My Sears is looking really sad

[Peoria Man]

I agree with that, if they focused more in the tool/appliance/parts area they may have made it a little longer,at least until they figured out something more long term.

That's part of their problem. Sears was constantly trying to re-invent itself, apparently hoping to catch lightning in a bottle. How many different prototype stores did they have in operation at any one time? They had Sears Grand, Sears Home Store, Sears Essentials... the "Softer Side of Sears"... Plus the various standalone stores like Tool Territory, Tools and Appliances, etc. We used to have a Sears Paint and Hardware store when I was a kid. Who could keep all that straight?

The Sears near me closed recently, but looking back over the past couple years, I bought a jacket, a watch and a couple pairs of shoes there. A couple Diehard batteries too. They had some good stuff. But their website was terrible and tough to navigate, especially for tools. A bad website certainly didn't do them any favors.

 

[Bucketofbolts]

For years the one by us had some really rude and angry employees in the tool dept. I'm not sure what the deal was but that could not have helped our location with sales.

 

[johninct]

The Sears that closed last year probably would have stayed open, but they just missed their numbers and had a few "One off" events. Somebody spilled a large soda on the floor that anybody could see. You guessed it, by the time they got to it there was a slip and fall. Old guy came into the store with family. Completely on his own, he just died . You guessed it, another lawsuit. When you are hanging on by a single hair, it does not take much ….

 

[The Fall]

Sears was financialized, plain and simple. The comments about Sears "not keeping up with the times" are correct, but that's because they weren't an ongoing retail concern after the early 2000s. Corporate profits are taxed at a higher rate than capital gains. That's Fast Eddie's expertise. The tax code encourages this kind of behavior among corporate raiders. The idea that these guys are there to "save" the company like a "company man" of the 1960s is to misunderstand corporate raiding. Couple that with the financial meltdown precipitated by the financial industry and Fast Eddie's ill-timed stock buyback binge in the mid-'00s, and you have the ingredients for full implosion. Remember this: Sears survived the Great Depression. That was 90 years ago, but it was as bad as it got -- worse than 2008. They couldn't survive a corporate raider, because he wasn't interested in saving Sears.

A great piece of reportage on this type of corporate mismanagement is Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco.

Sears is dead. Long live Sears.

 

[Mechanical Noise]

Sears was financialized, plain and simple. The comments about Sears "not keeping up with the times" are correct, but that's because they weren't an ongoing retail concern after the early 2000s.

Sears started dying in the 1970s. Eddie Lampert is more a parasite than a perpetrator.

 

[zendriver]

"not keeping up with the times"

It's not like nearly every other old school brick-and-mortar retail store is not shiiting-the-bed.

Sears had an Internet presence, but people shopped somewhere else.

Maybe consumers were just done with Sears. They were not the first retailer to go ****-up, by a long shot

 

[woody 73]

Sears started dying in the 1970s. Eddie Lampert is more a parasite than a perpetrator.

Too be more exact it was 1970.

Sears will never be dead, just last night I bought a 6 inch Craftsman adjustable wrench made in the USA for $2.00 at a garage sale; they will still be found for the next 50 years in every garage sale in the USA.

 

[RTM]

I was just in Illinois, and happened to go through Hoffman Estates, home of the former company. They were in the process of blasting the “ Sears” off the side of the “Sears Arena”. Sign up front was still there. Didn’t try to visit any stores, mostly since I didn’t see any.

 

[MarvinBerry]

How many different prototype stores did they have in operation at any one time? They had Sears Grand, Sears Home Store, Sears Essentials... the "Softer Side of Sears"... Plus the various standalone stores like Tool Territory, Tools and Appliances, etc. We used to have a Sears Paint and Hardware store when I was a kid. Who could keep all that straight?

s.

Right, who the hell could remember which Sears offshoot had the vacuum cleaner bags?

Had a tool & appliance store about 5 miles from me that closed several years ago. I bought a few things there... Was in a strip mall with a RadioShack Walmart and pathmark... maybe y'all can see where this is going...

At one point I went to that location and all the tools were gone. Was now a furniture outlet and, maybe a month after that closed for good.

There was a hand written sign taped inside the front door that said - Sorry closed.

No great fanfare, no blowout sale... It simply disappeared in the middle of the night.

