[llevrok]

They had a good run.

If one company would/should have understood the change to mail order ala Amazon, one would think Sears would. It should have been in their DNA.

However, they got locked themselves into 99 year leases every where and that partially was their downfall.

[oldvirginian]

“However, they got locked themselves into 99 year leases every where and that partially was their downfall.”

A 99 year lease is crazy, unless you’re leasing an entire city.

Another thing that didn’t help was the internal bickering between the retail and catalog divisions.
The retail department wanted to do away with the catalog thinking that it hurt business at the stores.
Unfortunately most of the higher ups had come up through the retail division and had no real loyalty to the catalog. One reason it was so easy for them to shrug off that new internet thing. They believed in the brick and mortar stores first and foremost.
Bad decisions.