Sears, their business Ideas.

[kenburkholz]

Last night I went into one of the larger, and older Sears stores in the Seattle area, Just to look around. The shelves were fully stocked with everything imaginable all made in China! The thing that blew me away, were the prices! they were about 20 to 25% higher than before. When I finally found some one to ask they told me that this was a slow time for them so management keeps the prices high. Oh by the way, I saw not one other person in the store in the half hour I was there. With any luck ,it looks like Sears has finally killed itself. Ken.










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[mrjaw14]

And I thought that when business was slow it was time to have a sale...guess that's why they make the big bucks

 

[woody 73]

For the record I am not a business type person ; this is only what I am reading in the newspaper:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/22/sears-closing-flagship-store_n_4640634.html

Now the funny part is their on-line web-site is not the best as they say; go figure that one out.

 

[Hootbro]

For the record I am not a business type person ; this is only what I am reading in the newspaper:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/22/sears-closing-flagship-store_n_4640634.html

Now the funny part is their on-line web-site is not the best as they say; go figure that one out.

If that downtown Chicago store was anything like the Philly Sears stores they closed a year or so ago, more stuff was being stolen by Ghetto rats than paid for.

 

[Westly]

Interesting they're closing the stores to go back to mail order, which is where their roots were.

 

[justanengineer]

 

[metaldad]

If that downtown Chicago store was anything like the Philly Sears stores they closed a year or so ago, more stuff was being stolen by Ghetto rats than paid for.

downtown chitcago store is closing.
they raised the prices, so they can markdown 20%.
a sae crowsfeet set, which was normally 39.99, is now 79.99.
3/8 socket sets are 50.

 

[Fordman7795]

I stopped at our local store the other day and saw an empty premium ratchet package. I pointed it out to an employee who said that theft is quite common. He said they couldnt afford to pay security anymore yet theft jumped from 30k a year to 100k. I told him for 40k a year id get them back to the 30k mark

 

[Hootbro]

Interesting they're closing the stores to go back to mail order, which is where their roots were.

Sears is a prime example of bad decisions and timing. When they shuttered their catalog operations in 1993 after many years of no profits, they had the infrastructure in place to be what Amazon is today in the online retail world which Amazon started up in 1994.

 

[carterbeauford]

it's hard to break the habit of going into Sears to buy tools, but you can't go into Sears to buy tools anymore. sometimes I still wander in their out of habit looking for tools. it's hard.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Over a year ago I went to a nice suburban mall to go to the Apple store there. By force of habit from years gone by, I parked near the Sears store entrance. Plus there was no one parked there !

I was around 10:30AM on a weekday. I walked through Sears to get to my destination. The Apple store was packed ! There must have been close to 50 people in a relatively small store. Most of the customers were 50+ years old (!!!) and most of the employees were 30+ years old. (What is the average age of the help in the computer section of BestBuy ?) Most people were doing some kind of mini-class with no more than about 8 people.

I got what I came for and walked back through Sears. That was when it hit me. There were absolute ZERO customers in the store except for me ! Looking around, I could only see 1 or 2 clerks.

Sears, just turn out the lights, because no one cares !!!

 

[BDT/NWMN]

it's hard to break the habit of going into Sears to buy tools, but you can't go into Sears to buy tools anymore. sometimes I still wander in their out of habit looking for tools. it's hard.

Ya, I remember my visits to Sears in the past, which were often the highlight of the shopping trip. Current day visits are rather depressing..
One day last fall, I went to the mall about a half hour before Sears closed for the evening.. I traded a brief visit to Sears for a large cup of Lemonade. Sure enjoyed the Lemonade..

I still shop Sears tool department for certain items. Last visit in December was for wrench organizers. I bought six of them for $3.49 each, and seen a nice set of three USA made gasket scrapers on sale for under $15 .Nice scrapers...
Late last summer; I bought the 309 piece tool set for some budget minded USA sockets; which filled gaps in three different tool sets. Not bad for $199..

Some of their later USA produced tools were pure crappsman products.... A few years ago, I bought seven 3/8 ratchet-sockets that were on sale for $9.99.. My intent was to give them as gifts... Those rat-shits were so poor, I would have been ashamed to give them to anyone.... The sockets were just fine; so I basically paid a dollar a-piece for the sockets. What can I expect for $9.99 ???.

About two years ago, I """"tried"""" to place an online order for some USA Craftsman 3/4 and 1" drive metric impact socket sets.. Buy online and ship to store should be a simple task----not.. They wanted to ship them to a store that it out of my way; not the store I selected.. Sears website pissed my off . I made a grudge trip to Harbor Freight in Fargo, ND. Not the first time I have chosen Harbor Freight over Craftsman; Three years ago, I was shopping for a low cost set of jumbo metric combination wrenches.. The USA Craftsman Jumbo set in the Grand Forks, ND store had flashing and edges so sharp that I would have sliced my hands open had I gripped them...no thanks crappsman!

There are options for mechanical tool sales and service other than Sears:

My favorite Ace Hardware has a good tool selection, which includes Craftsman. I buy ProTo and Snap-On online; both new and used... Cripe's eBay store has sold me a pile of USA closeout tools over the past two years.. Snap-On has a dealer in our area. The local auto parts store has some reasonable tool sales, and will special order tools..

