Giant Sears slain by upstart Amazon ...

[dogtag]

The old world I grew up with is vanishing fast. Woolworths is
now just a faint memory - San Francisco store had a great
lunch counter. But, long gone.
Montgomery Wards - Gone. And now Sears. Shopping Malls
too are closing courtesy of Amazon, but they don't have the
memories and nostalgia of those old department stores.
The last time I visited a Sears, it was close to empty. Sad.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ive-debts.html

[leftyo]

amazon didnt kill sears, kmart did.

[Vern Humphrey]

Actually, the CUSTOMERS killed Sears -- by taking their business elsewhere.

[togor]

Ironically Sears was the Amazon of an earlier era with its catalog business. Who didn't look through the christmas toys section of the catalog as a kid? I saved a thick fall/winter catalog from '93, which was one of the last years they put the thick one out. If they could have seen ten years down the road to the internet era, I bet they would have done some things differently.

[High Plaines Doug r]

SHIVA! The great Creator/Destructor sweeps away that which exists to make a place for the new.

But that's just crazy talk...

[Mark in Ottawa]

I remember once reading a comment on the United States. It was that "the greatest economic strength of the United States was its willingness to dispose of the nearly new and replace it with the brand new". Not that Sears was nearly new, but it was an example of a business model that was obsolescent and was unwilling or unable to respond to newer business models. They filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday. As they say in Latin "Sic transit gloria mundi" (thus passes the glory of the world).

[JB White]

Sears killed themselves as did Monkey Ward's. Wards had hired terrible buyers in the 80's and 90's, and couldn't stock their stores with quality goods at a fair price point. The buyers bought crap, and when they did buy quality they didn't buy enough.
Sears overspent relying on days gone bye. They built a huge complex in Hoffman Estates IL. and dumped the Sears Tower. Then they employed inept people and let the monkeys run the zoo. They had to hire outside just to put a halfway decent catalog together and even that became a power play between the consultants and the permanent employees.
Kmart did a little of both (Sears & MW) and missed the true demands of their target market. The Sears-Kmart merger was a bailout from bankruptcy and people knew it. Always finger pointing and never truly adapting. Their adaptations always fell short. Staffed by old horses wearing blinders and 20-something know it all types who were more wishful thinkers than visionaries. Sears was in trouble long before Amazon got into the game.

[Allen]

My wife worked for Montgomery Ward from the mid 70's thru mid 90's. She complained constantly about Mobil Oil. It turns out that Mobil Oil bought MW as a tax write off. They intentionally starved the company off and wrote off the losses. It was planned for the store to diminish off into the sunset.

Sears, I know nothing about except the way they did business was piss poor. Except for small inexpensive items you couldn't just pick an item off the shelf and pay for it. You had to pay then take the receipt to the rear of the store and program everything into a non-user friendly computer. After a lengthy wait someone would come from the warehouse and look up your item. Sometimes they didn't even have it in stock. The last item I bought was a wheelbarrow. I had to buy the tub, hardware and frame separately then go thru all the "voodoo" at the rear of the store. In short it took an hour just to buy a wheelbarrow. We bought a bed from them and paid extra to have the old mattress hauled off. When the delivery people came they did not want to honor that, even when we showed our receipt of where we had paid for the extra service.

Penny's, I have no earthly idea why they are still in business as they have never offered the selection that Sears and MW did in the past. Later they ended up with a queer CEO who stated he would only cater to the queers. They lost millions of normal women shoppers during this era. He is gone but like obama, his damage remains.

All 3 killed their catalog departments, then started downsizing the sq footage and selection to the point where they didn't have anything more to offer than anyone else. I complained 40 years ago that you could walk into most any mall, go from shop to shop and everyone one of them sold the exact same items with different labels and prices. This was namely women's clothes and purses. When these malls first opened they offered something for everyone. You could spend a day in one. They had sporting goods including guns, tobacco shops, ice cream and candy shops, book stores, paint and interior items, electronics, lawn and garden products and so on along with a variety of restaurants. Now? It's clothes, bra's and purses period. Take your choice of one of 80 stores. My $.02 worth.

