Sears closing 43 more stores

Link to 43 more stores closing. 5 years 2073 stores to 1143 stores.

Recently I needed a new washer. I decided not to buy at Sears or HH Gregg because of fear of store closings. A few months later HH Gregg closed.

Are you apprehensive about buying an appliance that might need serviced from a store that is closing?

Some may blame e-commerce for stores closing, but how many remember as a kid getting a wish book, a Sears Catalog?
Map of stores

We have a sears and a kmart how they stay open I dunno the kmart looks like a ghost town. Sears is a small sears franchise looks like they do enoufh to get by.

With appliances being pretty much use them until they break and throw them away these days it doesn't much matter where they come from.Sears got away from their original customer base and tried to out Walmart Walmart,didn't work.Should have stuck to keep selling guns and great lawn and garden stuff.I never go to K-Mart or Sears anyway far better stores around.

My Kmart is a ghost town. It closed years ago. My sears has very
few cars in parking lot, mostly employees.

I didn't realize my sears has an optical department. It was one
of the few places in town that would except my medicare part D.
Exam and driving glasses cost me $40. Saved me a little money.
Then I took my script and bought some cheapie reading glasses on
line. Keep readers all over the place, even in tool box.

Some hate Lowes. I buy all my appliances from Lowes. They deliver, install, remove old. Lowes 5 year extended warranty works for me. Collect on it all the time. Cheaper than paying for just one service call. I won't buy today's junk appliances without a warranty. Old brand name appliances aren't made like they used to by and not made by original owners.

We have a couple Mom & Pop stores here in town, I don't even look at what the big box stores have them for, just stop in here, and they bring them out, install, take away the old one. And they fix them when needed. Oh yes, they buy things from me, and also buy in town, send their kids to school, go to my church, keeping our little town alive. Kinda like Mayberry.

Have been going to Sears for my glasses for over 20 years. Most are free standing stores. Will have to check the medicare part D but I don't think that will work.

Time was; Sears used to be one of the largest lending institutions in the country, fact is they made more off installation payments than merchandise. In our hometown there was a Sterchi's furniture store that was just a front for lending money on their furniture, something like $10 down and $10 a month for years. Kinda like furniture/appliance rental stores of today.

(quoted from post at 05:11:15 07/08/17) Some hate Lowes. I buy all my appliances from Lowes. They deliver, install, remove old. Lowes 5 year extended warranty works for me. Collect on it all the time. Cheaper than paying for just one service call. I won't buy today's junk appliances without a warranty. Old brand name appliances aren't made like they used to by and not made by original owners.

Click to expand...

Kinda funny but one of my dad's friends worked as a mechanical engineer for a major appliance manufacturer in the late 60's. I remember him explaining to my dad how at the time the best appliances of the time were designed to last 8-10 years. Today it's the same standard. Back then there were only 4-5 companies that actually made appliances. They built to say Sears/Kenmore specifications for Sears, Sears didn't build them, neither did "Kenmore". The big difference back then was 15 years later you could still get parts for the machines.

Think about it. You build an item that lasts 200 years. Then flood the market. Everyone buys one. where is your market next year? While they can build appliances that last longer in the long run it's self defeating.

Rick

No, but I think it's ironic a store that became popular from a mail order business is being put under by online sales.

Don't have K mart in Texas anymore. Sears might as well shut them all down. I was in a Sears store last year. It was a ghost town.

It's a sad situation. I remember well the wish books and the big catalogs that ended up in the outhouse in lieu of tissue paper. Did a lot of business with them in the past and still would if there was one close by. I don't buy anything expecting to use the warranty.

I drive by an old house here fairly often that came from Sears and Roebuck. Came in on the train and was moved uphill about a hundred fifty yards. Quite a feat for those day's.

Stephen,

Ha! I just said the same thing to my husband over coffee this morning.

We lot our Sears store in Rutland, Vt about 5 years ago, still have a KMart, has little in it. There is a small(tiny) Sears out let with almost nothing in it in Middlebury, VT. Sad but true.

