It would appear that their alliance with K-Mart was not all that successful. Wal-Mart and Target have delivered the most recent blows, expanding even as Sears and K-mart were shrinking.
In its heyday, Sears was what Amazon has become, as much of its business was by mail-order, much like one of its competitors, Montgomery Wards. J.C. Penney was late coming to the game, but it, too, was a rather major mail-order house.
But mail order became a thing of the past, as the growth in first telephone ordering, then later, Internet merchandising, became the means of reaching ever widening pools of potential buyers, which by now have threatened the traditional brick-and-mortar stores, to the point of coming extinction, with the exception of small boutique-like niche marketing.
Technology is clearly a two-edged sword.
The epitome of creative destruction.
Adapt or Die!