My Sears is looking really sad

[coleman10]

Stopped into my Sears today to have a look around. It’s not on the list of closures, but it certainly looks like it is. Lots of bare pegboard and shelves. It looks like they are selling off whatever is there and not getting anything else in.

 

[Parrothead]

Eddie Lampert is an idiot and an evil genius.

 

[PugetDude]

At least you still have a Sears store. Everything near me has closed.

There is only one Sears store left in Phoenix- the 5th largest city in the US.

FU Eddie Lampert.

 

[B_Bimmer]

That's so sad looking it almost makes me not mind so much that there are no sears stores left to walk through around here. Eddie and other corporate raiders are very low in my book.

 

[JR 42]

Wow, you still have a Sears nearby. I think there's one Sears left in the county, but I haven't checked lately.

 

[Mechanical Noise]

At least you still have a Sears store. Everything near me has closed.

There is only one Sears store left in Phoenix- the 5th largest city in the US.

FU Eddie Lampert.

The last Sears store in the city of Chicago closed up in the middle of last year.

 

[anndel]

He pissed off lots of vendors so they don't deal with Sears anymore. He doesn't care about Sears as long as his investment firm ESL is raking in the dough. Where the Sears stores close down he makes tons of money on the real estate transaction.

 

[928'er]

Ours closed about a year ago...

Still get emails for online "deals" - as if I'd ever buy anything from that ******* again.

 

[MarvinBerry]

I'd swear I took those exact pictures of my last local Sears about 2 years ago... Rockaway NJ which shockingly still hasn't closed either.

Before that I hadn't been to Sears for a couple years, and even that was more out of curiosity then any real need. Same could be said for that mall in general but the mall itself is actually pretty healthy.

It's sad, like watching someone you know die slow and painfully from a terrible disease. Years ago the hardware department was 4-5 times the size, now 1/4 of the space and 1/4 stocked.

Why on earth anyone would buy anything from Sears at this point is beyond me.

 

[zendriver]

Uh, Lowes is full of Craftsman tools and nobody seems to really gives a ****.

If there were still Sears stores everywhere we would be busting down the doors to get in there and shop?


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[landrover bodger]

It's a sad sight to see . Living in the UK when
we are on holiday in the USA Sears was always a place to go to see what tools were too heavy to get home

 

[lastgoodusername]

Reminds me of Radio Shack.

 

[coleman10]

I have to go back to the mall today. Think I’ll pick up a shovel. The Craftsman shovel really is heavy duty and a much better design, I feel, than most. Better get it while there’re still a couple left.

What struck me most was the missing hammers. No classic, red, fiberglass handle hammers. (At least I think it’s fiberglass.) As a guy who grew up on everything Sears, it’s just incredibly sad.

 

[arms1970]

The last Sears store in the city of Chicago closed up in the middle of last year.

The chicago ridge one is still open, i believe there are only 3 left. I have a broken contour gauge i need to return, probably don't even have them anymore. I haven't Been in a sears in years

 

[Shehzada]

Reminds me of Radio Shack.

Oh my god... totally miss it. What do I do if i need a 1K resistor to fix my iron? Online shipping kills everything.

Sent from my mobile device

 

[Shehzada]

Uh, Lowes is full of Craftsman tools and nobody seems to really gives a ****.

If there were still Sears stores everywhere we would be busting down the doors to get in there and shop?


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You have a point. The only time I visited back in the day was for warranty.

Does Lowe's have the same prices? If I bring my old Craftsman broken socket...will they warranty?

Sent from my mobile device

 

[m6z]

Mine is pretty sad. There are still deals to be had if you work their cash back program.

I picked up a nice Craftsman fiberglass handled garden rake for a dollar and some change last night.

 

[brickG-man]

It’s really a shame to think of what Sears once was!

 

[Peoria Man]

Stepping out of the tool department, I've gotten some nice shoes and a jacket at my local Sears recently; no more of that now since it too has closed.

 

[zendriver]

You have a point. The only time I visited back in the day was for warranty.

Does Lowe's have the same prices? If I bring my old Craftsman broken socket...will they warranty?

Sent from my mobile device

Don't know and don't know, since I quit using their cheaply made screwdrivers, I don't break my Cman tools and any new tools, I buy from Harbor freight, or off the Internet

ironically enough on your two points, it's price cutting and warranty overdose , that helped send Sears towards the crapper, Long before Eddie ever sank his teeth into them.


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[Mechanical Noise]

It’s really a shame to think of what Sears once was!

Ed Telling, who took control of Sears in the late 70s, thought the Tower and other regional showcase buildings were a symptom of Sears high executives shifting focus from what's good for Sears to what's good for their massive egos.

Sears had alot of festering problems in the 70s that only the insiders were aware of. Telling put his finger on the problems but he couldn't get Sears permanently back on track. Neither could anybody else.

 

[jgromada]

i went to the store closing sale at Gaithersburg md recently. Its been sad for a while. Used to love wandering through the tools aisle.

RIP

 

[Jtels85]

Five years ago, there were 9 Sears locations around the greater Cincinnati area which included a couple Hometown stores. As of today, one remains in Eastgate and will be closed by the end of the year.

Remember what Regan told Fr. Karras what his mother does in hell in The Exorcist? That’s what Fast Eddie Lampert will be doing when he dies.

 

[zendriver]

My wife and I agreed yesterday, on how we both hate shop in any brick and mortar store, especially during Xmas. It's just an unnecessary time consuming hassle.

With the exception of some inexpensive air compressors from HF as gifts we did all of our shopping online this year. Choose, click it it shows up at the door.

No doubt others feel the same, which certainly ends up hurting traditional retailers.




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[yellow wagon]

Won't be long now looking like that. Its just a slow, painful death until they close it.