 

[driftpin]

Recently I've been in both the Ft. Lauderdale and the Miami Sears stores, it's surely a shame to see the shrinking inventory and less floorspace devoted to Craftsman. In both urban areas there have been large Sears stores which have closed, the Plantation FL (Ft Lauderdale area) store is gone, and the Aventura FL (Miami area) store have both closed, they were big ones, and located in prosperous areas. I recall the Aventura store had an auto service building, now-closed.
__________________

 

[coleman10]

Recently I've been in both the Ft. Lauderdale and the Miami Sears stores, it's surely a shame to see the shrinking inventory and less floorspace devoted to Craftsman. In both urban areas there have been large Sears stores which have closed, the Plantation FL (Ft Lauderdale area) store is gone, and the Aventura FL (Miami area) store have both closed, they were big ones, and located in prosperous areas. I recall the Aventura store had an auto service building, now-closed.
__________________

The last two in Broward County are Coral Springs and Searstown at Sunrise and Federal. Coral Springs will be closed in April and Searstown is slated to be demolished and replaced by high rises. That Sears has been there since 1955.

 

[driftpin]

I've been buying Craftsman tools at the Searstown Ft. Lauderdale store for close-to 50 years. I bought eight Whirlpool-Gladiator Premier welded steel garage cabinets there a few years ago. They were on-sale at Christmas, I didn't know how-much the discount was until I had them rung-up at the register, when I found-out, I asked, "how many of these do you have?" I cleaned 'em out, it was something like 30% of list price.

I have a not-so-happy tale of the auto center at that store, early mid-1970's. I had an old Chevy van, a long-wheelbase cargo van, no windows but the windshield and the front doors. I decided to get new heavy-duty rear shocks. They did the work. I thought it was riding a bit high, and was very-stiff.

About a week later I was driving-down US 1 in Miami and I began to-hear, "ping-ping-ping!" irregularly. I finally pulled-over, and found they stacked-up about three inches of flat fender washers on a too-long shock bolt, the nut had loosened, and it fell-off, and the "ping" noise was the stack of fender washers falling-off the bolt, and ricocheting-off the underside of the truck.

They had put the shocks on the wrong end of the truck, and their 'fix' of stacked flat washers, failed. Of course they fixed it.

 

[340wedge]

I go through Sears at the mall as the parking is convenient by their entrance. I went to the entrance and was greeted with a paper sign in marker that read, use other door. The other door was missing the handle with only the screws still in place. Inside the floor space is taken up by canopy tents and exercise equipment. Tools are spread way out and what is up with Craftsman with the black tool boxes and the ugly red anodized trim. The registers are now yellowing plastic and the screens old green type print from the age of pac man.

 

[coleman10]

I should stop by mine to see how much life is left, even though I will probably just walk out empty-handed. I wonder if the clamp prices have dropped yet.

I think once Searstown closes, that’ll be it for me. I’m not driving down to South Miami for Sears.

 

[bpjr]

I was in the tool dept at Merritt Isl, Fl Sears a couple days ago. It looked like they were clearing out everything to close up. They had a few mechanic tool sets on sale at big discounts and a few tools on the wall. Otherwise lots of empty floor space and very little inventory compared to a couple yrs ago. This store isn't on the close list but it sure doesn't look like they plan on staying open.

 

[coleman10]

Went back today and picked up a few bar clamps. Most of the longer ones were gone. Less and less stuff in the store. I asked again about buying a paper sign. Denied. Not sure what they’re going to do with them. Probably just toss them anyway. So stupid. Last day is 4/11.

As I’m waiting and waiting and waiting at the counter for someone to come over and ring up the sale, I noticed in the adjacent department the same salesman (we call him Caesar Romero) who never does a damned thing leaning on a box and playing on his phone. He raised his head to look at me from time to time and then went back to his phone. He could have called me over, but that would have interrupted his play time. This guy has worked at my Sears for years and any time we’ve been in that store, that guy does as little as possible. Employing and keeping people like that is part of the Sears downfall. I guess he’ll have lots of phone time come 4/12.

 

[Dumber than lumber]

Eddie Lampert is an idiot and an evil genius.

