I use to love looking at the Sears Christmas catalog book every year when I was little boy.
Hope Sears is able to update their stores and turn things around.
K-Mart stuff is junk.
Land’s End quality tanked after Sears bought them.
Anyone paying full price for anything from Sears is foolish and its quality is not what it used to be.
I’ll take “Yes” for $1000, Alex.
Oh, it’s the Daily Double. (Answer is: Who are JC Penny and Sears?)
The tools, kitchen, laundry, and outdoor items are solid.
Haven’t been in Sears in many years (10?)Less than 2 weeks ago I went because I saw online they had a pair of jeans I wanted at a good price. I saw lots of merchandise, really low prices on everything, few sales help and almost no customers except a few guys who looked like they may be getting 5 finger discounts. When I came back to the car I told hubby - I don’t know how they can stay open.
IMO, over the last 15 years or so, they could have survived soley with their appliances, hardware (which includes tools), & automotive. These are things Walmart pretty much either stays away from or are weak at.
Our local store has more sales people than customers that stand around in clusters visiting, and when approached act annoyed.
I still think they can reorganize and be competitive, just get rid of the clothing, jewelry & all the things Walmart undercuts them with.
And as someone else mentions, bring back guns. With Trump as prez, the DNC dying, the MSM becoming more irrelevant every day, I think they could swing it. This is an area they could give Walmart a goon run for their money. More competition in the gun arena could send gun prices down.
The people they hire is also a problem. I went through there recently with my daughter, we were comparing mattress prices. The young man that worked in the mattress department had foul smelling dreds to his waist. The stench was overwhelming when he got too close. We couldn’t get out of there fast enough. We didn’t even consider staying long enough to think about a purchase.
I remember waiting every year for the Sears catalog to show up so we could dream about all of the amazing stuff out there. That was just a part of life before the internet and Cable TV. It was a really big deal when there was only one or two channels on Television.
They need to go back to the beginning. Big catalogues (internet) and sales. Get rid of all but a few centralized stores. Their facilities costs are killing them.
Kmart. Detroit shoved in to 10,000 sq ft
Sears. Commit brand suicide sending everything to China. What’s the point of buying Craftsman made in China when you can get Kobalt or Husky at a better price? All those companies use a Danaher contractor in China.
There was another article a few months ago that said that the slow death of Sears is an intentional strategy by the current CEO. He is not investing anything in maintaining their stores even when it seems like this would increase sales. Why he is trying to drag the process out was not clear.
Man, I remember those catalogs like it was yesterday. Especially the lingerie section...
When i was a kid we used the catalog as toilet paper in the little house out behind the big house.
America is alive and Sears is dead! /s
A few comments \ questions
My dad gave me a Craftsman metric ratchet set in 81 still have and use it though I did lose a few pieces over the years
Zappa sang long ago “Is that a real poncho or a Sears poncho?”
That might hold true today but back then I didn’t think that rang true-when did things start to slip exactly?
Just bought a “made in USA” screwdriver set just plastic wrapped-looks good but is it us or Chinese steel?
Sears saw the end long ago and tried a lot of things to stay afloat -
Real Estate, IT partnerships with IBM Advantis, Prodigy) you’d think in urban areas they still have lots of owned real estate more valuable than the business
You can still get help but it’s spotty unlike days of yore
Kenmore is rebranded Whirlpool GE-”elite” is higher quality
This exemplifies their issues ;
Just bought a GE branded Taiwanese xmas tree a very fine item there in Yonkers. I went to my local store 1st and not only did they not have it in stock but they couldn’t tell me if Yonkers had it in stock! I had to go to the Yonkers store to find out, they had it bought it with points and Sears card and I took it home. however the very next day the price went down $45 online and I called IL customer service for a Price adjustment they wouldn’t give it! I have to go back to the store to haggle for an adjustment -unacceptable in my view
I hope so.
Don’t buy a car battery from them. Their warranty is only good for toilet paper.
They SUCK.
When I was a kid in the ‘40s and ‘50s there was no Sears. At that time it was Sears and Roebucks. We shopped often at the store in D.C. on Bladensburg Road, and the big attraction for us kids was that going into the store from the back parking lot there was a donut-making concession just inside the doors. I can still smell those freshly made donuts covered with delicious pink icing. Those were the good old days.
Going.. Going.. GONE!
If it dies, malls will never survive. How many Macy’s can you have as anchor stores? If Sears got spun off from KMart, I think it could turn around. I was with Caldors when it went out and besides the employees, it hurt the towns they were in, customers and the shopping centers. I seen empty Caldors, Headless and Ames stores to this date. Wish I could see Wards, G. Fox and Sage-Allen back in business. It still is....on my railroad layout.