Farmall450
Well-known member
Woodfield mall's still seems decent.
My Sears is looking really sad
- Thread starter coleman10
- Start date
Woodfield mall's still seems decent.
Farmall450
Well-known member
Parrothead
Well-known member
While that may be true, wouldn’t they be buying the disposable items from Sears?
The tool division of Sears is not why they failed, in fact up until the very end it was the only part of Sears that made money. I’ve read a good deal about Lampert and was following Sears demise long before the actual bankruptcy. It’s interesting to say the least.
The Fall
Well-known member
Get over Sears? No way. That place was the best.
Near the end I'd get drunk and my wife would drive me to the Black Friday Door Buster deals. It was amazing. A department store representation of America's economy. There were 4 locations next to me and now they're all gone. Only an Outlet remains.
But back to the intent: Sears ruled and Lowe's ain't Sears.
Near the end I'd get drunk and my wife would drive me to the Black Friday Door Buster deals. It was amazing. A department store representation of America's economy. There were 4 locations next to me and now they're all gone. Only an Outlet remains.
But back to the intent: Sears ruled and Lowe's ain't Sears.
Downwindtracker 2
Well-known member
Get over Sears? My first tools were an Oxwall socket set and Thorsen combinations. Boy was I stepping up in the world when I bought Craftsman, mind you it was singularly at their semi-annual tool sale. But that was over 50 years ago. I have much better tools now.
rharrison8
Well-known member
So sad, it was once a great store. No stores left here in Indy. As a kid, I used to love to get the Wish book at Christmas time.
seagull369
Well-known member
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The CEO of Lowes has stated its stores will honor the Craftsman warranty regardless of where the item was originally purchased (I have the quote if you want to see it). The one problem I potentially see with that, however, is if the only equivalent replacement tool Lowes carries is slightly different looking or has a different part number stamped on it that SBD decided to go with compared to the one you want swapped out. I could definitely see a cashier who has a bug up their *** hassling someone because their broken 3/8" ratchet is slightly shorter or has a different part number compared to the one the store has on their shelf. Another concern I see is a cashier may claim is they won't swap out just one broken tool, such as a Torx bit that they only sell in sets, even though you may have originally purchased that bit individually at Sears/Ace at the time.
It's always a good idea to save the package and literature with receipt that came with your warrantied tool, so you have proof of your claim when you inevitably get denied.
To answer your other question about prices, that depends on the sale each store is having, but I've noticed by and large Sears prices on a given tool are significantly less expensive than Lowes, esp. when they had their"Tool Blowout" sale a few months ago. The reason for this is simple: Lowes is trying to get a return on their investment with SBD and Sears is simply desperate for cash.
Semi-hole mechanic
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Sears demise had nothing to do with craftsman warranties. The warranty was built into the price. Sears' business model was very near sighted. They stopped changing and the rest of the world kept changing and by the time they decided they needed to change it was too late.
I read an interesting article that was a warning to Amazona that they should heed what happened to Seara because the similarities between the companies is uncanny. Both started as a single product "mail order" company, Sears was watches and Amazon was books.then both expanded their "catalogs" and then branched into brick and mortar.
Mechanical Noise
Well-known member
My interest in the Sears decline really took root thirty some years ago when Sears decided they were going to stop bleeding cash with the tower and move their HQ to -- somewhere else.
Sears threatened to move out of the state unless they got big tax breaks. Illinois, being Illinois, decided that everyone else should pay more tax just so politicians could protect another sagging business.
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/sears-files-for-bankruptcy-despite-decades-of-illinois-tax-breaks/
Mechanical Noise
Well-known member
There's also supposed to be a Sears store in North Riverside. The site used to be a Montgomery Ward store.
That looks exactly like my local Sears in Wilmington DE. I walked through it last week for the first time in a few months and Holly Hell was the place looked like dead man walking.
Almost no display models for any of the larger power tools and even the carpentry tools was all but gone. Even the one old man still staffing the tool section had the look of a beaten man just getting by.
Almost no display models for any of the larger power tools and even the carpentry tools was all but gone. Even the one old man still staffing the tool section had the look of a beaten man just getting by.
Farmall450
Well-known member
The one closest to me, Crystal Lake (now a Mariano's) was a Montgomery Ward's, too.
mrjaw14
Well-known member
I thought my seats was still open. Was at the mall a few weeks back and it was gone.
karoc
Well-known member
I had to shut them down yrs ago cause they had the highest CC interest rate.Not talking about just tools.
seagull369
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The days of scoring good deals on most store closing/going out of business "sales" are long gone and Sears is hardly the first to take advantage of ill-informed or impulsive shoppers that usually flock to these things. Often the inventory you're looking in one of these stores isn't even owned by the retailer anymore. It was snatched up by an intermediate beforehand and those are the ones actually doing the sneaky mark up then X % off nonsense.