I am not much in the way of musical talent or making videos. But seems like someone could do a parody of DonMcLean’s “American Pie”.
Or maybe Gordon Lightfoot’s “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”.
Something along the lines of Assisted Suicide and Asleep at the Switch and a few other themes.
Pretty sad to realize how far the mighty has fallen.

 

[Two Door]

I have a not-so-happy tale of the auto center at that store, early mid-1970's. I had an old Chevy van, a long-wheelbase cargo van, no windows but the windshield and the front doors. I decided to get new heavy-duty rear shocks. They did the work. I thought it was riding a bit high, and was very-stiff.
...

They had put the shocks on the wrong end of the truck, and their 'fix' of stacked flat washers, failed. Of course they fixed it.

If my dad were alive he would identify with that story. Some fifty years ago (same time frame as yours, now that I notice) he told me about being in the automotive center and overhearing a customer giving them heck about waxing his car without washing it.

 

[Jacobson]

Haven't been in a Sears since 2012.
Amazon and Ebay took over at that time.

 

[welder4956]

No more Sears here in Birmingham. I was at the mall last week and both the mall store and auto service are closed and cleaned out. I looked on Google Maps and there is a Sears Clearance Center nearby. Perhaps selling off the remaining inventory? I'll have to go by and check it out.

 

[getbent4x4]

I'd go to sears but I feel like i'd get Corona just walking in as it was lasted cleaned in 2002.

 

[ovilla]

Sears is dead to me. Why buy from a store that probably won’t be around for you to do a return or by from a website that’s so clunky and hard to navigate. Just not worth the aggregation when there’s so many other choices nowadays.

 

[jakemac]

My local Sears is currently in the process of becoming a parking garage for the Mall that it used to anchor.


Sent from my iPad using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[Greg85mcss]

I went to my local store to look at boots, which they put in the tool department since it’s so empty. The only other people in there were a group of teenagers that obviously weren’t buying anything. I haven’t bought a tool there since they denied the warranty on something I know was lifetime.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[paulsomlo]

You think your Sears is looking sad - the last time I drove past mine, it was a pile of rubble.

 

[coleman10]

I was going to stop by Sears on their last day, 4/11, but today all non-essential business in the county was ordered shut due to COVID-19, so I can only assume that the store will shutter and remain that way.

 

[Lassen Forge]

I keep thinking this... how can anyone stay loyal to a company, sold 3 or 4 times. and now selling off its soul???? Seriously, I was a Craftsman addict, their tools kept me working for 2 decades, they, for the money were the BEST... and it blew the competition out of the water... and now, it's whoreing itself for what? To **** the last droplets from those who still kinda sorta believe in it??? Shitting on all of us who made their livings on their tools???

I took an autoshop class JUST to get the SO Student discount, and ya know their tools kick the **** out of my oldest, bestest friend that fed my kids for a decade plus. Craftsman and Sears, chasing the low buck dollar, sold out those who relied on it to keep bread and butter on the table... I was ultimately loyal to Craftsman, but now I Call them Crapsman, because THEY sold ME and my family out, threw us under the bus, and if that's all I was to them, then, sorrry, but Ef- them...

Sorry, but if they burned in a viking Pyre, I, once a devotee of the raised panel clan, would turn her back, because they turned their back on me... A hard-working, ***-kicking wrench turner, because they were too busy chasing a 10 cent piece to realize there were $100 customers who relied on them to feed their families. And they threw us under the bus...

 

[coleman10]

Classic case of penny wise, dollar foolish. I understand your point of view and can appreciate how you feel. Sears let many, many people down.

 

[Ilikeike]

My Sears looks bad also. Closed over a year ago, now a Dicks sporting goods on the first floor and Dave and Busters on the second(both under construction). Both sling Low end ****.

 

[mowkep]

I have no idea if or where a Sears is in my area. I have to laugh because they cancelled my Sears card that my wife and I never used.

 

[SGKent]

Funny thing about Sears and Montgomery Wards - both started as huge mail order houses. They abandoned that many years ago thinking mail order was dead. Along came Amazon using a modern version of that model - and the Internet to order instead of phones and mail. All Sears had to do 30 years ago was open an Internet division and promote it. We'd be buying from Sears instead of Amazon.

