Sears to linger onwards for the time being

[ultimatebob]

And EB Games. I bought the original X-Box from them on the day it was released.

Yes, I also kinda miss Electronics Boutique. It was already going downhill by the time they rebranded it to EB Games.

 

[Fritzo]

Yes, I also kinda miss Electronics Boutique. It was already going downhill by the time they rebranded it to EB Games.

Anyone remember Egghead? Or was that just a regional store?

 

[bfun_x1]

Come on... at least Sears and Radio Shack were decent in the 90's. Sbarro was NEVER good.

Auntie Anne's Pretzels on the other hand... yum.

I think you mean Cinnabon...yum.

 

[DietDrThunder]

Sears is the old Amazon. They should have internetized their catalog and they would be on top.
Apparently, internetized is a word, my browser spell check doesn't complain.

I agree. That catalog was right in front of them the whole time. I bought my first pistol out of the Sears catalog. An 1845 Colt Navy Revolver (no I'm not that old) kit which you assembled yourself. Sears was a cash cow at the time Amazon arrived and Sears could have easily bought all of Amazon.

I read in the local paper that Amazon was going to buy one of the Dallas Sears locations and turn it into an Amazon store. It will be stocked with items that are high movers from their fulfillment centers, and you can just go directly there and buy the stuff. No cashiers, you just pay with the Amazon app.

 

[Sonikku]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/mone...-esl-investments-sears-bankruptcy/2804797002/

Judge hands everything over to Lampert. Feels the media has been awful "mean" to him.
"During the course of this case, Mr. Lampert, in particular, has been subject to substantial verbal abuse," Drain said.

Lampert's lawyer had this to say “Today is obviously a very important day for Sears,” he said to Drain. “The fate of Sears is going to be in the court’s hands.”

Seems pretty disingenuous to pin the fate of Sears as being solely on the legal system while shirking Lampert's own responsibility in the fallout. Now it seems he's rewarded for running Sears into the ground instead of suffering for it like the investors.

 

[BoomerD]

Anyone remember Egghead? Or was that just a regional store?

Not regional AFAIK, I remember them. When NewEgg first came along, I thought it was a spin-off from EggHead.

As for Sears...fuck them. They were ok until the late 80s or so...then they started off-shoring just about everything, Craftsman hand tools were decent (not top of the line, but sufficient for homeowner use) until they started making them in China 10-15 or so years ago, and Kenmore appliances have been a crapshoot for years. (And depended on who the actual manufacturer was)
When they got bought by Kmart, the writing was on the wall...

Back in the day...Sears quality was about as good as you could get...then the beancounters ran it into the ground by opting for lower quality to try to compete with KMart and Walmart.

 

[lxskllr]

I was at mom's yesterday and saw a Montgomery Ward catalog in her basket. I thought "WTF?! I thought they died years ago??" They did die years ago. Apparently it's a company using their name for mail order service. Not affiliated with the old company. Good luck competing with Amazon and Walmart. Kind of happy to see the name though.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I oddly miss Sears and going through the catalogue as a kid and circling stuff. I'm sure most kids did this back then. heck there's lot of stuff I miss, like Jumbo Video. (Blockbuster only came to town later, so Jumbo is really the one that I remember more). But at the same time I have to be honest if they were still around I probably would not exactly be ordering from the Sears catalogue all that often nor renting movies, so as nostalgic as these things are, it's just a different world today sadly. A few years ago a local grocery store installed a video rental vending machine, I thought that was a rather neat concept. It was outside so I presume it would work even when they are closed. I told myself I'd have to try it. Of course I never did. It's gone now. Probably got vandalized too much.

What we really need though is a competitor to Amazon. Competition is a good thing. I guess there's Ebay. Amazon is basically similar except some items they handle the stocking/shipping for. Surprised Ebay has not setup something like that yet.

