I honestly don’t understand how they still have nearly 900 stores. Who shops there?
Well, Black & Decker tools and Kenmore appliances are good brands. Plus, it was one of the few places to have the right kind of good quality boxers, y’know?
EDIT: it’s Craftsman, d’oh. I got my power tools confused. It’s right there in the title.
Craftsman tools are still good, not as good as they used to be, and I know they sold the brand. I buy their hoses and tools. That’s about all I buy from them.
We’re fortunate in the Seattle area that the economy is so strong, so if anything the stores closing in our area is something of a blessing.
The Alderwood Mall practically began bulldozing the Sears store as soon as it shut down; and construction began immediately on another outdoor village at the mall, with Dave & Busters and Dick’s Sporting Goods anchoring it.
The Shoreline Sears is red hot property just north of the Seattle city limits. The developers have already had community meetings about creating a mixed-use retail/housing center which would be much more up-scale than the Sears ever was.
However, a lot of places where Sears is shutting down aren’t Seattle. I don’t think they’re going to replace them as easily.
The reason they’re closing stores is because nobody is going to Sears anymore. Other than the workers, not many will mourn the loss.
Yep. My Kenmore washing machine went for 17 years without a single repair. The dryer even longer than that.
And my Craftsman lawn mower is still going strong.
Our local Sears just finished up its going out of business sales, and is now shuttered. It’s really sad now driving past there and seeing the emptiness. Our K Mart is still open though.
Its interesting to read this thread and relate it to the How much have you spent at Amazon thread. Pretty clear that we are all responsible for the death of these stores and thus the days of tangibly checking out items before buying seem to be dying.
Totally, but I bet that sometime in the last ten years there was a crucial moment when Sears execs talked about this.
“Should we try to counter Amazon and build out a robust online presence?”
And then one of their very smart marketing people said no, people will always want to see and touch the big appliances and clothes that they buy, so we’re in a good position.
Turns out, not so much, and of course they were under pressure from Best Buy and Target as well, which were both superior shopping experiences.
We’re still at the beginning of the “People don’t want to see and touch things before they buy them.” era of retailing. Give it time. The more people buy things they end up not liking or find out are junk, the faster they will turn back to retail stores for their goods. How many people do you know that won’t use eBay because of getting swindled once or twice? I know a LOT of them.
Sears problem (and K-Mart’s) is that their stores never kept up with the times. They invested nothing in them. Many still look like they did in the '80’s and you can’t run a retail business like that. You have to reinvest in your locations and frankly, I doubt they could do that after the K-Mart acquisition/merger. They set themselves up to fail.
The problem is that even if they do want to see and touch things before they buy them, that doesn’t mean they want to buy them where they touched them.
LOL, I wish this forum had a RemindMe feature! I would be happy to bet that the trend only accelerates. This is all about the convenience of having everything delivered combined with easy returns.
Yeah but if you read the rest of this thread, going to Sears to buy something feels like visiting a graveyard. It’s so unpleasant. You can try to blame that on Amazon but these stores were not well-designed and old before Amazon hit it big. It feels like they didn’t even try.
As for other issues, I can buy something I need and want from Amazon, or I can go to 2,3, 4 stores locally, not find it, see if I can get an employee to care enough to order it for me and get it in weeks or just go online and get it in 2 days.
The Sears here in town (there’s only one) was one of the stores saved from the headsman’s axe, apparently. But I haven’t been to it in ages. Like Nesrie says, it’s like a tomb. Sort of how K-Mart was before its demise.
I think Sears hasn’t figured out you can’t be everything to everybody. I don’t know of another chain that sells everything from underwear to lawn mowers to mattresses to jewelry. Stores that were that diverse have been disappearing for the last decade or more.
Sears was designed for an era when there wasn’t specialized competition in an area. Today there is. You don’t need to one stop shop if you don’t want to.
Well, Wal-Mart and Costco sell all of that stuff and more, and have figured out how to make it work.
Costco is a weird set up. Pay us money and you can shop in our store, and buy huge quantities of stuff you may not really need. And it is a warehouse, ever try looking for somewhere to try those pants on? And those check out lines.
Does WalMart really sell mattresses? I admit to hating WalMarts, not because of any political bent but simply because of normally what a freakin mess they are inside, at least here.
Actually, I work for a retailer that has had same store sales growth yearly since we emerged from bankruptcy about ten years ago now that sells everything from underwear to mattresses to jewelry to dining room sets to small appliances to shoes to yes, even a candy counter.
We are 34th in Forbes top 500 companies to work for with employees numbering over 5000.
Yes they do.
What makes Sears a little unique than the half-dozen or so other stores that cater to everything is Sears has/had Kenmore/Craftsman… their own brands. Wal-Mart doesn’t have that for those kinds of things really, at least not quality ones.
There are several chains that sell everything under the sun, that still exist today.
Never heard of Boscov’s.
I don’t think the idea of walk in stores is the problem. I think you still need to execute and you still need location. I would bet most Sears stores are in what are now older shopping centers or parts of town.
Well a lot of stores used to be built around Sears for that traffic. I keep seeing them in run-down strip malls. Our Sears is next to the best movie theater in the area and Red Robin… everyone just parks in those spots to get to the other two.
Occasionally I see an earlier movie on Sunday, like early afternoon, and I emerge and I think I should see if any tools are on sale.
Oh, they’re not open… because their hours also suck compared to all the other big retailers. I’m a retailer that sells all this stuff but I am going to hold mall hours and close at 7 on a Sunday.