again...starting, i think, with such merchandise and events as will draw in people....unabashedly draw in people...even if they have to throw free concerts in the main aisle.. use .. you can go to their stores and at times almost roll bolling balls down the aisles without risk of hitting anybody...get people to come in as first priority...then see if you can sell them something...
But yes, those big mall stores are very expensive to operate ... lots of overhead... and with 104 million American adults lacking employment... and with a lot of the rest of USA stuck in part time jobs as their employers cannot afford the Obamacare tax applicable to fulltime workers......Sears and JCP have major challenges these days...