Kind of feel badly for Sears

[kranky]

Sears gave me my first credit card when I had no credit record at all. They guaranteed their hand tools for life. Biggest selection of any store around. Friendly staff. Super accommodating on returns - if a shirt wore out before you thought it should, they'd exchange it.

When I applied for my first mortgage, the lender found a 60-day late Sears payment on my record from 8 years earlier that they required an explanation for. I probably screwed up in my early 20's and threw out the bill a couple times thinking it was junk mail. Contacted Sears credit, explained my problem, the CSR said they would just remove it from my credit report so my mortgage could proceed.

I guess nobody stays on top forever. Revenue is dropping, they keep closing more stores (and Kmart stores) and they had crappy holiday sales numbers. They still carry a lot of stuff but when I need to get something at a B&M they never come to mind as a place to shop. I'm probably in a Kmart 20x more than a Sears over the last few years even though Kmart is not in the big mall.

 

[zinfamous]

wow, you know of a nearby KMart?

 

[Printer Bandit]

Amazon did them in.

 

[Genx87]

Sears gave me my first credit card when I had no credit record at all. They guaranteed their hand tools for life. Biggest selection of any store around. Friendly staff. Super accommodating on returns - if a shirt wore out before you thought it should, they'd exchange it.

When I applied for my first mortgage, the lender found a 60-day late Sears payment on my record from 8 years earlier that they required an explanation for. I probably screwed up in my early 20's and threw out the bill a couple times thinking it was junk mail. Contacted Sears credit, explained my problem, the CSR said they would just remove it from my credit report so my mortgage could proceed.

I guess nobody stays on top forever. Revenue is dropping, they keep closing more stores (and Kmart stores) and they had crappy holiday sales numbers. They still carry a lot of stuff but when I need to get something at a B&M they never come to mind as a place to shop. I'm probably in a Kmart 20x more than a Sears over the last few years even though Kmart is not in the big mall.

I am impressed they have managed to last this long. In my last class we studied cases of poor management. Sears was one of them. Stuck between the lost cost retailers and higher end retailer. They could never find their niche. This class was taken in June of 2001. 15 years later they are still dying.

 

[shortylickens]

They did themselves in. Prices went up. Quality went down. Laid off employees.
And this was when Amazon was just selling books.

 

[kranky]

wow, you know of a nearby KMart?

Actually, two of them within a 10 minute drive.

 

[BoomerD]

Amazon did them in.

No, K-Mart did them in when K-Mart bought Sears a few years back...Their business model changed, quality of product (store brands) diminished, quality of service went into the toilet.
Since "distancing themselves" (somewhat) from K-Mart, things have gotten slightly better, but they're a far cry from the "Sears & Roebuck" of yesteryear.

Also, the rampant fraud in their auto service centers over the years hurt that side of the business...it's not bad enough that their auto center prices were often higher than similar businesses, but selling pushing un-needed services cost them a lot with the public.

 

[PokerGuy]

Sears was once a powerhouse, but I never got the sense that they really knew what they wanted to be. Low cost? Top service? Specialty? Wide selection? , you got the sense they were trying to do a little of everything.... and now with competition on all fronts, online (Amazon) and offline, I don't see how they can survive much longer.

 

[soulcougher73]

Think all the KMarts are gone here finally and i believe the last Sears is closing down shortly. They are the only store left in an old mall that will be torn down.

 

[waffleironhead]

We have a sears hometown store which is pretty nice.

 

[Ken g6]

Sears did themselves in by canceling their catalog in 1993, instead of putting it on the Internet.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2383089&highlight=sears

 

[gorcorps]

They did themselves in. Prices went up. Quality went down. Laid off employees.
And this was when Amazon was just selling books.

Agreed. The local Sears turned into a dump long before Amazon was around. The only thing I ever think of them for now is appliances and some tools, but even then they're not the first I'd check.