I still have and use my 1968 Kenmore gas dryer--have replaced belt and motor once , i am amazed how long it has lasted and thats with 3 kids

well it is what it is i sitting i bath room this am remember couple thing i need open the ap.. on my phone to amazon they well be here monday no shipping charge as i have prime it to bad sears didnt see this coming also pennys in same boat..

Sears/Kmart is being managed to wind down, so there is no future there. There is no plan to save or regrow. The plan is to sluff off as they sell off brand names and dismantle the place.

Wife enjoyed shopping at Kmart, then Target.

I got a Sears credit card because I accumulated some tools....

Kmart closed long time ago, Target left town a couple years ago.

The big Sears in the city a half hour away closed a year ago. Since then, I have been inundated with emails on wonderful deals on Sears clothes and jewelry and footwear. Maybe if they had been doing that back when we had a big Sears store nearby??? Duh.

Oddly, we still have a small franchise Sears store in my smaller town. They sell appliances and tools. My understanding is these are independent stores, not owned by the big Corp, and so are not so much subject to the massive closings? Tho some day, the name will just fade away, and the franchises will have to decide if thry keep going with new lines or fold as well.....

Paul

Face it Sears is done.

We have had excellent luck with Kenmore appliances. K Mart left here long ago, Sears left a while ago. I just drove to a neighboring city to get a Craftsman ratchet replaced, as no one sells Craftsman in this county. I have seen Kenmore appliances at a K Mart in another county, and would not be afraid to buy one. But then I buy the simplest appliance I can find. I don't know if there are any you can buy any more without a circuit board in them.

THe Sears and Kmart in my area are not closing. I buy the majority of my clothes at Sears. I buy them cheap after the season. Kinda hate to see them go.

Would that be the Sears at Triphammer Mall in Ithaca? The nearest Sears now is in Victor and probably will be there until the very end of the company. Brick and mortar retail is dying and one of the reasons the guy who opened the new casino did what he did. His family owns a few Rochester area malls both indoor and strip. Two of them have sagged pretty bad as of late.

Think about this. Now this is 30 years ago but at my aunts summer
cabin she had a refrigerator with the round unit on top. So it was
still worknig fine after 35 years then. Was sold with the cabin in the
late 70s. The thing I am missing most 5he past few weeks already is
Radio Shack. Have to try and find items elsewhere.

We have a new Sears (Kitchen Aide) dishwasher, new Sears gas stove, new Sears clothes dryer. Sears doesn't service appliances, hasn't for many years. We have a problem, grab the phone book and call around for lowest cost and most knowledgeable service person.

Craftsman tools being available at Farm & Fleet, Ace Hardware, etc. Is bad. Picked up a new DieHard battery at the local Sears store 2 yrs ago. Auto dept manager told me he hated seeing Blains Farm & Fleet selling batteries $10 cheaper than they were supposed to sell them. He matched their price but he said if he could price them hitself he could sell a semi truck load of batteries every month. A few tires and a couple oil changes he could keep 2-3 guys busy and make money.

I called my medicare. They sent me to sears. It's possible Sears doesn't take all Medicare .

Ithaca, yes. I went to Ace Hardware. I don't think there's a Sears there anymore. Maybe a Sears Hometown? There's malls and plazas all around the Triphammer/Rt 13 corner. I don't know which is which, as I seldom go there. I just drive around until I find what I want.

It's been a long time since I have been down to Triphammer Mall. I-90 is not too far away from me so I can be in Victor in about 45 minutes w/o going through a downtown area. I figure that Eastview Mall will be the last to die as all the rich women live in the surrounding communities who have a "I need it now" itch to scratch and can afford it will shop there right until the doors close for the last time. It would be a shame if it did close because there is a need to have some things the same day as you discover that you need them.

Yep be it a hard page catalog or the internet it is still pretty much a mail order set up just cheaper for them and cost us more.

Daughter always called K-Mart...came apart, as in a reference to clothing quality. Sears in St. Cloud, MN typically has only 4-5 cars in front of it in a typical day. Went to get C-clamps this week- cheap China crap now, smaller reach, not acme threads, 1 yr guarantee. Left them on the rack.