 

[paperfist]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/mone...-esl-investments-sears-bankruptcy/2804797002/

Judge hands everything over to Lampert. Feels the media has been awful "mean" to him.
"During the course of this case, Mr. Lampert, in particular, has been subject to substantial verbal abuse," Drain said.

Lampert's lawyer had this to say “Today is obviously a very important day for Sears,” he said to Drain. “The fate of Sears is going to be in the court’s hands.”

Seems pretty disingenuous to pin the fate of Sears as being solely on the legal system while shirking Lampert's own responsibility in the fallout. Now it seems he's rewarded for running Sears into the ground instead of suffering for it like the investors.

Well that went down the Drain. That judge obviously wasn’t bought off allowing the CEO’s hedge fund to buy the remaining assets instead of settling debt.

BTW what the heck is fast fashion?

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I oddly miss Sears and going through the catalogue as a kid and circling stuff. I'm sure most kids did this back then.

I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and that was a holiday ritual for my brother and I. We'd get the Wishbook, flip it to the back, and start circling and initially things we wanted.

At least some have been preserved: http://www.wishbookweb.com/the-catalogs/. I remember looking at the one from my birth year (1970) and thinking "Holy shit, things were primitive back then!"

 

[Sonikku]

Another update. Lampert is apparently trying to get out of paying severance to his employees as he had promised to the judge.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/29/business/sears-severance/index.html

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Another update. Lampert is apparently trying to get out of paying severance to his employees as he had promised to the judge.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/29/business/sears-severance/index.html

I honestly think there is a deeper problem at heart for businesses (at least from a B&M perspective).

There should be far more scrutiny on the actions of these CEOs - similar to the Toys R' Us downfall. I honestly think all of these stores CAN recover - they simply CHOOSE not to.

There is no reason that Target can live on and grow but Sears can't.

 

[Sonikku]

There's a damn good reason. Private Equity bleeding business dry and displacing countless workers for the sake of personal profit.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

There's a damn good reason. Private Equity bleeding business dry and displacing countless workers for the sake of personal profit.

Exactly - but that's what shareholders - including those private equity firms (and thus board of directors) should be fighting (and voting) against. It doesn't serve a good purpose for them to go bankrupt and liquidate, it doesn't help their invested equity. It only results in their stock price declining.

 

[ultimatebob]

There's a damn good reason. Private Equity bleeding business dry and displacing countless workers for the sake of personal profit.

I think that the only reason that Sears Holdings is still alive at this point is because those few remaining Sears and KMart locations are sitting on some valuable real estate. If they continue to slowly close the stores and sell them off, they'll make a decent return on their investment.

If they have to liquidate them all at once, you'll end up with a glut of retail space on the market and the prices will drop.

 

[manly]

Another update. Lampert is apparently trying to get out of paying severance to his employees as he had promised to the judge.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/29/business/sears-severance/index.html

Not following Sears much, but it seemed to me like liquidation would have made more sense than Lampert's "rescue" and reorganization. Sears operations have been dismal since at least the Great Recession and it seems like kicking the can down the road is pretty pointless. I don't begrudge remaining employees for continuing to have jobs, but like TRU or other failed bankrupcties, this one can't end well the way their business has deteriorated.

I used to snag cheap deals from Sears because they bribed online shoppers with points to come for in-store pickup. But one time last year before bankruptcy was the only time in a while.

I honestly think there is a deeper problem at heart for businesses (at least from a B&M perspective).

There should be far more scrutiny on the actions of these CEOs - similar to the Toys R' Us downfall. I honestly think all of these stores CAN recover - they simply CHOOSE not to.

There is no reason that Target can live on and grow but Sears can't.

You mean besides Sears having its lunch eaten by Amazon/e-commerce, having its once dominant appliance sales biz taken by Home Depot/Lowe's/etc., being run by a cheapskate hedge fun manager who drove the business into the ground, Sears should survive and thrive?

