Sears might be going belly up

[David Conwill]

A little bit premature on the condemnation of JCPenny (IMO). The store I go to here still has decent stuff and decent service.

True. The American Living collection has had some excellent stuff.

-Dave

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Looks like a leaning tower from that picture.

I like that -- The Leaning Tower of Homan Avenue lol

 

[sheeplady]

A little bit premature on the condemnation of JCPenny (IMO). The store I go to here still has decent stuff and decent service.

In the end, they all get *most* of their stuff from the same places. Sometimes they put new names on the packages, sometimes it is the exact same product with a different price (sometimes it isn't). There are a few exceptions where you can find higher quality items in certain stores, or exclusive brands which are better quality. I think the fact that many stores no longer source their own products, and have control over the quality, is a huge contributor. If I can buy a similar product from Macy's or Pennies, I'm going to Pennies because it's going to be half the price.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I am hoping they stay around long enough for me to buy my appliances there when I get my own place.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/27/us-sears-sales-idUSTRE7BQ0AV20111227

 

[Widebrim]

I tell you one thing, my local Sears was packed the day after Thanksgiving, but it will never get near that much business until next Black Friday.

 

[Sharpsburg]

Our Sears here in MD is just fine, but we do have probably the dirtiest, dingiest tired old Kmart in America. That store deserves to be closed! I hope Kmart does not drag the venerable old Sears with it!

Mary

 

[jamespowers]

I tell you one thing, my local Sears was packed the day after Thanksgiving, but it will never get near that much business until next Black Friday.

I suppose your store there isn't one of the stores slated to be closed then.

 

[Widebrim]

I suppose your store there isn't one of the stores slated to be closed then.

I hope not. The Hollywood store, where my father worked in automotive from about 1958-1985, bit the dust a couple of years ago (although the main store building is still extant).

 

[Bruce Wayne]

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2011/12/29/here-are-the-sears-stores-that-are-closing/

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2011/12/29/here-are-the-sears-stores-that-are-closing/tab/interactive/

 

[jamespowers]

I hope not. The Hollywood store, where my father worked in automotive from about 1958-1985, bit the dust a couple of years ago (although the main store building is still extant).

58-85?! Wow! He had quite a long run there.

I think the Hollywood store just might survive due to the location.

 

[Kirk H.]

This was just in the news today:

HIGH POINT — Sears Holdings is closing four of its North Carolina stores.

Thursday, the company released a partial list that includes 79 of about 120 planned closings. According to the company website, a typical sears store employs anywhere from 40-80 people, which means even at a minimum more than 100 people will likely be out of a job in North Carolina.

The company plans to close 120 stores nationwide. Company leaders said the closures are an effort to get out of the red. Customers however, are unhappy with the news.

“I'm very upset about this because we come here all of the time to buy appliances, anything. We love Sears and this is just heartbreaking,” said shopper Evelyn Atkinson.


Some of the closures in North Carolina include:

• High Point
• Morehead City
• Statesville
• Rocky Mount

 

[Widebrim]

58-85?! Wow! He had quite a long run there.

I think the Hollywood store just might survive due to the location.

Yes, he did, and before that he worked briefly for Packard. He retired at 65, then got permission from the West Coast Division head to work there part-time. He had some interesting stories to tell, that's for sure, ranging from meeting celebrities like Dan Blocker, Wayne Rogers, and "John Kay" of Steppenwolf, to witnessing naked women walking down Santa Monica Blvd., and machete-wielding men running through automotive in search of who knows whom...The Hollywood store is closed, but the Glendale store (in my hometown, and where I worked in automotive) will remain open.

 

[jamespowers]

Yes, he did, and before that he worked briefly for Packard. He retired at 65, then got permission from the West Coast Division head to work there part-time. He had some interesting stories to tell, that's for sure, ranging from meeting celebrities like Dan Blocker, Wayne Rogers, and "John Kay" of Steppenwolf, to witnessing naked women walking down Santa Monica Blvd., and machete-wielding men running through automotive in search of who knows whom...The Hollywood store is closed, but the Glendale store (in my hometown, and where I worked in automotive) will remain open.

Naked women eh? You didn't say the job had so many perks. lol

 

[Bugguy]

I have to go back to your picture of the Homan Ave. store... I had completely forgotten that. My parents would shop there all the time. I remember running across the parking lot in the dark and in the rain. The other big store was in Portage Park (Cicero and Irving Pk.) - at six-corners. It was the first Sears to have air-conditioning! It's reincarnated, but still there.

The other big, free summer attraction was Olson Rug's park and waterfall - 2800 N. Pulaski.

 

[Espee]

My father retired in 1980 (a three-years early, take-it-now-or-you-might-be-cut-in-the-next-round situation.) From the Boyle Heights office of the "Traffic Dept." the ones who get the merchandise from manufacturer to warehouse and stores.
We shopped almost weekly at Buena Park, which I've read was their top-sales store in the country for years. It was new and centrally located to a lot of growing suburbs. But now, if that center is crowded, you can still find a parking place at the Sears end. Even if it's Saturday and the "farmer's market" is set up on part of that lot. Even if there are plenty of school buses parked after dropping their kids at Knott's Berry Farm.
What bugs me is when you just KNOW the table of stuff you're looking at MUST be on some sort of sale, but they didn't get around to putting up the sign. The shirts can't really be selling for the $42 on the tag, but there's no evidence to the contrary. And there's no one to ask, and no scanners on posts, and if you take it to the register, do you cut in front of the line or wait in it?
Once I asked about two almost identical under-the-sink water purifiers, one with a higher price but no packaging or explanatory signage about what features made the one more expensive. The kid working there didn't come anywhere close to a sensible answer, and I excused him to go help someone else. When he returned, he said, "So did you want to buy one, or did you just have questions?"

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I know the Buena Park Sears very well. Now there's also a Walmart at the other end of Buena Park Mall*.

*I think it's now called Downtown Buena Park but to me it's still Buena Park Mall

 

[Espee]

Before that it was Buena Park Center!
We often stopped at the candy/popcorn counter on the ground floor of Sears. For "pokies" (the generic version of M&Ms) or "chocolate stars" (similar to Hershey kisses) or popcorn in a box with printed characters such as "Alley Gator."
I'm pretty sure there was only one time we patronized the downstairs lunch counter. For a delicious chocolate ice cream shake, on a hot summer day, when my mom was really mad about some stuff going on, and down in the back too.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

And years ago there was also a Woolworths there on both levels.

 

[Espee]

I don't really remember the Woolworth era extending into the two-level mall era... Hmmm maybe I picture stairs inside Woolworth's?
But my grandmother liked for us to eat lunch at the Woolworth cafeteria. All those colors of Jello, and the dome-lid over the hot entree you took away on your tray.
She believed Shopping Day should include lunch, but after my mom had to become her "chauffer" there usually wasn't time for that.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Yeah, lunch at the cafeteria was the high point of the shopping. Almost all of the malls had one. There was Harvest House at South Coast Plaza and up until several years ago there was a Clifton's at the Lakewood Mall. I used to always have custard for desert -- that's what I'll always associate with those wonderful cafeterias.