(quoted from post at 08:21:34 07/08/17) We have a couple Mom & Pop stores here in town, I don't even look at what the big box stores have them for, just stop in here, and they bring them out, install, take away the old one. And they fix them when needed. Oh yes, they buy things from me, and also buy in town, send their kids to school, go to my church, keeping our little town alive. Kinda like Mayberry.

Click to expand...

The employees of the big box also shop in your town, send their kids to school, go to church, and keep your town alive. The owner of the "mom and pop" aren't all that relevant as there are likely a lot more big box employees than there are owners of small shops.

Just because the owner of a big box is a corporation or even a family in another state (ie Menards) doesn't mean that the operation of the store isn't local. Small town people shoot themselves in the foot all the time by rejecting opportunities for productive changes in attitude.

I went from three Sears and two K-marts in New Jersey to none in Florida. They closed here.

I'd probably be the one there to buy on the liquidation sale. lol Parts are all available in the aftermarket for the scope of things you would fix and for anything serious you basically toss the new stuff anyway.Loss of warranty would be the biggest concern...

I think it's just a matter of time for Sears now. They're done.

Rod

Sears sold a tractor, may have been called a David Bradley or just a Bradley, made by them but marketed at Sears as their tractor in stores in the Midwest. This was from 1940 - 1950 or so. Don't see hardly any being restored so must not have sold many. Sears has good deals on clothes on sale and off season deals, but the young crowd does not shop brick and mortar anymore.

Buy sears cheap?
sears stock price

Last time I was in Leesburg, Fl this spring visiting my sisters, the sears there is still open. It has more sales than Terre Haute store.

I read an article where the small local Dollar General store is
taking a chunk out of the bigger stores. They just built a DG
across from the Federal Prison gate. It's busy all the time. They
even sell a lot of woman't clothes because woman are told they
are not dressed appropriate. If they want to see their man, they
must cover up. NO JOKE. Dress less provocatively. I was told this
by a Fed guard and a woman who works at DG.

When I bought my house 40 years ago, I bought their washer/dryer. I've repaired it a few times, but both still work.

When I remolded my other place south of town I put in a laundry upstairs and bought a new whirlpool. Whirlpool made kenmores for years. The washer only lasted 18 months before the transmission bearing went out. Thank got I had a Lowes extended warranty. They said it wasn't worth repairing, I got a full refund. No more whirlpools in my future. They don't make the like my 40+ year old one. I also have an old whirlpool in basement of place in south end. Don't use it much. Don't want to go up and down stairs, but it still works just fine.

On the alternate uses of one........" 50 yards to the outhouse by Willie Makeit".

Sears is stuck in 1975.....just like a lot of that generation. Living in a rear view mirror.

I never cared for Sears from the beginning. I always figured that if you knew who made their stuff, you could easily cut out the middle man and save some money. While they may have parts available for a long time after the sale, I found that the prices on those parts were not competitive with name brand parts from third parties. I always thought their clothing and small appliances were a bit on the cheap and cheesy side.
As for K-mart, I tried for many years to take my business there BEFORE I went to "china-mart." However, the last time I went to K-mart, I was looking for underwear and socks. They simply did not have the underwear I wanted, and the sock rack looked like picked over flea market left overs. So, I went over to Wally World to get what I needed.
Frankly, I could not care less if K-mart, Sears, and Radio Shack all went into the history books.

Years ago, Radio Shack wanted your life's history to buy a 10-cent fuse. Wonder why they are gone? I don't.

I don't shop at Sears anymore. My wife and I wanted a new range we decided on what style, and we asked for it in white instead of stainless steal they said that it would be 50 dollars more. I walk out and never been back.

Will I be sorry if Sears goes under? Not one bit. If you cater to old folks there is a problem, they die, then your business dies too. Sears never bother to change how they did business or attracted a younger crowd. Heck K-Mart went from being OK to the kids calling it "Came Apart" when they tried to sell for less than Wal Mart. They went to real cheap stuff. I quit shopping Sears in the 90's and K-Mart about the same time. Don't shop Wal Mart either.

