More Sears/kmart closings

[johnrk]

Sad?

You bet. It's always sad when a business model that has been very successful in the past has failed in contemporary times. I would've never dreamed back in the 70's when I bought my first new car in college, that GM or Chrysler would be as they are now. Those older than me can probably remember the primacy of Woolworth's/Barbara Hutton and all of that. They were already headed downhill in the 70's, though we still had the huge multi-floor store in downtown Houston near the hospital where I worked. Books have been written and websites founded on the demise of our great department stores.

A century and more ago, Sears was so very valuable to America, when more people were living rural and that catalogue connected the country. Perhaps its value didn't match Ford's Model T, but it was valuable. As a kid in the 60's, my parents never ordered Sears stuff, and didn't buy there, but I sure enjoyed looking through those huge catalogues when I'd visit some relatives!

I see no need to do yet another lame post-mortem on what happened. The causes should be clear to all on here because of the general level of intelligence. The only sadness I see with the death of this once-great company is its wriggling, desperate attempts to stay alive, rather than closing with dignity. Decades from now it'll be remembered for this as much as its heyday.

 

[kd12]

Bad Marketing Combo

My impression is that K-mart/Sears was a bad combination, both financially and marketing-wise. Financially, Sears Holdings became too dependent on K-mart revenue to help keep them solvent. Marketing wise, K-mart had image problems. I don't think I have been in a K-mart in my life. They were where the poorest of the poor shopped where I grew up. Sears, on the other hand, throughout the 70s and 80s, was where people went to get top-quality items, either at a small-town catalog store, or at the mall in bigger cities. Never could reconcile "blue light specials" with Sears, even in name only.

 

[fan-of-fans]

I stopped into Kmart and Sears today. Kmart was the busiest I've seen it in years, there were 3 checkout lanes open in front plus the service counter. I didn't go into the garden center. This must be because of the inventory clearout sale they're having. I didn't see much of interest to me though.

Sears was also pretty busy considering how it usually is, particularly the appliances and mattress dept, though I didn't go to the tool or outdoor section.

There were also people in the watch repair department last time I went, which I didn't even know that or the eye glass depts were still open.

 

[man114]

Inventory Blowout sale

Total sham, everything is basically the same price as it normally is but the signs look flashy usually the Sears sale signs are drab and boring in comparison. The expensive Samsung TVs are no longer on sale they're jacked up to $2199 but less 23% due to the inventory blowout. Which was exactly what they were before the sale started. Thankfully the sale ends Black Friday according to the fine print, unless they extend it until Christmas. I'm sure they'll have some other one for the next month.

I wish they'd bring back the one they did during the summer, our store was one of the test ones that participated, where the online price was matched in the store. That was a great sale. Didn't seem to impact the foot traffic or anything but for a long time Sears customer like myself it was super convenient for small trivial stuff. If people knew that it and they did it permanently it probably would be good for business.

Closest Sears is redoing the tools as of late, looks like a pretty advanced project, I've been there regularly the past two or three weeks buying up clearance stuff from that and it seems appliances has been quite busy. The one day it was busy on a Friday afternoon which was rather odd, I stashed the clearance tools and went back later because every register was full of customers. Usually I'll use a spare appliance guy for that because they have quite a few and all of them were occupied.

 

[vacerator]

Wondering

if any of their category manager(s) are monitoring this site or others for feedback or ideas.
Maybe before a year or two ago. Now it just seems like an after glow, or like if you had a bus full of preschoolers tossing their hats out the windows, saying "all gone".

 

[fan-of-fans]

I noticed at Sears the original prices of some items were very inflated. For example, items that were 50% stated the original price to be $42 when it was much less than that.

The sale at Kmart is a true clearing out sale because the store is closing in January. I didn't see any great deals, most things I saw were only 10% off. Clothes were 30%, vacuum bags, belts and filters were 25%.