 

[jd_1138]

It’s really a shame to think of what Sears once was!

They probably only occupied 5 or 6 floors of the Sears Tower even in their heyday; the rest of the floors were rented out to other co's.

Sort of an early version of a corporation paying for naming rights to a stadium, building, etc..

 

[jd_1138]

Won't be long now looking like that. Its just a slow, painful death until they close it.

First they will hire that same co. they all hire. They come in and price the stuff at 2 to 3 times normal price, then the first week knock ten percent, then 20 percent the next week, etc..

I am a tool geek and I walked out empty handed from our local Sears closing "sale". Seems idiotic to keep the lights on for 4 or 5 weeks (and paying salaries) until the real discounts kick in.

 

[bonneyman]

We have one Sears left locally. All the way across town.
The other store (fairly close to me) closed in July/Aug and the renovation of it into a gamers paradise is almost complete.

 

[CGarage]

You guys need to get off the nostalgia bandwagon and get with the times. Sears is gone. Good riddance. Craftsman sold their souls to the devil in the name of profit and sustainability because the post 1970s period taught children that working with their hands is of a lower class position in life and interest in the trades fell. Sales declined with overseas competition and imports. Start buying online from Zoro and Amazon. You will save money and won’t be contributing to the coffers of a corporate raider. My .02 cents.

 

[CarBikeGuy70]

The closing of Sears and Kmart are the result of many issues. Shopping habits of many 30 to 50 year olds of today played a role, as well as changes in the culture of today- think don't fix it just buy another TV, washer, dryer, stove etc. Perhaps the corporate greed of today is the biggest issue- Research what Ed Lampert has done over the years, you will see the demise of Sears will make some people a ton of money!

 

[CGarage]

I agree with the above post. Corporate greed produced a society where nearly all things are treated as disposable.

 

[MarvinBerry]

Oh my god... totally miss it. What do I do if i need a 1K resistor to fix my iron? Online shipping kills everything.

Sent from my mobile device

Digikey & Mouser have any electrical component you could possibly need as long as its still made.

https://www.digikey.com/

https://www.mouser.com/

I will say that older, large through hole components are going the way of the dodo so if this kinda stuff is important to your life it'd be a good idea to have stock on hand.

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

Shopping malls were anchored by the big department stores. Drove by one that had a Sears, Sears is long gone from Canada, on top of the sign, Dollarama !

 

[Mechanical Noise]

They probably only occupied 5 or 6 floors of the Sears Tower even in their heyday; the rest of the floors were rented out to other co's.

Sort of an early version of a corporation paying for naming rights to a stadium, building, etc..

I think that's basically correct, although I have the impression that Sears occupied more than 5 or 6 floors. Sears anticipated that they could make money by leasing out the rest of the building. That plan didn't forsee the glut of office space that arose by the time the tower was completed. About half the space in the tower was vacant for years. Sears took out a mortgage on the tower, moved their operations to a suburb and defaulted on the tower's mortgage.

Sears was stumbling hard and this was 20 years before Eddie Lampert showed up.

 

[Mechanical Noise]

The closing of Sears and Kmart are the result of many issues. Shopping habits of many 30 to 50 year olds of today played a role, as well as changes in the culture of today- think don't fix it just buy another TV, washer, dryer, stove etc. Perhaps the corporate greed of today is the biggest issue- Research what Ed Lampert has done over the years, you will see the demise of Sears will make some people a ton of money!

Sears would have been happy to sell replacement TVs washers, dryers, stoves and all the rest.

But, a few years ago, about the only Sears brand that had much value was Craftsman.

 

[MarvinBerry]

Sears would have been happy to sell replacement TVs washers, dryers, stoves and all the rest.

But, a few years ago, about the only Sears brand that had much value was Craftsman.

Diehard batteries? That could've been worth some coin. Might still be.

Maybe it'll just 'die hard' with sears? Yippee ki yay ************!

 

[Mechanical Noise]

Diehard batteries? That could've been worth some coin. Might still be.

Maybe it'll just 'die hard' with sears? Yippee ki yay ************!

Yeah, Sears tried to sell the both the Die Hard brand and the Kenmore brand at the same time they were shopping the Craftsman brand around.

Eddie Lampert wanted 2 billion for Craftsman but settled for something like 900 million, about half of that deferred. He kept Die Hard and Kenmore with Sears, presumably because any offers were even worse.

I think, since then, Lampert sold Die Hard and Kenmore to his own investment company or something like that. That seems crooked to me, but I don't think there's much actual value in Sears store brands, anyway.

 

[CGarage]

It’s depressing going into stores that are belly-up.
I don’t walk into Sears or K-Mart. You can feel death around the corner for them.

 

[ItsNemo]

My wife and I agreed yesterday, on how we both hate shop in any brick and mortar store, especially during Xmas. It's just an unnecessary time consuming hassle.

With the exception of some inexpensive air compressors from HF as gifts we did all of our shopping online this year. Choose, click it it shows up at the door.

No doubt others feel the same, which certainly ends up hurting traditional retailers.




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I'm in the same boat...all shopping was online this year. Not only that, the last time I went to walmart I left angry/annoyed, it's just such a **** hole. When amazon can have something on my door step next day, about the only thing I go out for is groceries (fresh stuff especially), stopping at TSC/Princess Auto, or building materials.

 

[zktk01]

My wife and I agreed yesterday, on how we both hate shop in any brick and mortar store, especially during Xmas. It's just an unnecessary time consuming hassle.

With the exception of some inexpensive air compressors from HF as gifts we did all of our shopping online this year. Choose, click it it shows up at the door.

No doubt others feel the same, which certainly ends up hurting traditional retailers.




Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

Wait until they figure out some people would pay more to avoid the crowds.