Rick

The Sears tractor was the Graham Bradley, their implements were David Bradley, tractors weren't sold after WWII as I recall, some Implements were, along with the David Bradley walk behind garden tractors until about 1950.

I just know that medicare is not supposed to cover vision so did you have a medical condition that they were looking at instead of the vision? As of last January I have Medicare part D and if I would have been told corectly several years ago I could have gotten it earlier. Had vision and dential insurance as long as my wife was alive but as soon as she passed that insurance from her work ended.

Naw they abandoned retail, much of their previous success was based on the Sears card, folks could buy from them on time, they made money on the credit, their leader ship moved towards being a financial
services company and retail became something they did on the side. Then the traditional credit card came out (Master card and Visa) and folks could buy on time from anyone, putting the focus back on retail,
buy that time they had lost their soul and heart for retail. They missed the big changes in retail over the last 40 years, From the everything under one roof super centers and the home improvement centers,
they failed to morph their mail order business into E-commerce and they didn't make ay inroads into a new business model in their automotive department. There were opportunities, they just missed to many of
them. Their associates are not judged by the amount of sales they make but whether they get the credit card application, the loyalty card/ customer rewards application or sell the service contract.

Let me tell a joke and use it to frame how the minds of Sear's executives work or don't work. There was a tail about a young man who was hired on to work in a Mega-center, the total shopping experience and
after a week's training was turned loose on his own. At the end of that day he was asked how many sales he made and he replied "1", and the man's boss proceeded to explain that he was expected to make 15-20
sales each shift. Then trying to further explain to the young sales trainee the economics of retail he asked the young man the dollar value of his day's sales. Much to the bosses astonishment the young clerk
replied $260,000. They boss, getting a little excited says $260,000, HOW? The young man replies well first I sold him the bait, and then asked him if he needed a fishing license renewal then I convinced him
he'd catch more fish with a new rod and reel, then as we were discussing fishing from the bank verses fishing from a boat I sold him a new boat, motor and trailer and then I got him to believe that his new
boat didn't look good behind his old truck so I sold him a new pick up. The boss totally astonished asked the sales clerk "Let me get this straight, a guy walked in here for some bait and you sold him a rod,
reel, tackle, boat motor and trailer AND a pick up truck to boot? To which the employee replies "no, he came in here looking for a box of tampons and I said dude you're weekend is shot, you should go fishing!"

If this had happened at today's Sears the employee would be due a warning for poor performance as he didn't get the credit application, loyalty membership or service contract. Sears is failing in retail
because their focus is not on retail but on ancillary incidental products. Their leadership has faith in the ancillary and incidental products, maybe more than is warranted and it looks like they're ready to
ride their beliefs all the way to the bottom. Their focus, and placing blame on the retail associate as well as making some unrealistic goals for their associates on these ancillary products is evidence that
their focus is not and has not been on retail for years. Sears had a lot of value in their brands, yet they never made anything. The value of Craftsman, Die Hard, and Kenmore was in the service they added to
the product and years ago partially because they'd give you an open line of credit so if your car needed a battery you could pay for it a couple of dollars a month, if your washing machine dies you could have
a new one for $7 a month. Master Card and Visa took some of that away but in the long run by focusing on the ancillary products incidental to the sale the focus shifted away from being able to provide goods
and services to people at a reasonable price while making a profit. Say what you want about Walmart but if I go into a Walmart and spend $50 I'm pretty sure they made money on that sale no matter if I paid
with cash, credit or ATM they netted a profit. That ladies and gentlemen is what you call a sustainable business model, Sears no longer has one.

Okay, so people don't shop at Sears, Kmart, Walmart, etc. Just where DO you shop? Target is just an slightly upscale Walmart selling the same foreign made stuff for a little more $$$. Where do you shop? I get a lot of my clothes at TSC, but people here say they never go in a TSC "because it's China junk". Okay, so just where DO you shop? Are there mom and pops someplace selling made in the good ol'USA stuff at competitive prices? Where the heck do you "Never Sears/Kmart/Walmart/TSC" types get your stuff?