Not likely.
Internet retailers are cutting each other's throats on pricing and service, ironically key reasons Sears is kaput.
The Fort Wayne Sears was the largest in the state, now a dirt lot.
Three years ago, while on the clock with time to kill, I swung by the store, during early "black Friday", where they had a greatly stocked Cman (with very good BF deals) tool department and other merchandise, with good price markdowns, throughout the store.
The only thing they were missing were customers. The mall was packed, but not Sears.
Can't blame "fast Eddie" for that.
Maybe customers shopping elsewhere, is the main reason, Sears is on the rocks.
Three years ago, while on the clock with time to kill, I swung by the store, during early "black Friday", where they had a greatly stocked Cman (with very good BF deals) tool department and other merchandise, with good price markdowns, throughout the store.
The only thing they were missing were customers. The mall was packed, but not Sears.
Can't blame "fast Eddie" for that.
Maybe customers shopping elsewhere, is the main reason, Sears is on the rocks.
The Fort Wayne Sears was the largest in the state, now a dirt lot.
Three years ago, while on the clock with time to kill, I swung by the store, during early "black Friday", where they had a greatly stocked Cman (with very good BF deals) tool department and other merchandise, with good price markdowns, throughout the store.
The only thing they were missing were customers. The mall was packed, but not Sears.
Can't blame "fast Eddie" for that.
Maybe customers shopping elsewhere, is the main reason, Sears is on the rocks.
They just didn’t stay relevant. They didn’t invest any money in their stores. They’ve looked the same for decades and look run down. People don’t just want a low price when they go to a store, they go for the whole shopping experience. They want to walk into a modern, clean, well organized store and be taken care of by helpful, knowledgeable, friendly employees. My Sears looks like a throwback to the 70’s. Another one I was in (it closed) had furniture from the ‘60’s in the package pickup area by the door to “Personnel”. That term went out a few decades ago. The sales people in my Sears go out of their way to not help you. There could be a line at one register and a guy at another register with no customers just looking at the line and not helping. The folks in tools, for the most part, have no knowledge of tools. I’ve been at the register with the cashier taking personal calls on her cell phone. No sales person worth his salt will want to work for a store in this condition, so Sears gets the second stringers - which just makes the shopping experience that much worse. The door to my Sears makes a horrible screech when you open it up to walk inside. I mean, it’s piercing and super loud. It’s been that way for at least two or three years. Can’t someone get up enough ambition to walk over to it and spray some lubricant on it? They just stopped caring.
I don’t think Sears’s problem is the economy or changing tastes or the shift to online shopping or any of that. Sears’s problem is simply... Sears.
77thor
Well-known member
Sears? What's that?
I haven't seen one in years.
I haven't seen one in years.
lafester
Well-known member
MFolks
Well-known member
Lowe's and Ace hardware carry Craftsman tools in Missouri, I have bought some smaller tools, nothing major yet.
BigBoreFan
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- 311
I took my granddaughter to a Sears about a year ago, in Indiana. I asked, what do you think, he said it's junky. She's right. The place was a mess.
I did score what I went for though. USA made hammers and some plastic containers, also USA made.
And f$%K Wall Street and private equity.
I did score what I went for though. USA made hammers and some plastic containers, also USA made.
And f$%K Wall Street and private equity.
Downwindtracker 2
Well-known member
I'm no friend of hedge funds, but it goes beyond that. There simply not enough middle class shopper anymore. High end and Wal-Mart.
MarvinBerry
Well-known member
Last time I was in Sears about a year & half ago it was in far worse shape then any Wally World...
Mid June & must've been close to 100 in the store. AC clearly non functional. Escalator was also busted in both directions. Basically just a staircase. And maybe half the lights seemed to be out...
Felt super dirty & skeevy. I haven't been back.
Mid June & must've been close to 100 in the store. AC clearly non functional. Escalator was also busted in both directions. Basically just a staircase. And maybe half the lights seemed to be out...
Felt super dirty & skeevy. I haven't been back.
Sears was dated long before Eddie took over, it was starting to fade in the early 90s already.
I think he thought he could leverage economies of scale and create a too big to fail entity, divesting some of the Sears assets to try and make it work. SYW was an interesting concept, and not unlike stuff like Rakuten, but he never hired enough outsiders to manage and develop such stuff. Nor was it ever properly advertised. This created those still existing loopholes of free merchandise giveaways which add more to the losses.
