Sears Could Be Gone If Slump Lasts Through Christmas

[jim1987]

I was just in a Sears store a couple of weeks ago. An elderly gentleman (WWII/Korea war generation) brought in his (at least) 40 year old -v- 1/2" ratchet. He said it was slipping. Exchanged it for a Chinese made 1/2" ratchet. He was so happy. He said something to the young salesguy like "if you want a dependable tool always go Craftsman. I didn't say anything, I'm positive he had no idea what he just exchanged his -v- ratchet for.

Way to say thanks.

 

[Askme42]

If cman USA went china, what makes you think Armstrong that's more expensive would make it?

Government contracts. At least for the time being.

 

[Askme42]

Saw this box today at a sears outlet.

For over $700!!!!! Clearance damaged and all. I'm not even going to compare it to HF. It's virtually the exact same box as the menards boxes. Grip latch and all but you can get top and bottom for the same price as this damaged one.

 

[jim1987]

Government contracts. At least for the time being.

Those are already filled. What does selling Armstrong on the shelves have to do with that?

 

[Binrat]

was in Sears just 3 days ago getting my Diehard replaced. Love that warranty. took a stroll through the store while they charged and tested it. very 80's looking, tired sad inside. plenty of people shopping. the tool section guys looked bored, assembling shelves. The electronics guys were even more bored. It's sad, they have a few decent things, they just can not compete with the best buys and more updated stores.

maybe they should change to Sears Auto and Lawn? Sell batteries, tires, lawn equipment and craftsman tools. In a smaller footprint standalone store.

 

[Askme42]

Those are already filled. What does selling Armstrong on the shelves have to do with that?

You asked why armstrong wouldn't go overseas. They can't go overseas as long as they are makin tools for the US government.


Better yet apex already has a ton of overseas tools. Gotta figure they'd keep one line USA made. There is a marked even if its not huge.

 

[jakemac]

Now what will happen to Craftsman?

Sears has already prepared for the future of the Craftsman label by spinning it off as a separate division and making distribution deals with Kmart and Ace Hardware.

If Sears closes it's doors, they'll make other deals with other retailers to get Craftsman products in stores. Most people are unaware, or care, about the decline in quality. They just recognize the brand name. Any large retailer (Walmart for example) would kill to get that kind of name recognition on their shelves.

 

[Pumpman1968]

Yesterday, Ed Lampert loaned Sears 400 mil of his own money. That's 400 mil he'll never be able to pay back to...himself. If Sears defaults on the loan, he gets the collateral, which is over 500 mil worth of Sears real estate. The guy who approved this deal? Why, the CEO, Ed Lampert.

Now THAT made me chuckle. Talk about a golden parachute. Rake a cool $100 million IF/WHEN his own company goes down in flames. Kinda like betting against your own baseball team.

Anybody heard from Pete Rose lately?

 

[jakemac]

Now THAT made me chuckle. Talk about a golden parachute. Rake a cool $100 million IF/WHEN his own company goes down in flames. Kinda like betting against your own baseball team.

I heard that same story on radio news yesterday and thought the same thing. Don't forget that just before the company folds, he'll resign and collect a multi-million dollar severance package as well.

Anybody heard from Pete Rose lately?

Funny, last night I saw a commercial on TV with him standing in the hall of his house making a joke about being in "the Hall" and then getting kicked out by his "wife". It was a sneaker commercial for Skechers.

Here it is :

 

[jim1987]

You asked why armstrong wouldn't go overseas. They can't go overseas as long as they are makin tools for the US government.


Better yet apex already has a ton of overseas tools. Gotta figure they'd keep one line USA made. There is a marked even if its not huge.

No I didn't. Cman USA failed. It went Chinese..why would they replace it with a more expensive USA tool that wouldn't make profit...

 

[Nick Danger]

Yesterday, Ed Lampert loaned Sears 400 mil of his own money. That's 400 mil he'll never be able to pay back to...himself. If Sears defaults on the loan, he gets the collateral, which is over 500 mil worth of Sears real estate. The guy who approved this deal? Why, the CEO, Ed Lampert.

