Well that’s a bummer. I wonder what will happen to my Sears Credit card. I know Sears no longer owns it, but it mostly gave out Sears rewards and the like.
Should I cancel it, or just let it stay my back up credit card?
I would wait. The Toys R Us cards were converted to a new one. When Costco changed from Amex to Visa they rebranded those too. The bank isn’t going anywhere, so you might as well see what they’re going to do.
I say that assuming it is a credit card and not a store credit, card.
It’s a credit card. My first.
Okay so you definitely want to keep that then, if you can. If it’s your first credit card then it’s probably your oldest history item on your Credit Reports too. Age is a factor in score. I still have the first credit card I ever got while i was in college. It’s not even that great but I kept it for… well i guess a couple of decades now and they eventually converted it to something slightly better because I told them they were prying my oldest credit card from my cold dead fingers.
@Nesrie is right. Someone will buy your account and it will likely be converted.
EDIT: I see she responded. LOL. Concur regarding “building credit” comments as well.
Thank you @Nesrie and @Navaronegun. I hadn’t really thought about it’s age. I actually don’t have too many credit cards to my name and I hardly every use my Sears one, but knowing that it’s credit history will have a big impact on my finances makes me comfortable with the idea of keeping it.
Maybe I’ll get lucky, since the Sears Card hasn’t been owned by Sears for almost a decade now.
Kenmore itself became worthless when the decent OEMs like Whirlpool stopped supplying Sears.
Edward Lampert’s Non-Strategy to Save Sears
The hedge-fund veteran spent far less than his rivals on store remodels and expansion, and was reluctant to commit capital to fresh ventures.
For many years, it was a favorite corporate guessing game: What is Edward Lampert’s ultimate plan to reinvigorate Sears? It’s time to consider the possibility that he really didn’t have one.
A reading of Mr. Lampert’s 15 annual chairman letters suggests he believed he could outmaneuver rivals he considered bloated overspenders. The hedge-fund veteran formed Sears Holdings, the 2004 marriage of Sears and Kmart, when the company had $55 billion in revenues, rivaling Target Corp. and dwarfing Macy’s Inc., but spending far less on store remodels or other expansion.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/edward-lamperts-non-strategy-to-save-sears-1539403293?mod=hp_lead_pos3
Sometimes a CEO is brought in to turn a failing company around. Sometimes one is brought in to loot the body and leave nothing on the corpse when it’s dead. Was anyone surprised which kind was in play here?
Interesting to see the poll on the CNN article that talked about the merger back in 2004
42% of voters thought the merger would result in store closings.
https://money.cnn.com/2004/11/17/news/fortune500/sears_kmart/
So going from 3500 stores (combined) down to 800 now after 14 years. Think how many people lost jobs due to this merger. Its crazy!
The end game already happened in Canada.
Same playbook, no?
Not one bit. What is as sad as the job losses are the loss of servicing/appliance/warranty infrastructure across broad swaths of non-urban America. More issues, perils and problems those folks can ill-afford.
I went into Sears last night! It’s just such a sad experience, still, and they don’t have an electronic department anymore. They just filled the space with what looks like rejected or damaged appliances; it’s not a good look.
The loss was had a long ago really. I mean, yes, people still work there but the company and the sites, they’re degraded. Having Sears near something is not a good thing anymore. I am not… hopeful that them disappearing will mean anyone can or will replace them quickly. A lot of the stores seem to small for the current big players and too big for the others… but some of them are in dying shopping malls and if they could be replaced it would help the others around them.
It’s going to be sad though to see them go. They were THE store for so long.
My friend heard the filing was going to play out last Friday night and I’m surprised it didn’t. I’m guessing it will hit the news on Monday, after a long weekend of negotiating with the banks. I’m also guessing that the decision between Chapter 7 or 11 will come down to which situation the creditors think will allow them to regain the most amount they have sunk into the sunk ship Sears.
It’s done.
Wow, hurts when it actually happens. Lots of Sears memories. Growing up, we shopped there often. Then Target took the generalist role from Sears leaving Sears as the place to get durable goods like tools, car batteries, and appliances. Then that went away and I have not bought anything from our local Sears in a couple of years
A really hate investment companies that buy real companies but then just loot the room.
did I miss this?
We only shopped at Sears Surplus stores because my parents were not “made of money” (1970’s phrase).
I read today that Sears was full of good managers but not good leaders. I had forgotten how they got involved in lots of non-retail adventures like Discover Card.
Looking for some Sears Catalog action-figure nostalgia spreads, stumbled upon this.
Quick research seems to indicate that Phoebe Cates was in fact a Sears Juniors model in 1979/80. I think that’s her.
http://www.wishbookweb.com/FB/1979_Sears_Wishbook/files/assets/basic-html/page-152.html#
It is.
Rrrrow,
Fast Times at Ridgemont High.