[Allen]

As an additional note about Sears. I had one of their credit cards for years. Everything started off OK but as time went on they increased the interest rate to 22% and charged a late payment fee every month even though the checks I sent in were clearing the bank long before the due date. By doing so they made an extra $20-$25 for the fee and charged you the 22% since you would always have a balance this way. I complained to deaf ears so I tore up the card. Later on I was in line to pay for an item at Sears. When I got to the cashier I paid with cash and she tried to sell me a Sears CC. I told her of my experiences and how it was with Sears and their schemes. I had everyone in the lines laughing and one very pissed off cashier. I'm sure they got paid a commission to sell the CC's.

[m1ashooter]

I'm a retail manager and every company I have work for has gone out of business. My take is a bit different. The same jerks who ruined a company get hired by their friends in other companies because of the good old boy process and they then in turn run that company into the ground while making big bucks and receiving golden parachute when they leave or close. A man once told me those that get a business into trouble, can't get it out of trouble. There is no doubt the internet and Amazon has changed the way we shop. Heck if Amazon sold ammo I'd probably buy that from them also.

[dogtag]

I used to shop (way back in the 70s) for tools. I bought Craftsman
wrenches, I bought a Radial arm saw, a table saw, and a drill press.
The drill press gave up the ghost a year back. I sold the table saw
long ago, but I still use the Radial.
Sears' stuff was good quality and it lasted.

[Vern Humphrey]

As far as tools went, it was. Their service sucked, though. I had a friend who needed his dishwasher fixed. Sears by accident sent him the part directly -- the part (which he installed himself) was less than $5.00. Sears wanted $75.00 to "fix" the dishwasher.

[JohnPeeff]

Their Craftsman wrenches are now made in China. My wife and I bought a new double oven and had Sears install it several years ago. The next day I noticed the digital clock wasn't lit, in fact the oven wouldn't go on. I called the Sears service number on the receipt and explained I just(one day) had a oven installed and it wasn't working. Two days later a SEARS truck pulls up and two techs wearing Sears overalls show up and want me to sign a paper and agree to pay $140 for a service call.I said I would sign it under protest only to show that they showed up but would not pay the $140 and wrote that on the work order. They checked the circuit breaker and it was Ok and left. I called the store(Pleasant Hill,CA) and they said don't worry about it and sent the original installers out who found a loose wire connection. I got a bill for the $140 called the store and was told to ignore it. Every month I would get a bill and the store said ignore it. I talked to the salesman, the manager, and wrote to Sears. Long story short, the store used a "contract" installer separate from regular Sears service techs and nothing could be done to get rid of the $140 charge. I didn't pay and my credit took a hit.

[Allen]

Yep. Isn't it amazing how these contractors who can be anyone can affect your credit reputation along with the games Sears (and others) played on late payment charges? Everyone and anyone seems to have control of our CC accounts but us.

I miss the Sears of the 60's and 70's. They had some unique, quality products and everyone anticipated getting that new fat Sears Christmas catalog (along with MW and JCP). That was truly a big part of the Christmas spirit back then.

I will not miss the Sears of the 90's and later.

[togor]

As far as tools went, it was. Their service sucked, though. I had a friend who needed his dishwasher fixed. Sears by accident sent him the part directly -- the part (which he installed himself) was less than $5.00. Sears wanted $75.00 to "fix" the dishwasher.

Nobody likes the overhead of a service call but flip it around. You've got a guy with a truck and a building with some parts inventory in it. Someone has to pay for upkeep on that whether the phone is ringing a lot or a little. And the cost in gas and travel time is the same whether it's a $5 or $50 part. I do a f*ckload of car work on the family fleet to save everyone money. But when it comes time to send something into a shop, I don't begrudge the shop owners or their mechanics the hourly rate. If you don't their terms, then don't call. Re: Sears appliances. I had a dehumidifier that got fixed a couple of times on warranty, and then I fixed a few things on it myself before the main compressor circuit finally crapped out after 15+ years. When it needed their service I took it myself to the counter and picked it up later. All in all it could have been worse, and when I needed just to buy the part and put it in myself it wasn't a problem on their end. I think I put in one fan, maybe two, and a new controller board. I didn't think Sears was all that bad to deal with. Time may have passed them by with millennials just wanting to buy stuff from a screen and not a real person, but while they were around Sears did good.