 

[coleman10]

Funny thing about Sears and Montgomery Wards - both started as huge mail order houses. They abandoned that many years ago thinking mail order was dead. Along came Amazon using a modern version of that model - and the Internet to order instead of phones and mail. All Sears had to do 30 years ago was open an Internet division and promote it. We'd be buying from Sears instead of Amazon.

This is what happens when you don’t recognize and respond to coming changes in the marketplace. Take a look at Kodak.

 

[Mechanical Noise]

Funny thing about Sears and Montgomery Wards - both started as huge mail order houses. They abandoned that many years ago thinking mail order was dead. Along came Amazon using a modern version of that model - and the Internet to order instead of phones and mail. All Sears had to do 30 years ago was open an Internet division and promote it. We'd be buying from Sears instead of Amazon.

Even the still existing mail order operations didn't figure it out.

 

[BFBOB]

This is what happens when you don’t recognize and respond to coming changes in the marketplace. Take a look at Kodak.

Yep, I was right there with Kodak. I was a professional photographer for 20 years, got out of it right when digital was coming in. I scoffed at the image quality, barely good enough for newspaper reproduction, and then only if you don't enlarge it.
It'll never fly, Orville.

We all know how shockingly short a time it took to get the image quality to surpass even Kodachrome.

At the time, I applauded Kodak's loyalty to its longtime supporters who still used its products (like me!) But they were late - nearly fatally so - to the digital dance they should have recognized and embraced.

Looking back (isn't vision alway clearer in that direction?) it's incomprehensible that Sears didn't jump in and dominate the internet variant of mail order.

 

[Jacobson]

THEY sold ME and my family out,
threw us under the bus,
because they turned their back on me...
And they threw us under the bus...

Dude, WTF is wrong with you?
Get a grip, Sears is a CORPORATION. Always was.
They are not a religion or family that did anything to YOU.
Businesses fail. Times evolve.
Drop the victim ****.
You bought stuff.
They stopped selling stuff.
You went and got SO tools
Get over yourself.
Your'e not the center of the universe.

 

[Mechanical Noise]

Yep, I was right there with Kodak. I was a professional photographer for 20 years, got out of it right when digital was coming in. I scoffed at the image quality, barely good enough for newspaper reproduction, and then only if you don't enlarge it.
It'll never fly, Orville.

We all know how shockingly short a time it took to get the image quality to surpass even Kodachrome.

At the time, I applauded Kodak's loyalty to its longtime supporters who still used its products (like me!) But they were late - nearly fatally so - to the digital dance they should have recognized and embraced.

Looking back (isn't vision alway clearer in that direction?) it's incomprehensible that Sears didn't jump in and dominate the internet variant of mail order.

Imagine a world where photography is a slow process that is impossible to master without years of study or apprenticeship. A world without iPhones or Instagram, where one company reigned supreme. Such a world existed in 1973, when Steven Sasson, a young engineer, went to work for Eastman Kodak.

Two years later he invented digital photography and made the first digital camera.

https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/08/12/kodaks-first-digital-moment/?_r=0#

 

[sk farmer]

Dude, WTF is wrong with you?
Get a grip, Sears is a CORPORATION. Always was.
They are not a religion or family that did anything to YOU.
Businesses fail. Times evolve.
Drop the victim ****.
You bought stuff.
They stopped selling stuff.
You went and got SO tools
Get over yourself.
Your'e not the center of the universe.

nice rant, too bad when you rant starts with dude you are completely wrong.

your "dude" is a chick and a pretty well respected one around here.

not that i totally agree with either of you but calling her out and then going on your own rant without at least getting her gender correct is funny ****. especially your last 2 lines,

 

[kythri]

"Dude" is unisex, and has been for almost 20 years, dude.

 

[fartymarty]

"Dude" is unisex, and has been for almost 20 years, dude.

Well, it shouldn't be! Neither should a Lesbian be called gay!... unless they are feeling gay. But that's just me, I'm an ol' fart resistant to change. Don't even get me started on "my bad" instead of my mistake or my error.

Now you dudes get off my lawn!

I also miss the Sears of my youth. The sporting goods section with Ted Williams picture everywhere, the Sears Craftsman router crafter, the candy counter where you could by candy in bulk by the pound or in my case a fraction there of.
Sorry..carry on...dudes 'n' gals.

The Sears of my youth and early teen years.

 

[Jacobson]

Why are the last two lines funny? That's sexist..