Sears has filed for bankruptcy

[OGEmoji]

12 hours ago, HarleyQuinn said:

I feel like Sears has been going out of business for the last decade. Ours finally bit the dust a few years ago.

I don't think JCP will have the same issue. They have high quality clothes and the salons + Sephora to help. Plus didn't the acquisition of Kmart essentially make them compete against each other?

Our local JCP seems to have very outdated fashions, or the styles juuuust miss the mark.  The clothes feel more on par with Walmart (which has really improved lately)

Retail is fickle and fast paced. You keep up with what the buyers want, or you fail. I think giant department stores with portrait studio/salon/etc feel like a relic of a bygone era. People want specialty stores or online shopping. we are all so busy, we'd rather walk into a store that sells  a specific item and get out quickly rather than meander through a sprawling department store. We have Amazon for browsing, and we don't have to put on pants for Amazon!

[Briefly]

The Sears store in Tulsa is on the closing list, we heard it on the news last night.  I'm not surprised.  I will be surprised if they don't entire close.

Our refrigerator is from Sears, we bought it 24 years ago and it's still going strong.  Hopefully, it stays that way!  We bought it when we bought the first house after we moved to Oklahoma so it was in 1994.  We bought the biggest one we could based on the size of the spot in the kitchen.  We've kept filters on the ice maker, but it doesn't have all the bells and whistles because I just want a fridge/freezer to keep my food cold.

We bought a dishwasher from Sears a few years later and it was basically junk.  It only lasted a couple of years and then we had to replace it.  I don't remember what brand that one was but I don't think it was Kenmore.

When the Briefly daughter was little, a lot of her clothes came from Sears because they were sturdy and lasted so long.  Jeans and shoes, mainly.

[47of74]

14 hours ago, HarleyQuinn said:

I feel like Sears has been going out of business for the last decade. Ours finally bit the dust a few years ago.

I don't think JCP will have the same issue. They have high quality clothes and the salons + Sephora to help. Plus didn't the acquisition of Kmart essentially make them compete against each other?

Ours closed in 2014.  I was kind of curious at the time if Younkers was going to take over the entire wing as they had two separate stores in the local mall.  They had one the women's and jewelry in the original store, and then had men's, furniture, and appliances in the second store which they took over after Armstrong's went out of business.  Well they didn't and Younkers just went belly up not too long ago.  There's now a Planet Fitness and a trampoline park taking up most of the Sears space now. 

[cindyluvs24]

On 10/15/2018 at 8:02 PM, Cartmann99 said:

I have a Kenmore brand refrigerator and stove from Sears.

Yup. I still have my Kenmore dishwasher.  Its about 27 years old.  The previous owner got it so I'm assuming it was right before she sold the house, however it could be older than that.  I replaced the bottom rack two years ago because the tines started breaking off.  I replaced the water intake valve ( $ 38.99 )  last year and now the thing works like new.

Its funny how Sears is being usurped by Amazon, yet Sears was the original Amazon.  They perfected the mail order business. Who remembers the catalog and the Christmas Wish Book ?  (raises hand)  Hell, they even sold house kits.   They were also the first place to let my mom have a credit card .... in her own name.  And they sold detergent in five gallon buckets.  And who remembers wearing Toughskins jeans ?  (The ones for girls came in pastel colors.)

[Briefly]

I should not have said that our Sears fridge was so great, the ice maker is acting up!  Actually, we did have replace the ice maker about 10 years or so ago.  I'm not going to say anything else about our appliances working!

[PennySycamore]

@cindyluvs24, there are Sears Kit House enthusiasts and for good reason: those houses were beautiful!.  You could buy just about anything you'd want through Sears.  I think my dad bought his dog Pal from Sears and I know he got his first bees and some of his beekeeping equipment from Sears.  I picked up the package of bees from the letter carrier.

[Pecansforeveryone]

Our local Kmart is finally closing. I'm not suprised given how Kmart has struggled for a good decade. Our JC Penny's closed 4 years ago. It had the misfortune of being right next to our Kohls and one of our Targets. The JC Penny's one town over is still open. It's where I got my mom a beautiful mother of the bride dress for a good price.  

[FloraKitty35]

The Kmart here in Dover closed in 2014.  The Sears closed this August.  

[Beermeet]

19 minutes ago, PennySycamore said:

@cindyluvs24, there are Sears Kit House enthusiasts and for good reason: those houses were beautiful!.  You could buy just about anything you'd want through Sears.  I think my dad bought his dog Pal from Sears and I know he got his first bees and some of his beekeeping equipment from Sears.  I picked up the package of bees from the letter carrier.

There are few of those Sears houses around where I live. I love them! 

Damn, this is an end of an era.

[dairyfreelife]

My parents still have their Sears A/C from almost 25 years ago and still works, at least as of this post. It's cold now, so not currently in use. They had great appliances that lasted. The Lowe's appliances they and I have gotten just haven't been as great as ones from Sears. I will miss that. 

The Bon-Ton Stores went out of business this year as well. It doesn't surprise me though as they were just an average department store and their coupons and policies associated were just not as good as other department stores. A lot of the stuff you could buy from Target or Wal-Mart for cheaper or get better deals from other retailers. Still, they used to have great deals on Black Friday. It was a tradition to go to the local Elder-Beerman near my parents on Black Friday with my mom and sister and I'll miss that this year. 

