Oh this was actually even more fun because it didn't ring up in their system anymore at all. They almost didn't want to sell it to me. Luckily the hometown website still listed it under "items no longer in stock" and I got them (after much arguing) to match that price since they couldn't come up with a different price.
...
That reminds me of another example of surprisingly Sears-esque experiences recently at other non-bankrupt retailers... (I also mentioned recently about Lowe's inventory issues.)
I had Walmart actually refuse to sell me a clearance extension cord recently. I had been so glad to actually find one buried behind a jumbled mess of other cords on the shelves. It had lost its tag, there were no others left, and the um undereducated employees, including a manager,
a) had no awareness of their extension cord stock range, even the inexperienced 'tool department' person who seemed like they had never lifted a hammer in their life other than to put it on the shelf, and refused to listen to me that this was the only cord with these specs they had carried, and I had all the SKU/UPC info for it

b) had no idea how to use anything except their smartphones on the public walmart.com website to look up information about their inventory

c) had no idea how the whole concepts of clearance and wholesale distribution work - they had no interest in trying to sell the stupid thing because they thought sending this thing back would get them reimbursed for the full original shelf price

d) had no interest in customer satisfaction - didn't care one bit about me leaving empty-handed and frustrated after a huge waste of time
Sooo it's not as if there's some significant difference in customer service and employee competence between Sears and their surviving competitors.

At least Sears gave me stuff for putting up with them, nice while it lasted (not quite dead yet, but not much longer).