He's just slowly bleeding Sears into his own bank account. Then Sears will declare bankruptcy, he'll buy something else, and start all over again.

Sears is now nothing more than a convoluted scheme to defraud all shareholders except the one named Ed Lampert.

Holy cow, I thought you were exaggerating.

“It’s shady because there is clearly a conflict of interest here,” said Brian Sozzi, who closely tracks the retail industry as CEO of Belus Capital Advisors.

Devil’s in the details: Sears, which lost $1 billion during the first half of the year, revealed the loan in a vaguely-worded regulatory filing late Monday.

The company said the the short-term loan is being provided by entities tied to ESL Investments, whose sole stockholder and CEO is Sears head Eddie Lampert.

ESL Investments controls 24.8% of Sears’s outstanding shares, making it the No. 1 stockholder. Lampert himself is listed as owning 23.7% of the company’s outstanding stock.

The filing said the loan, which carries an annual base interest of 5% plus upfront fees of 1.75%, is being secured by 25 unspecified properties. Presumably that means some of the company’s hundreds of Sears and Kmart stores.

Collateral damage: The fact that Sears didn’t disclose which properties are being used as collateral is raising eyebrows. The loan even gives the lender (Lampert) the opportunity to swap out certain stores with other ones.

As pointed out by Yahoo Finance, the $400 million loan values each store at just $16 million. That’s a steep discount to the $20 million to $50 million Sears has typically been selling its stores for to other retailers and investors. It also seems cheap given the $5 billion of real-estate assets listed on the Sears balance sheet.

“We don’t even know all the deal terms. Are shareholders getting a raw deal here? Did Lampert undervalue the stores?” said Sozzi.

http://whnt.com/2014/09/16/struggling-sears-company-borrows-400-million-from-its-ceo/

 

[RalphInCA]

Sears sold Lands End?

Good. Maybe Lands End can now become what it used to be.

I used to like Lands End before Sears sucked the life out of it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[PureLeaf]

Holy cow, I thought you were exaggerating.
http://whnt.com/2014/09/16/struggling-sears-company-borrows-400-million-from-its-ceo/

Amen to this from your article

"Many shareholders blame Lampert for the company’s struggles.

“He will go down as the man who ruined a national icon in Sears,”

 

[PBCampbell]

The sad part is that the government will probably reward him for his $400 million dollar loss, so that his actual loss will be far, far less.

 

[hackwelder]

There is a good short video on the current situation at
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/did-sears-get-gouged-by-its-own-ceo-115719755.html

 

[outkast06]

It is sad, i used to love when Craftsman was US Made.

 

[1Garageman]

I was just in a Sears store a couple of weeks ago. An elderly gentleman (WWII/Korea war generation) brought in his (at least) 40 year old -v- 1/2" ratchet. He said it was slipping. Exchanged it for a Chinese made 1/2" ratchet. He was so happy. He said something to the young salesguy like "if you want a dependable tool always go Craftsman". I didn't say anything, I'm positive he had no idea what he just exchanged his -v- ratchet for.

That is truly sad. I man fought for his country ends up trading in a nice classic wrench for a Chinese POS!

 

[Parrothead]

Amen to this from your article

"Many shareholders blame Lampert for the company’s struggles.

“He will go down as the man who ruined a national icon in Sears,”

He will go down as rich. End of story.

 

[straightcut]

The Craftsman brand is owned by a separate company, KCD IP, LLC (Kenmore-Craftsman-DieHard), so Sear closing will not affect the NAMES. Whether any other corporate entity will deem them valuable enough to buy them is TBD.

Land's End was spun off in March of 2014. Since then LE is up 36% and SHLD is down 37%

Sears abandoned their Weatherbeater paint and closed the paint department. I saw many incompentent employees in the paint dept. that did them no good whatsoever, but I felt the Weatherbeater paint was a good reason to go to Sears. Spin off Land's End and lose a good profit center, damage the Craftsman profit center by shifting production to China, etc. Sadly there's no longer a good reason to visit the store.