At this point, there's really no comparison you could make between Sears and any competently run retailer. Even the latter are not thriving, see good brands like Macy's that are trying very hard but were a little late to e-commerce and have witnessed consumers shifting to discount shopping in the past decade+.

 

[PlanetJosh]

Imagine being the owner, co owner or major shareholder of the financial institution lending money to Sears, all those workers' futures dangling on your next move.

I feel like I'm a color commentator or wannabe one in many threads. I don't really know much about the technical details of anything but somehow I provide or attempt provide some general story about the topic.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I honestly think there is a deeper problem at heart for businesses (at least from a B&M perspective).

There should be far more scrutiny on the actions of these CEOs - similar to the Toys R' Us downfall. I honestly think all of these stores CAN recover - they simply CHOOSE not to.

There is no reason that Target can live on and grow but Sears can't.

Agreed - Lampert ran Sears into the ground over the course of many years and it was all to his benefit. I don't think he ever seriously wanted it to thrive.

 

[rh71]

Small victory for B&M stores - most online have to charge tax regardless of location as of last year. Still getting away tax-free from some Amazon purchases though.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/s...ales-tax-in-wake-of-wayfair-ruling-2018-06-22

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Small victory for B&M stores - most online have to charge tax regardless of location as of last year. Still getting away tax-free from some Amazon purchases though.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/s...ales-tax-in-wake-of-wayfair-ruling-2018-06-22

Yes, Wayfair was a HUUUUUUUGE decision. Personally, I found it to be unreasonable for your etsys and smaller eCommerce sites.

Some states still have to pass their own individual legislation to dictate what their credentials are for if vendors are liable to collect or not. Most will likely copy-cat the South Dakota law that SCOTUS decided on which was 200 orders or $100,000 in sales. So if a eCommerce seller sells at least at least 200 widgets (regardless of sales dollars) they then have to have this magical ability to collect and remit sales tax for all of South Dakota AND all it's jurisdictions (City, County, Districts, Metros, Parish's, etc...)..

All I can say is good fucking luck....

 

[jpiniero]

There is no reason that Target can live on and grow but Sears can't.

Target really isn't growing. It's not really in decline either however, mainly flat.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Target really isn't growing. It's not really in decline either however, mainly flat.

I guess my point is that there are tons of start up companies that are filling the shoes of retail stores. Some might be smaller specialized stores, some might be outlet discount stores.

The point is (IMO) is that I don't think retail in and of itself are dead and can't compete with Amazon. I think there are plenty of examples showing that they can.

 

[rh71]

The ambience of the stores alone is a factor. Last time I stepped in a Sears it felt like I was still in the 90s and plenty of old people. I don't know how Kohl's does it but I get the same feeling there - guess that's where most of Sears shoppers have gone. Walmart is only slightly better but they also have some weird clientele (not just a meme). Lots of people dread the thought of having to step in a Walmart. Target on the other hand is just more clean and modern with bright lights and the bold red. I'm sure all of that drives a lot of traffic.

 

[kn51]

I was actually surprised (well sorta kinda) our Sears closed. Years ago the tools/hardware section was in the top of the nation. I know this because I knew the man who managed it.

But my god going into it felt like a funeral home when I went to pick up an online order.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yes, Wayfair was a HUUUUUUUGE decision. Personally, I found it to be unreasonable for your etsys and smaller eCommerce sites.

Some states still have to pass their own individual legislation to dictate what their credentials are for if vendors are liable to collect or not. Most will likely copy-cat the South Dakota law that SCOTUS decided on which was 200 orders or $100,000 in sales. So if a eCommerce seller sells at least at least 200 widgets (regardless of sales dollars) they then have to have this magical ability to collect and remit sales tax for all of South Dakota AND all it's jurisdictions (City, County, Districts, Metros, Parish's, etc...)..

All I can say is good fucking luck....

Wow that sounds like it would be a pain in the ass. It should just be that you need to collect for your own state/province. Does not matter who buys, you just charge the tax. Not sure how status cards would work though.