Posted on 12/27/2011 5:20:29 AM PST by tobyhill
Sears Holdings Corp will close up to 120 stores in its Kmart and namesake chains, blaming poor sales of consumer electronics so far this holiday season and saying it would focus its energy on its better performing stores.
Sales at Sears Holdings, whose chairman and top shareholder is hedge fund manager Edward Lampert, have fallen every year since it was formed through the merger of Sears and Kmart in 2005.
And so far this holiday season, the drop has continued. Same-store sales at Kmart were down 4.4 percent in the current quarter through Christmas Day, and down 6 percent at Sears' U.S. stores. Companywide, they were down 5.2 percent, the company said on Tuesday.
Sears said that typically, it would keep "marginally performing" stores open to give them time to improve, but "we no longer believe that to be the appropriate action in this environment."
The store closings follow its announcement last quarter it would shutter 10 stores. Kmart and Sears have a combined 2,177 U.S. full service locations and another 500 in Canada.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Same here. Been laid off for 1.5 years. looking for almost one year when I fell and fractured my spine requiring a khyphoplasty. Now I am recovering. Fell again today walking (therapy) to heal?
I’ve been in the market for a new oven. Sears had a 25% off sale a week ago but the sale price was 10% higher than the same regularly priced item 4-5 weeks ago.
The extended warranty policies stink too.
They take two visits to accomplish what most local folks can do in one. Support your local repair people; they’re more motivated, cheaper, flexible, and reliable.... usually.
I still use a lot of Craftsman tools but haven't had to buy any in a while. I wonder if the quality is the same or if they are now cutting corners on quality now that they are controlled by K-Mart.
Our spending styles have changed so much.
When our children ask for things during the year I found myself saying repeatedly, “Maybe you’ll get that for Christmas.” I don’t buy them things in June like I could in the past. I put off spending on things that aren’t necessary for months and months.
When Christmas came, my children got “targeted Christmas gifts”. They didn’t get that really cool, expensive fun item that blew them away. There weren’t any extravagant surprises this year.
Those can’t be found at a Flea Market, Big Lots, etc. And Santa can’t afford them.
My children are so trained to this new mindset that when Santa asked them what they wanted they said, “Bring me what you think I’ll like.”
I think they are smart enough not to ask for things Mom and Dad can’t afford, because they don’t want to be greedy. And, they didn’t want to be disappointed on Christmas morning if they asked for something expensive and it wasn’t under the tree.
In a way, my children have lost that “blown away surprised” Christmas experience, because there mother spent less money on Christmas this year than in other years. I feel like they’ve been robbed of a unique experience. No, it won’t kill them... yes, there are children who get much less in this world. But I wanted my children to hold onto that Christmas magic for a little longer than they did. It evaporated when I wasn’t looking.
I blame Obama-economics.
Real estate value is why Eddie Lampert bought KMart out of bankruptcy.
Attention K-Mart shoppers, our blue light special is SHLD. 17.2% off!
I think Land’s End is what’s keeping our local Sears alive. The store is just awful. The first thing you notice is how filthy the doors are.
Their power tools have been crap for 25 years. Their mechanic hand tools are still good for the hobbiest/hownowner like me. However, they are not nearly the quality of Snapon, MAC, or Challenger.
Sears is still a great place to shop. They need to just dump the whole K-Mart mentality. I have bought my last two flatscreens from Sears. It is a much better place to shop than Walmart.
Online shopping is killing a lot of retail stores. It is suspect whether Sears or many other names will survive.
Atleast, Obama will not try to give them a bailout.
You need to continue...
The products that remain being manufactured here rise in price due to the low sales and government regulations raising prices.
The poor can only afford the cheap imported stuff.
Unemployed Americans ( mostly union people ) start to scream about how these cheap imports are driving american companies out of business, and a tariff needs to be slapped on everything imported.
The prices on imports rises, the poor can no longer afford anything but food, and damn little of that.
The resulting trade war ensures that the few American made products that are selling overseas are now priced too damn high.
The companies that have managed to stay alive by exporting their goods start to fail.
The companies that have to import parts / products for their own production lines find they can no longer manufacture at a profit. They begin to shut down.
more Americans are out of work.
