Sears might be going belly up

[belfastboy]

Never a huge Sears fan here in Canada but I do have a twinge of nostalgia. My mechanic's tools and all my power tools purchased in 1969 or so were Craftsman. I still have them all, they still work great. As a fledgling mechanic I bought Craftsmen as I could not afford Snap-On like a "real" mechanic but they served me well and now after all these years kind of like an old friend.

 

[Fading Fast]

Sears to close more than 100 stores, including Kmart locations, in March and April

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/s...n-march-and-april-2018-01-04?siteid=bulletrss

This is like watching a wounded animal without hope twitch in agony - can't someone put a mercy bullet in its head.

 

[3fingers]

Sears to close more than 100 stores, including Kmart locations, in March and April

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/s...n-march-and-april-2018-01-04?siteid=bulletrss

This is like watching a wounded animal without hope twitch in agony - can't someone put a mercy bullet in its head.

I don't know how many stores can be left. There are none here close by. They all closed over the past few years.

 

[Bushman]

My local Sears store in the mall is among the 100 beong closed, which makes sense. I've only ever used the locale for a parking spot because nobody ever shops there. You were guaranteed to pretty much always get a spot near the doors. Honestly, malls in general are dying. My local mall was half dead this Christmas season. Nobody shops at malls anymore, and my local mall doesn't even have anything interesting to make it worth going to besides the Lego store. I am curious what the mall will fill the Sears retail space with, if they even try to. It's a huge bit of space.

 

[Paisley]

I used to work at Sears Warehouse. Last year I tried to buy a washer at Sears, but they sent a dryer. I had to go all the way back to the store to change the order, and it took so long to change it (we had to wait for the manager) that I canceled it. The computer system and receipt looked the same as they did 20 years ago when wi worked there, and the store looked like it was from the 80s. Now my Craftsman garage door remote seems to have shorted out after only two years spent mostly in a drawer.

 

[Fading Fast]

I don't know how many stores can be left. There are none here close by. They all closed over the past few years.

The two Sears stores in NYC that were near me closed several years ago. I guess it takes a long time for a giant to die a slow death.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Bangor, Maine Sears is on the list, which is one of three remaining anchor stores in that mall after Macy's closed.

 

[Fading Fast]

How 'bout this line from Lands' End:

"It's our expectation that our Sears business at a point in time will go away...​

Even the far-from-robust Lands' End can see the handwriting on the wall.

The full article: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/l...artnering-with-the-weather-channel-2018-01-09

 

[LizzieMaine]

That mall in Bangor has been dying a slow, writhing death for the past ten years or more. That they can no longer even support a "Build A Bear" shop speaks volumes.

 

[3fingers]

That mall in Bangor has been dying a slow, writhing death for the past ten years or more. That they can no longer even support a "Build A Bear" shop speaks volumes.

Our closest mall closed a year or so ago after slowly bleeding to death. There are still 2 stores that were anchors hanging on by a thread but it won't be long for them either.
I'm not particularly sad at this development since they suffered the same fate as they imposed years ago on all of the stores in the once beautiful downtown shopping area.

 

[EngProf]

Around here, the upscale and larger-size malls are doing booming business - lines of cars are a mile long just to get into the parking lots. (Personally, I wouldn't sit in a line that long if they were giving the stuff away.)
The smaller/cheaper malls have already died and been demolished or re-purposed.

As for Sears, about a year ago I went in and asked to buy an item and the clerk said they didn't have it in stock but he could show it to me on the computer screen. He did that, and I asked if they could have it sent in and I'd pick it up at a future date.
He said, No, he could only show it to me.
He added the comment that people came in all the time looking for stuff and he couldn't sell it to them, even though they (Sears) *theoretically* carried that item.
I just walked out...

 

[Fading Fast]

Finance people can take care of themselves, so I'm guessing there are some serious covenants (seniority, clear collateral or some other default-style protection) built into these fresh loans to Sears; otherwise, WTF - it is like buying a ticket on the Titanic.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/s...rowing-terms-but-sales-remain-soft-2018-01-10

Around here, the upscale and larger-size malls are doing booming business - lines of cars are a mile long just to get into the parking lots. (Personally, I wouldn't sit in a line that long if they were giving the stuff away.)
The smaller/cheaper malls have already died and been demolished or re-purposed.

As for Sears, about a year ago I went in and asked to buy an item and the clerk said they didn't have it in stock but he could show it to me on the computer screen. He did that, and I asked if they could have it sent in and I'd pick it up at a future date.
He said, No, he could only show it to me.
He added the comment that people came in all the time looking for stuff and he couldn't sell it to them, even though they (Sears) *theoretically* carried that item.
I just walked out...

How insane is that ⇧? That is exactly what you'd expect from a company circling the drain.

 

[sheeplady]

It is the same here. The upscale mall (and hour away) was absolutely packed around Christmas. They have a Clarks shore store there, and after buying a pair of shoes I went and looked at some casual button-downs for my husband in a nearby store. They were quite nice, but on sale for $78, which gave me sticker shock. Had they been made in the US I would have bought two or maybe even 3 (but as you can guess they weren't).

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^
Symptoms of our widening income disparities, by the looks of it.

Housing costs here have me wondering how working class people have enough left over at the end of the month to buy a house-brand button-down shirt at Target, where they can be had for something in the neighborhood of 20 bucks, if you shop the sales. Less than that, even.

 

[3fingers]

Finance people can take care of themselves, so I'm guessing there are some serious covenants (seniority, clear collateral or some other default-style protection) built into these fresh loans to Sears; otherwise, WTF - it is like buying a ticket on the Titanic.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/s...rowing-terms-but-sales-remain-soft-2018-01-10



How insane is that ⇧? That is exactly what you'd expect from a company circling the drain.

The town I work in lost its real Sears store many years ago, I suppose in the first round of "cost reduction plans". Since then we have had numerous versions of "Sears Dealer Stores", all of whom achieved bankruptcy in varying but short lengths of time. I am not a business mogul of any sort, but that was a loser from the start. In any case, the last iteration of this concept was located inside of our local Kmart store. It came as a shock to the Kmart folks when one day nobody showed up to open the Sears store. Apparently the owner simply loaded up and disappeared with no notice to Sears or Kmart. I would assume that most of the merchandise was floor planned from Sears and he saw the writing on the wall and cut his losses. Shortly afterwards the Super Kmart also closed. It had been built only a few years prior.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Sort of related: http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/11/news/companies/sams-club-store-closing/index.html

I've never shopped at a Sam's Club, or Costco...

 

[1mach1]

Toys R Us is no longer. All of their stores will close within 60 days.

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[Bruce Wayne]

Toys R Us is no longer. All of their stores will close within 60 days.

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I guess that it's time to grow up.

 

[1mach1]

I guess that it's time to grow up.

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[Frunobulax]

Toys R Us is no longer. All of their stores will close within 60 days.

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Who gets custody of the giraffe?


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