 

[SearchMaster]

I have a soft spot for Sears as well (and I'm in the same age bracket as OP).

As a kid in the 70s, our local Sears had a collectible card section where I could buy and sell my baseball and football cards - we had no other such places locally. Also we got our first two video game systems there...a Sears branding of Pong and the Sears Video Arcade (Atari 2600 rebrand). My mom used to buy most of pants at Sears - ToughSkins were cheap and were the only clothes we could afford that would last until I outgrew them.

It's also where I bought all my tools as a young 20-something, most of which I still have.

 

[NuclearNed]

I sold home electronics at Sears during my college years in the mid 90's. The other salespeople & I could sell mid-level electronics like there was no tomorrow, but our management kept making us push the uber low end crap, I guess to try to compete with Wal-mart. In hindsight, that was probably not the best corporate sales strategy.

 

[Craig234]

I don't know how much an effect it had, but I recall a story of an arrogant Wall Street guy becoming CEO of Sears and deciding he'd show them how to run the company, and implanting policies like creating fierce competitions between heads of departments - which led to things like a lack of cooperation and sabotaging each other and greatly hurt the company.

 

[FeuerFrei]

Quote from a 2011 WSJ article

While store chains typically spend $6 to $8 per square foot on annual maintenance according to retail experts, Sears is spending a fraction of that amount—about $1.90, according to investor research firm International Strategy & Investment Group.

We have a Big K Kmart that's closing. Might actually be closed now. Only been inside once, in the last 10 years. It's like stepping back in time

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I walked into a Sears the other week. It felt like I was walking into 1994.

 

[NoTine42]

Sears did themselves in by canceling their catalog in 1993, instead of putting it on the Internet.

The decline started before then. Sears built the Sears tower in 1970 because their growth plans needed that much space, but the Walmart, Kmart's, etc

It certainly didn't help to drop the catalog right before the Internet revived "catalog" shopping.

 

[NoTine42]

It was kind of nice ... I had my grandpa's 50+ year old Craftsman 1/2" drive ratchet that wore out. Last week, I brought it into the local Sears and they gave me a free replacement (I think some associates can fix them on the spot, but I got a newbie)

 

[Leyawiin]

I never liked Sears. Stores have seemed grubby and poorly stocked for decades. There was a time when they made a big push to catch up and their clothing section was in pretty good order and fairly current style-wise, but it only lasted a few years. If I was going the lower rung department store route I'd usually shop JC Penney.

 

[wabbitslayer]

I asked my wife one time to go to Cox Brothers and get me a Seersucker suit. She heard me wrong, went to Sears and bought me a Cox sucker suit.

 

[Linflas]

The decline started before then. Sears built the Sears tower in 1970 because their growth plans needed that much space, but the Walmart, Kmart's, etc

It certainly didn't help to drop the catalog right before the Internet revived "catalog" shopping.

This is how I remember it as well. In our area there were 5 mainstream department store chains, Sears, Montgomery Wards, Hechts, Pennys, and Woodward & Lothrops. All but Sears bit the dust long ago but somehow Sears has remained on life support. I'm not really sure what they did wrong as given that Macys and Pennys are still around I assume the department store business is not completely obsolete yet. There were few things I looked forward to as much as the Sears Christmas catalog as a kid.

 

[vi edit]

Seemed like anything appliance/hardware'y was taken over by Home Depot/Lowes.
Electronic stuff got bested by Best Buy/Intrawebs.

Clothing went too Kohls/Penny/whatever flavor of the month trendy store was.

And in general, traditional malls of the 70's/80's sort of took a back seat to boutique style shopping centers where anchor stores like Sears used to be prominent.

 

[Humpy]

Good riddance and the sooner the better.

I wish these dead companies wouldn't drag out the inevitable, exploiting customers with yesteryear's reputation. Just go away and take your crappy buildings full of cheap shit that doesn't work and your filthy parking lots with you.