When goods do not cross borders, armies do....
I don't depend on Christmas for my sales but for some of the people that do this could put them out of business.
I'd take that over another sweater, any day of the week.
Mrs WBill and I just exchanged a couple of little things to open. Christmas was for the kids, this year.
I got what I needed and got out.
Maybe they should run more of the commercials with the angry black man yelling at us.
Increasing sales is not the same as increasing revenues. Sears announced they are closing these stores, and the company is making money, which is far better than K-Mart and Sears was doing not all that long ago, but they problem is they are making far less money, in fact overall sales I believe were down over 5%.
I like Sears, and to a lesser extent K-Mart, however k-Mart is getting crushed by price by WalMart, and isn’t an upscale experience enough in product or service to compete with Target. Of Wal-Mart or K-Mart I still prefer K-Mart as I don’t feel like cattle being led to a slaughter and can don’t have to wait in line 20 people deep to check out when I go to K-Mart... good for the consumer, but not a good position for the retailer.
Sears has always been higher priced than your wal-mart/k-mart, you don’t go there if you want the best price on something.. However they are a solid store, and I don’t even bother looking anywhere else when I need an appliance for my home.. It’s either Sears or a dedicated appliance store.
K-Mart has been it seems on a slow death spiral for years, they really need to improve their service.. What they do have going for them are established locations in urban environments that Walmart will never be able to penetrate.. They won’t get retail space in the heart of places where K-Marts have been for 40 years, because there is no retail space left in those places.
Kmart’s are a crap shoot from a customer perspective. They can be clean and well run, to complete messes, and you never know which you are going to get until you walk in the door. Wal Mart is mediocre, but its consistently mediocre. Target is almost always a pleasant experience, wide isles, clean stores, enough checkers working etc.
It will be interesting to see what happens, propping up failing stores is a tough thing to do in this economy, perform or die. This will stink for some folks who love their store, but it just isn’t pulling weight, especially if its in a more rural environment.
Honestly, I miss the Sears Catalog... back when it came in the mail free, you got to basically wish list for weeks afterwards....
I.m not surprised> Sears was always DULL, drab and overpriced for it’s drab merchandise. Their appliance/tool rep was all they had. KMart was always livlier, but higher priced than WalMart. Now the two merging combined the worst of both. Everything is overpriced, the stores(locally anyway) are empty and few will miss them. Sears was ahead of the times with its catalog shopping,then when the internet shopping turn began to happen they get OUT of the mail-order business!Corporate stupidity!
When there are more employees in an establishment than customers and still no service the end is obvious. RiteAid is another chain headed the same way. Empty and overpriced. It must cost way more to operate daily than they make-hence the handful of employees.
Whatever happened to COMPETITION?? Good old price wars? We all know the profit margin could stand it . But noooo-close before competition.
They’ll get $3oo more than Wal Mart for a tv or close. Don’t blame their competition. They get the same bulk cost breaks and choose to overprice so people are willing to pass up a nearby KMart to save money.
Fix the pricing- fix the DEADLY DULL, zombified experience or go back into catalog/online sales.
They sell electronics, lots of TV’s, but the problem is price.. they aren’t really offering much you cant find elsewhere. So in tough economic times, do you go with SONY, or do you go with Off Brand at 60% of price?
A lot of folks are choosing off brands that may have at one time settled for nothing less than name brand, and Sears doesn’t really have much to offer there.
I think Sears will be around for a while yet, they are making money, though not as much, which is better than Kmart/Sears were doing not all that long ago. They’ll evolve and adapt, but I don’t think you are going to see them disappear just yet.
They sell electronics, lots of TV’s, but the problem is price.. they aren’t really offering much you cant find elsewhere. So in tough economic times, do you go with SONY, or do you go with Off Brand at 60% of price?
A lot of folks are choosing off brands that may have at one time settled for nothing less than name brand, and Sears doesn’t really have much to offer there.
I think Sears will be around for a while yet, they are making money, though not as much, which is better than Kmart/Sears were doing not all that long ago. They’ll evolve and adapt, but I don’t think you are going to see them disappear just yet.
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