His initial intent was probably to sell off the old mall stores and convert Kmarts into sears essentials but the recession hit. So he couldn’t properly monetize the real estate, of course less home sales also hit the Sears bottom line of large ticket appliances.
Losses started to pile up, and it just snowballed. It probably should have closed several years ago but he still keeps finding loans, writing checks, and such to find every way possible to try and keep it alive for some reason.
Stuff like shipping Craftsman overseas was trying to plug holes in a sinking ship, the idea was to be able to compete price wise with places like harbor freight with a better name.
Hubris and ego are all that’s been keeping this alive probably since 2012 or so.
My wife went to the mall tonight for something and just called to tell me that our Sears is closing. I just called the store and they confirmed. They aren’t on the list, but I guess they add more to the list all the time. Will have to see if I can get any fixtures. Will probably head out there over the weekend and see what’s going on. We still have another Sears, but it’s a little out of the way.
Truth. When I was growing up, and my father needed to go out and buy something, he didn't "go to the store", he went to "Sears." I confess that I followed this tradition, going to Sears first whenever I needed something, then only going to another store if they didn't have what I was looking for. Now when I need something, (my local Sears and Kmarts closed awhile ago), I find myself wondering where I'm going to go since I can't go to Sears. It's weird. I'm still sad and angry over this.
kctyphoon
Banned
The last K Mart in NJ is about to close..
MFolks
Well-known member
Lowes,and Ace hardware stores have many Craftsman tools.
Happened by the last Sears store on the other end of town over the weekend, and it's got a store closing sign on it. Was starting to look pretty bare inside.
Oh well, knew it was inevitable.
Ace is sucking these days, and last time I was in Home Depot I couldn't find anybody to assist me. Guess it's time to visit the Lowes and see what shenanignas are going on over there.
Oh well, knew it was inevitable.
Ace is sucking these days, and last time I was in Home Depot I couldn't find anybody to assist me. Guess it's time to visit the Lowes and see what shenanignas are going on over there.
theoldwizard1
Well-known member
Metro Detroit was Sears Country during the 70s, 80s and into the 90s. The 3 large mall store were ALWAYS in the "Top 10" for sales. Soon there will only be one left and I am betting it is because they are locked in to a multi-year lease that would cost them a bundle to break.
My family has over 40 years of Sears experience, add another 50 or so of Kmart experience for my in-laws (Kmart #1 is within 10 miles of my house), but no one has worked there in over 20 years.
My family has over 40 years of Sears experience, add another 50 or so of Kmart experience for my in-laws (Kmart #1 is within 10 miles of my house), but no one has worked there in over 20 years.
Stopped by my Sears today to see what was left. It was just announced publicly over the weekend that this location would be closing. Virtually everything that has a the word “Craftsman” was gone except for a few end cap signs that read “Craftsman - Original Home since 1927”. They refused to sell me one of them because “those are going to be collectors items and the liquidation company won’t let us sell them anymore.” Sounds like a bunch of BS to me. Any fixture that was worth anything functionally in a small shop was already gone. I’ll go back in a few weeks to see what’s left, but I really don’t need anything from there so I’d just be tossing money away for the hell of it. Come to think of it, they did have a lot of clamps. I’ll see what’s there later on. You can never have too many clamps.
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captain14
Well-known member
The clamps will be at full list price at 10% off along with all the other tools for several weeks
The only thing to expect is disappointment at what the show has become.
The only thing to expect is disappointment at what the show has become.
designer485
Well-known member
It's obviously too late now, but Sears should have downsized to be specialty tool (Creaftsman) and appliance (Kenmoore) stores and forgot about being a department store. Focus on what people actually bought and wanted along with offering the once great warranty. 10 years ago...need a tool, don't think twice, drive over to Sears and pick it up. Today, not so much.
Some will say Amazon has fixed some of that, but it is not the same as being able to go pick up a tool within 20 minutes and be back at your project. Sure we can do that with Home Depot or Lowes, and while Husky and Kobalt make good stuff, they are not USA made tools (no need to get into that though).
Some will say Amazon has fixed some of that, but it is not the same as being able to go pick up a tool within 20 minutes and be back at your project. Sure we can do that with Home Depot or Lowes, and while Husky and Kobalt make good stuff, they are not USA made tools (no need to get into that though).
Ilikeike
ALLIANCE MEMBER
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.
I was thinking my local store could have stayed open a little longer if the rented bounce houses out of the car service area and sold pinatas, oh well.
Totally agree - Until relatively recently, there was a Sears/Kenmore appliance (only) store near us - got several appliances from there.