Sears Bankruptcy?

[Lainey]

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.

I've wondered about this, too, Tradd. I was told years ago that Sears employees had a great pension - is this going away too? I'm hoping that long-time employees like that will be taken care of.

[dado potato]

If Sears Holdings terminates the pension plans (and that remains to be seen), then the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation would cover the vast majority of the benefits earned by the roughly 90,000 participants. As of last year the 2 defined benefit plans were underfunded by approximately $1.5 billion.

[catherine]

If Sears Holdings terminates the pension plans (and that remains to be seen), then the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation would cover the vast majority of the benefits earned by the roughly 90,000 participants. As of last year the 2 defined benefit plans were underfunded by approximately $1.5 billion.

Boy, just shows you that nothing is certain. Imagine working for decades with the promise of a pension and then it evaporates. Golden handcuffs are sometimes just plain old handcuffs.

[ToomuchStuff]

What I am reading is that malls are using their space to build needed community centres with residential sections surrounding service providers such as groceries, pharmacies, clothing, health providers, fitness centres etc., all with supplied parking and excellent road access.

They talked about doing that here, in what was one of the area's very first malls. It started out years ago, as an open air mall, and they had talked about doing this style conversion. Several issues came up, such as rental units above retail locations (local laws were used years ago to stop owners apartments above stores), and who is responsible for damages (tenant leaves water running, etc). Stores/buildings not owned by the malls owner (and separate negations, etc).
Eventually, the property was bought up and converted to a new shopping district, with the first tenant being Walmart. That store is not a 24 hour store, as both homeless and fake homeless moved in.

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.

Oh yea. I remember it being considered a good store when I was a kid, but their big retail/mall locations didn't open till a new mall in 77-78. Everyone seemed to visit the warehouse/outlet. Things changed several times over the years, and I am surprised there are still locations after they sold off so many of their brand names. I expected it to be what Montgomery Wards is now, a web presence owned by who knows who.

It's been a few years, but I went online and into the store, remembering how stiff those Toughskin jeans were when I was a kid. I wanted some adult ones as work pants and I don't think the kids working, had a clue what I was talking about.

Pension games are coming. Reminds me of IBM.

[pinkytoe]

The centrally located Sears in Austin is closing and the developers are already making plans. If retail, it looks like Kohls or Walmart. The demographics there however point to something more ike the usual mixed use - retail on bottom, apartments on top that seem to be favored there. One 70s mall there has already been transformed into a campus for the community college with apartments going up for students on what used to be the massive parking lots. The old JC Penneys in that mall now houses the STEM classes.

[Rogar]

A rather sad sign of the times. In my younger days I can remember people working at Sears as a career job. Last time I was in it was more like the fast food employee line up. They used to stock products that were solid quality at mid-range prices, sort of like the Ford of days gone by. It seems like the successful brick and mortar retail these days is either discount Walmart types with questionable quality or niche stores with a focus on service and quality like REI.

[SteveinMN]

It seems like the successful brick and mortar retail these days is either discount Walmart types with questionable quality or niche stores with a focus on service and quality like REI.

That same hollowing out of the middle has already largely occurred in the grocery business. Walmart, ALDI, and, to a lesser extent, Costco/Sam's Club, Target and regional "warehouse" chains have soaked up the lower end and chains like Publix, Wegman's, and Lund's & Byerly's are doing well at the high end. The middle is having a really tough time relying on more than location and relative convenience.

[ToomuchStuff]

I wonder if anyone else is having more issues with the big warehouse clubs? What I have been finding/noticing is more of the stuff we get (work stuff, why I go there mostly), is becoming online only.

[sweetana3]

Don't ever like something too much if you buy it at a warehouse store. It will be discontinued. This keeps happening to us at Costco.

[catherine]

Don't ever like something too much if you buy it at a warehouse store. It will be discontinued. This keeps happening to us at Costco.

I agree--because the stuff is curated and then I'm sure very heavily negotiated with the vendors for rock-bottom prices, things tend to disappear. We can probably feel confident that the Kirkland brand stuff will always be there, though.