Sears bleeding money and in trouble

[whirlcool]

Yes, living at the same address more than 5 years does up your credit score quite a bit. It's one of those things they look at.

I just read that Sears is going to up its interest rate to 27% starting next month. IMHO that's loan shark interest rates.

This house we are in now came with Kenmore BOL appliances. They are all gone now, but I will say the stove cooked very well and was fantastic at holding a constant oven temp. The microwave was more upscale and it was great, until it died.

Most Sears stores still have that 1960's look to them. Oh, I forgot we DO have a Sears store in the Woodlands Mall which is slightly upscale in a more upscale neighborhood. So in a city of 5.8 million people there are only 5 Sears stores. And that's a poor showing.

 

[MikeS]

I Miss The Old Sears Too

When I was a boy growing up in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, my parents were die-hard (pardon the pun) Sears customers. Most of our major purchases came from Sears--color TV, stereo console, electronic organ, washer, dryer, fridge and range. Our tires were Sears radials; my dad swore by Craftsman tools. (The exception was clothing; mom believed in J.C. Penney.)
Our Sears products provided good value for the dollar and when repairs were needed, they were done promptly and fairly.
Flash forward several decades: The last time I purchased something from Sears was back in 1997--when I bought a Magnavox color TV. My kitchen has no Kenmore appliances; my tools come from Home Depot or Lowes; my tires and batteries from other stores; and so forth.
Did I abandon Sears, or did Sears abandon me? I wish I can give you the answer, but it seems the latter is more likely.

 

[iheartmaytag]

"Strange, I remember the Sears credit card being one of the toughest of all cards to get. If you didn't already have a VISA or MasterCard, you could just forget about applying for a Sears card.
"

This is very true from the past as it is now. Sear's credit used to be Greenway Trust, Discover. They were notorious for fraudulent billing. Double billing, errors in posting payments. As a lender we never took a Sear's trade line serious as we knew it wasn't accurate.

 

[turquoisedude]

Sears catalog stores closed in the US??

Wow, I had no idea! Sears Canada still manages to operate them in many large and small towns. Wonder how this might affect the Canadian operations...
It's funny that once upon a time, Kenmore appliances were synonymous with durablity and great after-sales service. I remember that the parts counter at the big Sears store in Ville St-Laurent (when Sears split from Simpsons) was a treasure trove - you could go in with a rusted nub of a part and say "I think this came from a disposer (or whatever)" and they would find you the exact part you needed! THAT doesn't happen now... And I have a co-worker who has just had unending grief with Sears service for her built-in oven that goes weird if she dares to use the self-clean cycle...
SIGH - whatever happened to customer service anyway???

 

[launderess]

Was Reading Some of The "Wall Street" Articles

On this matter, and while Sears does have it's problems, much of their recent woes are part of the nationwide recession and housing bust. Consumers aren't shopping for clothing and certianly aren't purchasing major appliances in droves which are two big areas for Sears. Lowes, Home Depot and other major appliance and electronic retailers are in the same boat, as are many hardware/home related stores.

 

[supersuds]

Catalog stores

No, they're not all closed. I know of small Sears catalog stores in Southern towns, going strong. They have some appliances, tools, lawnmowers, TVs in stock and you can order other stuff.

 

[norgeway]

Coldspot and Kenmore appliances

Did anyone know who made Sears refrigerators prior to whirlpool, or who made there vacuums and mixers up until the mid 50s, The refrigerators were made by Seeger refrigerator Co. , if you will remember Whirlpool products for a time were called Whirlpool Seeger, also vacs and mixers were built by Birtman electric co. , Whirlpool ...aided by Sears, who wanted these products under 1 management..bought these companys in the mid 50s, im not exactly sure what year, but I am sureit was late56 or early 57, because I saw a 57 coldspot that had the Seeger Co tag on the back,also I have a 57 vacuum that still has the Birtman motor, I also have a 56 mixer that has a 116 model prefix which denotes birtman or Whirlpool, I also discovered that a mixer with a 400 prefix is Hamilton Beach, No one has been able to tell me who made my 57 Kenmore electric range,someone said G.E. but it is NOT G.E. they never made anything like it, it has chromalox units and 7 heat pushbutton switches.

 

[turquoisedude]

Older Kenmore Mixers...

are an odd breed, indeed! The late 30's and early 40's models look like Dormeyers. I have a late 40's model that is almost identical to an AC Gilbert (which I think may have become the Universal mixer). Early 50's models looked like what would happen if you crossed a Dormeyer with a Hamilton Beach. In the late 50's and early 60's the Kenmores were cookie-cutter Dormeyers again, then they suddenly became Hamilton-Beach clones...
Sorry I don't know a lot about the vacuums!

 

[norgeway]

Mixers

I think Dormeyer did make a few of them, and gilbert did too, the ones im talking about have a 116 prefix, these are Birtman.

 

[jamiel]

I think the 7 pushbutton electric ranges were Gibson out of Greenville, MI. Clearly 5 button were all GE.

 

[norgeway]

Ill bet you are right!!

Thanks for the info...that makes sense, now that I think of it,Gibson is the only other manufacturer I know of that used pushbuttons, and theres were 7 position.