Sears bankruptcy

[Bonnewagon]

We all knew it was coming and here it is. What we did not know was why. Well, now the truth comes out. It seems the new owners that combined Sears with K-mart also loaded it up with billions in crushing debt which it could no longer service. So don't blame the Sears brand or it's unfortunate employees. This is just another case of Corporate greed and managerial malfeasance that results in the death of another icon of American Retail. So sad that the company that invented mail order and flourished for a hundred years was destroyed from within by idiot management that refused to change with the times. Sears should have been at the top of the heap in this internet mail order age. As I look around I see a washing machine, dryer, microwave, refrigerator, sewing machine, hot water tank, compressor, and most of my tools all purchased from Sears. Just sad.

 

[MrSony]

Damn shame. That's all that can be said.

 

[pontiacgp]

It is sad what they did, the management managed to systematically destroy a brand name.

 

[81cutlass]

From what I understood lots of Sears stores in malls had low cost long term leases on high value property. Sears had say $1/sq ft lease for a huge stores with 10k square feet. 10 small stores that sold purses, overpriced camping supplies, shoes, electronics, and cinnebuns could each take 1k square feet and be charged $2/sq ft rental fees. The group that bought sears wanted the long term lease agreements to parcel out to a dozen small shops.

They make more money leasing property than selling goods.

If sears wanted to pivot they could have, but people would rather buy grills, mowers, drills and washing machines where they buy lumber, tile, and screws.

People would rather buy shirts and shoes where they buy laundry detergent and toilet paper

People would rather get their tires changed at a tire place that lets you cross reference prices and brands online.

Sears COULD have been kept afloat but the amount of work it would take to do that wasn't worth the amount of fast easy cash they could to kill the chain and lease the space out to other people.

Last sears I went into I had to dig through 30 racks of jeans to find 2 pair in the size i wanted. While I was walking around I saw someone go in to the dressing room with a pair of shoes and pants, he walked out 2 minutes later. Went in the changing room and saw a pair of dirty socks, shoes, and pants on the floor. Sears refused to hire enough people to properly police theft, maintain inventory organization or anything.

The company deserves to die when its run like that but it's sad that the people that killed it made money and the people that ran the tills and ran the company lose their jobs. I guess it's good news it happened now when the unemployment rate is low.

 

[joesregalproject]

The owners refused to keep up with the times. They had to have seen internet shopping coming from a mile away, but they chose to ignore it, and it cost them in the end. Meanwhile instead of improving their brick and mortar stores (which is still a viable way to make money) to better compete with other companies that do the vast majority of their business through brick and mortar stores (i.e. Target and Walmart), they completely ignored consumers and continued to do things their way, while letting things fall into disrepair and mismanagement. I mean really, why would anyone go shop at Sears or Kmart when they could go to Target or Walmart, or in the case of tools and hardware, Lowes or Home Depot?

 

[yourownself]

I worked at sears for a few years. Towards the end it was truly only because of lack of opportunity to work elsewhere. As soon as I could get out, I did. I started at the auto center doing batteries and tires at a really busy store. I transferred to one that was significantly less busy, but still had an auto center. That transition involved moving 6 time zones away, from Hawaii to Massachusetts. The HR manager in Hawaii didn’t believe in email, and left at noon every day. It was absolutely infuriating. It took a full 6 week to get any of my paperwork from the old store to the new one. Whatever. No big deal. I took a pay cut too, because minimum wage was higher in Hawaii. Whatever. No big deal. I got a promotion that made up for it. I wound up getting promoted to supervisor, and then transferred to a different store that didn’t have an auto center. Whatever. No big deal, I’ll just go sell tv’s. I’m good at that kinda stuff, but when they promise me a spot as an assistant store manager at yet another store, within 2.5 years, and then pull the offer without so much as a phone call, you’re bound to leave a bad taste in my mouth. They cut my hours from 60-70 down to 10. I had a brand new family to support, and it wasn’t going to happen on 10 hours a week, with a tiny base pay. They begged me to work Black Friday, and promised that I would make $2k. I asked them to put it on paper and they couldn’t. I said thanks but no thanks and walked. That company went under because they deserved to go under. It’s sad, but it’s just another example of late stage capitalism. As far as the consumer is concerned, does anyone remember a little less than a decade ago, Sears ended their Craftsman hand tool replacement program. You could no longer walk into sears with a broken wrench and leave with a new wrench. Instead, you’d bring them a broken wrench, and have to buy a new one, and they’d hand you a slip for a mail in rebate for the exact cost of the wrench. I want to say they scrapped this one soon after they rolled it out, as they must have realized that nobody is going to buy a tool from a brand that behaves that way.


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[melloelky]

holy cow! Hawaii to Massachusetts? talk about a culture shock.

 

[yourownself]

holy cow! Hawaii to Massachusetts? talk about a culture shock.

I’m from Mass. I just moved out there for the hell of it after I got out of the Navy. Next time, I’ll just go for a visit. That place is beautiful, but man are they mean to foreigners.


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[DRIVEN]

Won't
Be
Missed

 

[CaliWagon83]

I put it on Eddie Lampert’s colossal mismanagement, and the aforementioned over-leveraging. If management would have been a little more forward-thinking and strategic, they could have turned this around, but too little, too late. 🙁