There's no question that they're in a very difficult position. I don't believe they'll turn it around by following their current course. I just drove by a major Sears store and glanced over as I was going by. I had to do a double take - it was GONE!

 

[Moose97]

Craftsman, Kenmore and Diehard will live on in some form. They are iconic name brands that people who don't frequent this site still trust. Craftsman tools will sell great in a Walmart, Target or Home Depot.
Here in Texas we have little independently owned Sears stores in a lot of smaller towns. They only carry appliances, tools, mowers and the like. They are not owned by the corporation but franchised. I wonder if this is the direction Sears (or some other company) is likely to go?

 

[Farmall450]

Craftsman and Kenmore are all Sears had going for it. Now Craftsman has turned to China for it's production. Why go to Sears now? Their automotive department fell first, now the rest of the store is to follow.

I'm sure another retailer will take on Craftsman. Perhaps K-mart will carry the full line of Craftsman like Sears. Until they fall like Sears anyway..

The way I read it Kmart will fall first.

 

[Farmall450]

They should: loose the department store mentality and start selling products that actually SELL. I have to walk through clothing and it's devoid of life.

I get that USA made craftsman is gone and that was for business reasons yada yada...supplement with Armstrong which is made by the same $%^& company as craftsman and start selling GOOD tools again. If Sears started stocking some basic armstrong stuff it'd sell like hot cakes. start processing armstrong warranty...get us guys in the store and we'll buy more stuff.

That's ironic, I imagine what would really happen is GJers would warranty the life out of everything they have, and then wonder why Sears is losing money...

But wait, they'll buy one socket (in points) to complete that one spot in the Hanson tray.

 

[GuyllFyre]

Harbor Freight should buy out Sears.

 

[orca8589]

I was in Sears a couple hours ago, looking at their toolbox locks. Had two guys working their entire tool dept., both of whom were occupied and weren't available for questions - and the place was a mess. All of the toolboxes I looked at wobbled, and were terrible quality. I bought a Matco tool cart today, and the quality of it compared to what I saw in the CM boxes is amazing. Built 20+ years ago, maybe 30+ years or more, and still solid as a rock.

I'm sad to see Sears in the state they're in, but I'm not surprised.

~Chris

 

[Fordman7795]

I was in sears yesterday and the auto center was 50% off (except tires and batteries). The counter guy said their auto center was closing along with 21 others nationwide.

 

[mikegt4]

Sears is a mess. There are very few people whenever I am in there.

Also, they have a website that actually penalizes you for going to the store. They have online prices that are lower than in the store. Most stores know not to do this. It actually discourages foot traffic.

In the VERY FEW times that I go to Sears I almost always get the parking spot closest to the door. I don't even have to look behind me when I back out of the parking spot because there are no cars to run into.

My parents are probably spinning in their graves, they bought everything at Sears. I still have a lot of Craftsman and Dunlap tools that my Dad bought in the 1950's and 60's. My brothers and I would fight over the Sears Christmas Toy catalog when it came in the mail every year.

 

[mrvm]

These events may trigger an increase in price for older CM-USA hand tools on ebay/CL. IMO if Sears holdings goes under, the supply/demand curve will shift for CM-USA hand tools especially CM-pro. Just my 2cents

 

[wildbill23c]

Sears just lost my interest completely when I had to replace my 21 year old Craftsman GT-18 4 years ago. I go in there, and there were 7 employees there, none of them knew anything about the lawn tractors they had sitting there. I was actually telling them stuff about their own equipment. Finally bought one, the idiot they sent out to do the "setup" couldn't even level the deck properly.

While I was there, and waiting for them to do all their unnecessary work at the cash register, I had took a quick walk through of the tool section, well I took about 2 steps and walked out of it and into the appliances. Seriously...its a Sears store and they only had 2 isles worth of tools no wonder they're failing. Well add to that their employees who have absolutely no clue how to do their jobs, then the junk imported products they keep trying to stick the Craftsman name on, their warranties have been here and there, then they argue about it when you try and bring something back in under warranty.

