Sears is sinking and does not want to continue shipments from Whirlpool that will add to payment demands from Sears. Instead of owing Whirlpool or others it will fill its space with its own brand. Look for one of the last moves by Sears to be the sale of its Kenmore brand. Sad; really sad.
On another thread a few months ago, it was mentioned that Sears had sold off Craftsman, I think also Die Hard auto parts, and was shopping Kenmore. If those three things go, Sears does not exist.
It’s probably already dead, and now is a corporate organ donor of its brands to other businesses. Too bad; they were perfectly set up to beat Amazon to the internet order and delivery business, but they lacked vision.
I really hate to see the slow death of this once great company. It was Amazon before Amazon. Sears pioneered the idea of catalog shopping bringing a world of goods to every corner of the country.
I have good memories of going to the Craftsman section of the store with my Dad Saturday mornings.
Whirlpool manufactured many of the appliances sold by Sears under the Kenmore brand. All Sears would have to sell would be whatever good will the "Kenmore" label generates.
IIRC, Kenmore is made by Whirlpool.
I suspect Whirlpool will not give them product to sell without payent terms Sears cannot make. They are done. Sears Canada announced they were closing instead of restructuring last month.
More likely is that Whirlpool told Sears they could not extend them credit anymore and Sears said we can not pay cash upfront. The company I work for used to make a premium product line sold under a Sears label and that is what happened.
When (not if) Sears goes bankrupt, any suppliers that extended credit and received payments in the previous 3 months can be forced by the court to return those payments. Management decided that Sears business wasn’t worth the risk of having a credit arrangement and a bunch of finished leftovers with labels removed were sold to employees at scrap value. Whirlpool has it easier because the merchandise has their own branding and they can just sell it through other channels. The question who makes the Kenmore labeled stuff and how do they respond.