Sears Holdings files for Ch 11 closing 142 more stores before years end

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compuwiz1

Admin Emeritus Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
27,113
925
126
The malls of the future are going to be exclusively, at your finger tips. We have entered an era of impersonal service. Nobody knows your name anymore, like when I was a kid. The local hardware store, Safeway and Rexall drug store, all knew our families and addressed us by name, when we visited. We went to the local Schwinn shop to get our bikes and the owner took care of our upkeep. Now we buy those cheap things from China.
Sad, but pretty soon, we'll lose JC Penny, Macys and everything else. The only things left standing will be food joints, because online isn't quite "Red Lobster, or Outback" yet. That will be coming too.

We live in world where people don't interact with each other, in real flesh time, but digitally, online. People are not genuinely socialized anymore.
 

sportage

Lifer
Feb 1, 2008
11,493
3,159
136
The very last K-mart is closing in my major city as well.
The LAST.
I never shop at K-mart, so for me its unimportant.
Yet, less completion is never good for the consumer.
 

Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
14,449
9,834
136
Well, you'd have to be an idiot to own Sears stock while its CEO is openly liquidating its remaining assets into his own private equity firm.
I can't believe how blatantly he has pillaged Sears with no consequence. I am shocked it took this long for them to drop below $1.
 

Vic

Elite Member
Jun 12, 2001
50,415
14,303
136
I can't believe how blatantly he has pillaged Sears with no consequence. I am shocked it took this long for them to drop below $1.
The SEC only cares when you don't vote Trump.
 

Bitek

Lifer
Aug 2, 2001
10,647
5,220
136
The very last K-mart is closing in my major city as well.
The LAST.
I never shop at K-mart, so for me its unimportant.
Yet, less completion is never good for the consumer.

I've been hoping they close the one by me so a better store like Target will move in.

K Mart is close but I've only ever went in once and regretted it.
 

Puffnstuff

Lifer
Mar 9, 2005
16,015
4,785
136
Sears filed for BK just after midnight and has now added an additional 142 stores to its close list by the end of the year. This is on top of the 46 stores it had already planned to close next month. I'm hoping that they'll have a grand going out of business sale so I can snag more levi's and things I really need.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/15/business/sears-bankruptcy/index.html

According to this article their SEC filing states that substantial doubt exists that they will be able to continue.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sears-files-for-bankruptcy/
 
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K1052

Elite Member
Aug 21, 2003
45,884
32,666
136
Curious to see the closing list. They've already been selling off the better real estate so I wonder what's left.
 

1prophet

Diamond Member
Aug 17, 2005
5,313
534
126
Go capulism, amirite?
Profit only matters vulture capitalism.

https://www.businessinsider.com/sea...sing-edward-lampert-bankruptcy-chances-2017-1

Inside Sears' death spiral: How an iconic American brand has been driven to the edge of bankruptcy

One morning in late 2015, on Sears' vast Illinois campus, more than a dozen employees huddled in a videoconference room on a floor dubbed "B6."

There, two mid-level employees were preparing a presentation for the CEO, Eddie Lampert, when their boss rushed in with some last-minute advice.

On a chart pad he wrote three words.

"He looks at the presenters and says, 'Do not say these words to that guy,'" according to a former Sears executive who described the meeting to Business Insider. "That guy" meant Lampert, who would soon appear on a giant projector screen at the front of the room, beamed in live from a home office inside a $38 million Florida estate — 1,400 miles away from headquarters.

The pad with the three words was out of sight of Lampert's video feed. One of the words on it was "consumer."

The stakes were high. If any of those words were uttered in front of Lampert, the two presenters would "get shredded" by the CEO, whose frequent tirades had fostered a climate of fear among the company's most senior managers, said another person — this one a former vice president.

These two and other executives say "consumer" can trigger Lampert. He wants employees to instead refer to shoppers as "members," which is his term for customers who are enrolled in Sears' Shop Your Way rewards program.

It was at that moment, as the executive attending the meeting watched fellow employees anxiously censor themselves in front of Lampert, that he realized he needed to flee the sinking 123-year-old company.

With a CEO like Lampert who needs competition, since he did a fine job driving sears into the ground because of his ignorance, arrogance, and greed who believed you can run a consumer based retail establishment through a gated community teleconference model and by changing the meanings and definition of words, the equivalent of political correctness in the corporate world.
 

brycejones

Lifer
Oct 18, 2005
25,987
23,783
136
Lampert should write a text book for how to loot a company, since that is what he has been doing systematically since 2004. With this move he'll pull out the last dregs of value and everyone else involved will get fucked.
 
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Commodus

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 2004
9,206
6,799
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With a CEO like Lampert who needs competition, since he did a fine job driving sears into the ground because of his ignorance, arrogance, and greed who believed you can run a consumer based retail establishment through a gated community teleconference model and by changing the meanings and definition of words, the equivalent of political correctness in the corporate world.

While I generally agree with the premise, I wouldn't call it political correctness. That's an attempt to be considerate to other people; this is an attempt to avoid the basic terminology of the business.
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
83,716
47,398
136
I remember reading about how he would make his divisions ‘compete’ with their ad budgets for placement in Sears advertisements because he thought Ayn Randian competition would make the company better. Instead it ended up with the company putting out ads that featured power tools and maternity wear right next to each other.
 

ch33zw1z

Lifer
Nov 4, 2004
37,733
18,003
146
I remember reading about how he would make his divisions ‘compete’ with their ad budgets for placement in Sears advertisements because he thought Ayn Randian competition would make the company better. Instead it ended up with the company putting out ads that featured power tools and maternity wear right next to each other.

Lol, never give a pregnant lady access to power tools.
 

Genx87

Lifer
Apr 8, 2002
41,095
513
126
Sears was a case study on not having a clear business plan and failing because of it in my capstone class right before graduating with a BS in MIS. This was back in 2001. It is amazing they have literally survived about 30 years due to their immense portfolio of assets. Fascinating case study. Sears didnt know if they wanted to be a low cost or premium brand. Stuck between Walmart on the bottom, and Target\Macys on the high end. Back then online retail was small and just getting started. I think the Amazon effect in the past 5-8 years is what finally did them in and accelerated it near the end.
 

Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
14,449
9,834
136
While I generally agree with the premise, I wouldn't call it political correctness. That's an attempt to be considerate to other people; this is an attempt to avoid the basic terminology of the business.
The whole member bullshit is one of the reasons I completely stopped going there. They hassled you so much to join it was annoying, and when they did it to everyone in line it made the lines take forever. That and the fact Craftsman went from an affordable good brand of tools to an expensive piece of crap brand of tools.
 

Thump553

Lifer
Jun 2, 2000
12,649
2,384
126
I guess we will all outlive the lifetime warranty on our Craftsman tools. Too bad, their stuff was very good quality back when they made it in the USA.

I'm surprised the bankruptcy court and creditors are allowing them to do this looting. Chapter 11 is specifically for reorganization-to keep the company operating. The chances of Sears doing this have got to be pretty much nil.