That lawn tractor is total junk, nothing like my old one, and certainly not going to last 21 years, this one will be lucky to last 10, if that even. The overall quality of stuff...not just Sears has gone so far south, even the stuff made in China makes some of the brand name stuff look bad .

 

[franzdom]

These events may trigger an increase in price for older CM-USA hand tools on ebay/CL. IMO if Sears holdings goes under, the supply/demand curve will shift for CM-USA hand tools especially CM-pro. Just my 2cents

I am guessing the opposite will happen.

 

[beatcad]

this talk has come up multiple times here and i've always stayed out of it, but this time ill toss in my opinion.
when i was a kid & teen(70s/80s) i thought sears/craftsman was cool.
in the early 90s as a young adult i had a place to live on my own and got a sears credit card. i bought mostly tools and tool boxes and stuff for my home.
i maybe ran it(the card) up to maybe 6 or 700 bucks over maybe 6 or 7 years.
it was never outta control. anyhow i reeled it in and paid it off and rarely used the card. i got to the point that if i needed something id pay cash, but i kept it in my wallet w/ a zero balance for maybe 8 years.
last spring i found somthing nice i wanted to buy for my wife and tried to order online w/ my card.
guess what? after so many years of non-use they just dropped it and had no record of me being a "member".
****! they could've called or sent a letter asking me if i still wanted to be a cardholder.
please dont you bank/business guys say that's a normal practice.

SEARS can lick a nut as far as i'm concerned!

yes, i know it's petty, but i cant forget/forgive that ****.
dont embarrass me(even to a phone salesman).

 

[John in OH]

Sears' performance remains a total mystery to me. I pretty much agree with most of the preceding comments regarding quality, marketing, etc. But, when you do have a good product, such as the Cman red & black cushion-grip pro screwdrivers (and I realize not all here share my opinion of these screwdrivers) why discontinue them??? Sears keeps the hard-handled screwdrivers and dumps the much better cushion grips .... why??? Makes no sense.

Also, a week ago my wife purchased a new Kenmore vacuum cleaner. She's used Kenmore's for years so she went with the same brand. So, when she unpacks the vacuum, one of the accessory tools is missing. After THREE calls to Sears customer service she finally finds that Sears will send her the missing part but, my wife has to pay for shipping!! What BS is that !?!?!

They are killing their own customer base with such dumb moves!

 

[kiatech]

Sears' performance remains a total mystery to me. I pretty much agree with most of the preceding comments regarding quality, marketing, etc. But, when you do have a good product, such as the red & black cushion-grip pro screwdrivers (and I realize not all here share my opinion of these screwdrivers) why discontinue them??? Sears keeps the hard-handled screwdrivers and dumps the much better cushion grips .... why??? Makes no sense.

Also, a week ago my wife purchased a new Kenmore vacuum cleaner. She's used Kenmore's for years so she went with the same brand. So, when she unpacks the vacuum, one of the accessory tools is missing. After THREE calls to Sears customer service she finally finds that Sears will send her the missing part but, my wife has to pay for shipping!! What BS is that !?!?!

They are killing their own customer base with such dumb moves!

Should have bought a kirby

 

[Fordman7795]

Sears' performance remains a total mystery to me. I pretty much agree with most of the preceding comments regarding quality, marketing, etc. But, when you do have a good product, such as the Cman red & black cushion-grip pro screwdrivers (and I realize not all here share my opinion of these screwdrivers) why discontinue them??? Sears keeps the hard-handled screwdrivers and dumps the much better cushion grips .... why??? Makes no sense.

Also, a week ago my wife purchased a new Kenmore vacuum cleaner. She's used Kenmore's for years so she went with the same brand. So, when she unpacks the vacuum, one of the accessory tools is missing. After THREE calls to Sears customer service she finally finds that Sears will send her the missing part but, my wife has to pay for shipping!! What BS is that !?!?!

