Posted on 11/17/2004 3:37:25 AM PST by bikepacker67
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Kmart Holding Corp. on Wednesday said they would merge in an $11 billion deal to form the third-largest U.S. retailer.
The companies said in a joint statement that the new company, Sears Holdings, will have about $55 billion in annual revenues, 2,350 full-line and off-mall stores, and 1,100 specialty retail stores.
Their target shopper is going to be a little more upscale than the typical Wally World shopper. Plus this is really all about real estate.
Location means everything to a retailer and Sears Stores currently are trapped in these huge malls that have built - in competition, expensive leases, limited growth, etc.
Sears can compete, not on all fronts, but I think it will be interesting fight.
Sears also has several extremely profitable divisions like home improvement that certainly helps their cash flow to compete
"Needless to say, I bought Sears."
They do work you over hard on the maintenance agreements, which I am sure is where they make up the difference in sales price. But like you, I tire of the big box electronic retailers hiring "sales people" whose knowledge of the products ends with what is on the outside of the box.
Craftsman Tools are also a good deal. I bought one nice set 20+ years ago and everytime I ding or break one, I simply take it to the Sears Hardware Store and get a new one, no questions asked. I have returned hammers where my over swing snapped the handle out and they replace it. If I were a contractor or mechanic, I would shop nowhere else for handtools. (I would for electric and rechargeables.)
Back when Sears was closing all their "outlet" stores and regrouping in the 90's there was a hint of this.
A small hint, but one none the less.
K-mart advertised at that time they would exchange and honor all Sears/Craftsman tool guarantees. That was odd.
Craftsman had worked their line of tools to compete with all the big hand tool manufactureres (Snapon, MAC, etc.) and to allow k-mart's chinese 3-cent garbage tools to honor their guarantee didn't make economic or in-trade sense.
Then it was revealed that k-mart was contracting tool supplies from sears' low-end tool line with a full life-time warranty.
Today we have a merger and the rest of the story!
spell check is your friend...
The Capt.
(cant make heads nor tails out of your post...just saying)
S-Mart has already been done in the Evil Dead movies by Sam Raimi. At least they have a model to work with for this merger.
Wow... knew something had to happen with Kmart, or it was going to just go under eventually... but didn't expect Sears to pick it up....
Sears Card now accepted at Kmart... now you can buy chinese products at 25% interest. Good move for Sears.
Sears is refocusing on service, which is good, but also, far from being a failed business model, Sears is a force to be reconned with. What people fail to understand about sears is they are not a murchandizing company... not any more. THey are a CREDIT company, with some merchandize out front. They have made more money on credit for a long long time now than they have on retail margins.
Sell products, primarily on your own brand of credit card at 18 to 25% interest, with very low payments on the balance per month and it really doesn't matter how much margin you make on the product, and you make a lot of $$ in the process.
They bring their brand of credit to Kmart stores.... they will be rolling in even more $$$. Overall good move for Sears, and one I didn't see coming.
I gave up on Sears awhile back, but after I heard of their generous benefits to the families of their employees/Guard and Reserve troops, I gave them a 2nd look. I have spent more money in Sears in the past year, than the previous 10.
Ummm... actually, it looks more like K-Mart acquiring Sears. At least by how the stocks are going to be dealt with.
If they do SMART promoting and smart planning. This will work. And if it does, great. Somethig to keep Wal-Mart honest. If not, it has the ability to make AOL - Timewarner mess to look like childsplay.
Holy Cow... KMRT over $100 a share? Man, why did I stop watching it back when it was a few bucks a share... damn.
You can see the blue light for a long way off!
I will be interested to see what they do with the K-Mart store, which is much more convenient to me than the mall. If they clean it up and move in some better merchandise, I might start shopping there.
Gotta love it if they have a Martha / Bob Vila team up on the commercials:
Bob: "Yes, Martha, this Craftsman power saw cuts through those prison bars like butter!"
I think Sears will make it work. Sears is a vastly changed company than it was say 10 years ago. I had mostly written off sears, other than hand tools. Their prices were under the old retail models, far higher than I could find products elsewhere and customer service was non existent.
Now, their prices are definately in line with everywhere else, and their sales often put things far cheaper than I can find em elsewhere. Service is generally far far better than most other places, and they are one of the few national retail chains where you can still get "everything" under one roof left.
BOX STORES are ok, but if you need or want to buy an appliance, and other stuff, without visiting a half dozen stores, nationally Sears is about all that's left out there.
S-Mart? I remember that from "army of Darkness" one of my favorite grade B horror Flicks *L*
Dad & Grandpa were always wild about a "trip to Sears." They acted like the dogs, doing backflips when you ask, "Wanna go for a ride?" LOL! The tools. It was always the tools.
I've bought washers, dryers, water heaters, lawn mowers, ovens, vaccum cleaners, tools, etc. from Sears for years. I've always liked their Kenmore brand and have never had problems with any of them.
They've gotten plenty of my money over the years, and I'd hate to not see them continue in the market. I could give a flyin' flip about K-Mart. Our stores were always dirty & Messy and staffed by morons.
Wal-Mart is such a force to be dealt with, so this makes sense to merge stores to fight against them. Did anyone catch the PBS special on them last night? It might've just been local to me on WisconsinPT. We've been fighting a losing battle in every small hamlet around here to keep Wal-Mart out. They steamroll us each and every time.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.