Sears Bankruptcy?

[KayLR]

The Sears store in our nearby mall is clearing everything out, 30-70% off inventory. Ironically, their ads also say they're hiring for the upcoming season. (?) When they're gone, the mall is going to have only a Penney's and Macy's and then the usual cheesy mall stores.

My family traditionally bought Kenmore appliances, and I still use my Kenmore boat anchor, er, sewing machine from 1977. It'll never die. We also usually shopped for Craftsman tools, although the quality seems to have declined in recent years.

Too bad. I had similar catalog dreams like some of you had, too.

[sweetana3]

Growing up in Alaska, the catalogs were how we knew what was available in the "outside" world. Still remember the toy catalog every year.

We are losing the last Sears in Indianapolis.

[oldhat]

All of our K-Marts and the Sears closed last year. Once K-Mart bought Sears, it really went downhill. I still have my Kenmore sewing machine that I bought in 1977.

Last year I was grocery shopping in Jamestown, NY, at a large supermarket next to a Kmart. I didn't even know Kmart was still operating, and I went in to have a look. It was a Saturday and the supermarket was very crowded, but in the Kmart you could have fired a cannon and not hit anyone. The store was actually very clean and well-stocked--just no customers.

[Tradd]

Sears is based in suburban Chicago. I have two friends who work there, a married couple. Waiting to hear what happens with their jobs. They're corporate.

[jp1]

As someone who loathes bricks and mortar shopping I'm not particularly despondent or surprised. I can view a much broader range of products online and shop around multiple stores, all without using any gas, or even getting out of my bathrobe. And if I find something I want to buy I can take a minute to look for a coupon before committing to the purchase. And at the end of the day it's surely more energy efficient for a big brown truck to tool around my neighborhood delivering purchases every block or two than it is for each of me and my neighbors to drive ourselves over to the mall to buy stuff.

I just wonder how long it'll be before Amazon starts selling tiny houses, just as Sears used to sell regular houses in their catalog.

[catherine]

As someone who loathes bricks and mortar shopping I'm not particularly despondent or surprised. I can view a much broader range of products online and shop around multiple stores, all without using any gas, or even getting out of my bathrobe. And if I find something I want to buy I can take a minute to look for a coupon before committing to the purchase. And at the end of the day it's surely more energy efficient for a big brown truck to tool around my neighborhood delivering purchases every block or two than it is for each of me and my neighbors to drive ourselves over to the mall to buy stuff.

I just wonder how long it'll be before Amazon starts selling tiny houses, just as Sears used to sell regular houses in their catalog.

https://gizmodo.com/the-11-best-tiny...zon-1819377589

[jp1]

https://gizmodo.com/the-11-best-tiny...zon-1819377589

I guess I should've looked first!

[gimmethesimplelife]

Today I was off my work so I took a cluster of mystery shops at Paradise Valley Mall, a slowly dying mall near the very upscale suburb of Paradise Valley, Arizona. In this mall I believe is the last open Sears store in the Phoenix area (?), two others that I know of have long since been closed. I walked into this Sears as I heard about the bankruptcy filing and I also heard their shares closed at less than 50 cents last Friday.

This Sears location was essentially a retail graveyard. It was not devoid of stock as many Sears stores are said to be, but prices seem high to me and the store itself seems dated to the late 80's slash early 90's. The store needs some sprucing up and better upkeep. As for the stock itself, nothing special that you can't easily find elsewhere.

Seriously, I am no business expert but my hunch regardless? Not much longer will Sears exist.....I'm amazed the brutally capitalistic marketplace we are forced to navigate has not long ago pulled the plug on the train wreck that is Sears Holding Company. Rob

PS I did take a picture of the outside of the store for posterity as I am sure the store will not exist much longer and Sears is a storied, long term American retailer.

[sweetana3]

I pretty much knew they were doomed when I walked into a two storied Sears in our busiest mall on around 10:15am on a weekday and the lights and escalator had not been turned on.

[SteveinMN]

When [Sears is] gone, the mall is going to have only a Penney's and Macy's and then the usual cheesy mall stores.

Two other former retail giants teetering on the brink, Penney for having forgotten who they were and Macy's for trying to make customers forget who they were (by assimilating locally-loved store chains like Dayton's [here in Minnesota], Marshall Fields, Filene's, etc., into faceless Macy's stores nothing like the stores and brand promises they had). Both have been closing stores by the score over the past years.

There's still room for good retail. Best Buy managed to move out from under the shadow of Amazon by adding service and "gotta see this" to the equation. Nordstrom and Von Maur have continued their slow expansion as word of mouth increases demand by new customers (helps that they don't need to engage in selling all the same stuff as other department store chains). Retail is not dead, but the old paradigm of just shifting boxes out the door is almost gone.

Interesting Twitter thread on how Sears (and its catalog) was a key element in subverting racism (note: possible triggers in comment tweets): https://twitter.com/louishyman/statu...72178415828993