They are killing their own customer base with such dumb moves!

Im surprised they didnt tell you to return it and re order it (at a probably higher price)

 

[garthg]

Due to the horrible customer service I receive at my local Sears while picking up online orders, I am now laughing. I hate to see Craftsman go under though, so hopefully it will be sold to someone who can continue selling it.

Kevin

This has not been my experience. I'm usually in and out of the store in ten minutes or less (unless I'm checking the clearance table).

I ordered a water softener on line for home delivery, and it was here in two days.

I found a Craftsman USA (made by Nupla) 2# dead blow hammer, regularly $29.99 for $19.97, less $6 in SYW points, it was only $13.

I'm glad I'm not a long-term Sears shareholder, however.

 

[CoryZ]

The online order pickup is the one thing my local Sears does right. Finding the item on the site and checking out is the painful part. Actual order pickups at the kiosk thing--I think I average about 3 minutes per visit. The only times it's stretched a little longer is if they're helping to load a bulky item into someone's car.

 

[beatcad]

Yesterday, Ed Lampert loaned Sears 400 mil of his own money. That's 400 mil he'll never be able to pay back to...himself. If Sears defaults on the loan, he gets the collateral, which is over 500 mil worth of Sears real estate. The guy who approved this deal? Why, the CEO, Ed Lampert.

He's just slowly bleeding Sears into his own bank account. Then Sears will declare bankruptcy, he'll buy something else, and start all over again.

Sears is now nothing more than a convoluted scheme to defraud all shareholders except the one named Ed Lampert.

i also heard the same thing on NPR(money marketplace) yesterday....
what could possibly go wrong?

 

[espyking83]

 

[r22yu]

I remember when they were the Amazon, we used to pour through their catalog and pick out the school clothes and piece together our Christmas wish list. You could even fill out the order form, mail it in and never step foot in the store. Smae gig as Amazon, just different technology and delivery times!

The sad thing is that the sears catalogue was the greatest retail innovation of its time. When they started the catalogue sales in the late 1800's no one believed in them but they stuck to it and became the fastest growing retailer in north America. Sears was one of the examples used in my change management class, but all I could think about was his far sears has fallen since.

 

[monomach]

Sears' performance remains a total mystery to me. I pretty much agree with most of the preceding comments regarding quality, marketing, etc. But, when you do have a good product, such as the Cman red & black cushion-grip pro screwdrivers (and I realize not all here share my opinion of these screwdrivers) why discontinue them??? Sears keeps the hard-handled screwdrivers and dumps the much better cushion grips .... why??? Makes no sense.

Also, a week ago my wife purchased a new Kenmore vacuum cleaner. She's used Kenmore's for years so she went with the same brand. So, when she unpacks the vacuum, one of the accessory tools is missing. After THREE calls to Sears customer service she finally finds that Sears will send her the missing part but, my wife has to pay for shipping!! What BS is that !?!?!

They are killing their own customer base with such dumb moves!

You guys keep saying stuff like this that makes me think you're operating under the assumption that Sears is trying to stay in business.

Lampert bought it to break it up. He's been selling bits and pieces at a time and he's made a killing from it. Sears is losing a billion dollars per year, but Lampert's personal net worth has tripled in the time since he bought the controlling interest.

It's just a legal form of robbery. The guy who owns a quarter of the company is stealing from the thousands of people who combine to own the other three quarters of it.

This is the endgame he's been working toward. He didn't buy Sears to make money selling clothes and tools; he bought it to make money selling real estate.

 

[XxToolAholicxX]

I go in to my local Sears few times a week on my way home from work. I hardly see any people there shopping. One of my main reason for going there is to catch some tools on clearance. And their tool department is getting smaller and smaller by day. Their automotive center has closed, I don't know how long the store is going to last. They just didn't catch up with time.



I am a Toolaholic,Sometimes I regret it,Especially when the Toolman wont give me no credit