Kenmore appliances, Craftsman table saws, miter saw, shop vac, router table, hand power tools,??? Lowes, Menards, and Home Depot have similar products that will compete with Sears... Clothing, shoes, dishes, electronics, sporting goods, tires and automotive, window drapery, lawn and garden equipment. You name it, Sears sold it at one time during their history, houses included...

Did the world outpace Sears?
Sears was a legendary company.
Too big?


I have only warrantied a handful of Craftsman tools in my lifetime;
Hope I don't get the blame
,

 

[parnass]

FWIW, I saw an economic reporter on TV today explain that Sears, Target, JC Penney and other stores which cater mainly to the middle class were not growing because the middle class has been shrinking.

He pointed out that this trend began before the 2008 Great Recession.

The lower priced Dollar Tree type stores are doing well and growing as are stores which cater to wealthier people. People are looking more often for bargains on the web than they are shopping at traditionally middle class stores because they have less disposable income.

 

[340wedge]

My first tools I ever bought were Sears Craftsman, most of which I still have. I'm trying to be brand loyal to them and have bought garage storage cabinets and some more USA tools in the last few years before they do go out of business. One thing I don't like is the drastic price changes. They change several times a day sometimes! I was looking for a large garage storage cabinet that fluctuated back and forth between $325.00 dollars down to $195.00 several times a week and sometimes with 24 hours online. I was in our local sears not long ago and an elderly gentleman was waiting to check out with an item. On the entire floor we could not find anyone working, His wife said the same thing happened to them at another sears on the other side of town not long ago. Finally fed up, he put the items down and said, "And Sears wonders why it is doing so poorly" and walked out of the store. I waited until I could find someone to check out and the sales kid told me he was the only person working sales and register in three departments. Sad!

 

[Engine]

At my local Sears, there are always people "working" in the tool & lawn care department, but very few people shopping.

I dropped in there about three times in the last few months and other than myself there were only one or two other shoppers. This Sears is in a very popular mall where there are thousands of shoppers many days of the week. It should get lots of traffic, but it doesn't. I'm surprised the place stays open. Of course, it is possible that I just happened to be there at a slow time.

 

[Westly]

When they shuttered their catalog operations in 1993 after many years of no profits, they had the infrastructure in place to be what Amazon is today in the online retail world which Amazon started up in 1994.

Don't blame sotheby's for not becoming ebay or sears for not becoming amazon.

 

[Hootbro]

Don't blame sotheby's for not becoming ebay or sears for not becoming amazon.

Your analogy is off. Sotheby's is a high end auction house for 1%'ers. Not a far stretch for Sears to have become what Amazon is today if for better timing and management.

 

[rocketmanray]

I gave up on Sears when they changed to a depot maintenance concept – they moved our (and all local) Sears Service Centers to a consolidated location. The local one was moved completely across the state to Tampa – you could drop off your broken equipment to the local store and it was shipped to the depot for a mere $29.95. I had a little roto-tiller that broke, the clutch was worn out – I was told to have the clutch fixed cost more that the roto-tiller!! That was about 1995 and I have never spent another cent in Sears and NEVER will never spend any money there again…. ever…

I’m also embarrassed that I have Craftsman tools in my tool box – whenever I need a replacement, I replace them Husky or Lowes tools.

RMR

 

[Csp203]

Everyone of us will die one day, and every company will go under. I am sure it will not be in my lifetime but even Apple will be no more one day. Things change, peoples taste change, generation to generation nothing is constant.

 

[Jrussell86]

it's hard to break the habit of going into Sears to buy tools, but you can't go into Sears to buy tools anymore. sometimes I still wander in their out of habit looking for tools. it's hard.

I feel the same way. It used to be the highlight of my trips to the mall but today it's just sad. I know even Rome fell but I just hate to see a place that I one enjoyed so much and did so much business with in the shape it is in. My last visit to Sears to get a few items replaced ended 45 minutes later with 1 refurbished ratchet one oil filter wrench they said they didn't have and couldn't help me with, and a few dollars returned for a punch that was discontinued with no replacement. There was also a man behind me trying to check out that finally just gave up and left.

 

[pacecar]

here recently I felt like they were trying to be like amazon by having 1000's of items online that aren't in any of their stores, where they are a go between for different retailers

they just don't really have the web skills/vision to pull it off

 

[jakemac]

We used to have a well stocked Sears repair center nearby, I rarely had to wait for them to order anything. Most things I needed were on the shelf. A few years ago they closed it and moved it to a corner of one of the stores at a shopping mall 20 miles away. I went all the way down there to get a gasket for a dishwasher and the "Repair Center" was a counter in the corner with no stock at all. They said they could order me the part and send it to my house. I told them that I could have done the same thing sitting on my a$$ at home without burning a couple gallons of gas and wasting my time and walked out.

 

[Steinmetz]

I never had a transaction with Sears that did not ultimately result in extreme frustration. So I simply gave up on them, many years ago.

They failed to evolve. They will just die out as a result.