No more Sears, Bon Tons, Toys R Us, Rite Aids, it's definitely an end of an era. 

[PennySycamore]

Rite-Aid didn't help itself survive when all the stores around here became mini-grocery stores.  They weren't very good grocery stores and they weren't really good drug stores either.  Apparently, the ones in Connecticut when my daughter lived there weren't like that.  

[ADoyle90815]

For me, what I loved about Sears were the Lands End clothing and the Craftsman tools. Not too far from me is one of the few remaining Kmart stores, and it's only a matter of time before it closes as well, which I think is especially sad as I used to work at that particular store.

[PennySycamore]

@ADoyle90815, last winter I bought one of the Lands' End plaid tunics I love at the Lands' End shop at Sears.  It was particular color was out of stock online, but I was able to find it at the store.  I need to get another 2 or 3 of these tunics as I wear them almost every day during the colder months.

[MissAquarius]

What sucked for me growing up is I was terrified of Sears. I was old enough to know Adam Walsh was taken from a Sears nearish where we live, but I didn't understand it was a freak incident NOT at our Sears. Yet my parents always left us playing videogames while they shopped. Last hard, solid memory I have of being in a Sears was playing a Dreamcast there. Then that location closed not long after that. We all assumed it was just one bad store, but it was just the start of the closings.

Info about Adam Walsh:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Adam_Walsh

[PennySycamore]

Quote

Toys R Us is no more, and Sears is on the verge of death. More than 30,000 Toys R Us workers just lost their livelihoods.1 In the last decade, 175,000 people lost their jobs at Sears, with more to come.2

These iconic brands didn't die a natural death. It wasn't competition from online retailers. Hedge funds killed them and profited from their demise.

In the case of Toys R Us, there was a buyer ready to purchase the company and preserve at least half of the jobs. But a handful of hedge funds decided the company was worth more dead than alive and blocked the deal.3

Now, Sen. Elizabeth Warren is demanding justice for the laid-off workers.4 We need to stand with her and demand that these predatory hedge funds pay out severance to all those whose livelihoods they stole.

Stand with Sen. Warren: Demand justice for Toys R Us workers. Click here to sign the petition.

The popular story is that both companies fell victim to competition from online retailers. Don't believe it.

In the case of Sears, a former Goldman Sachs banker named Eddie Lampert merged the company with Kmart. He loaded both up with debt and used the borrowed money to buy back the company's stock, which drove the price higher and made him rich. His hedge fund also made millions off of commissions and fees for its loans to Sears. Now, the company is bankrupt and the job losses could total well more than 200,000 – but Lampart's net worth is around $2 billion.5

The death of Toys R Us started with a group of hedge funds and private equity firms – practically the same thing these days – buying the company with borrowed money and then pushing the debt onto the company itself. The hedge funds made money while the company spent all its profits paying interest. Despite sales remaining steady, Toys R Us sunk deeper into debt.6

A few hedge funds bought that debt – in some cases, for less than 50 cents on the dollar – and demanded the company pay in full. As Toys R Us teetered, they decided that they would make more money by liquidating the company than by going into bankruptcy or making a sale that would save jobs.7

The decision cost more than 30,000 people their livelihoods. When Toys R Us closed stores in the past, it usually paid severance. The hedge funds that killed the company owe the same to workers today. Two firms, Bain Capital and KKR, have pledged to pay into a hardship fund.8 Now we need to help Sen. Warren turn up the heat on the rest of the predatory hedge funds and force them to do right by workers.

Stand with Sen. Warren: Demand justice for Toys R Us workers. Click below to sign the petition:

https://act.credoaction.com/sign/toys_r_us_sears?t=7&akid=30490%2E4743187%2ElUg18s

 

I just read this from Elizabeth Warren and Credo Action. There are references if anyone wants them.

 

[libgirl2]

We don't have a KMart in my area that I am aware of. Back in the day, I used to work at a couple of the stores. The last time I worked there, it seemed nothing had changed.... same old business model, outdated look. What really bothered me is the return policies (I worked the desk). They would take back anything and everything. Sure that size 20 woman has 10 bikinis that are all different sizes (none of which were hers) has no receipt...... give her the money back. Morale was also very, very low. 

[CTRLZero]

Thanks for the emailed info, @PennySycamore

I found another article on Eddie Lampert.  If I understand the machinations behind the demise of Sears, Lampert (the CEO) loaned the company money just enough to get by and then put it out of business by not investing in upgrades, etc.  The company would then basically have to turn over its real estate holdings in bankruptcy, which is what Lampert and others were after.  It's terrible that so many people are being displaced from their jobs.  

CNN article on Lampert's move on Sears

[SilverBeach]

On 10/16/2018 at 8:17 AM, OGEmoji said:

I think giant department stores with portrait studio/salon/etc feel like a relic of a bygone era.

Walmart has all of these ancillary services, one near me now has a Quest Labs in it! Some of them have Subway. Meijers has Starbucks, hairand nail salons, optician, etc. Not a relic at all.

[PennySycamore]

The JC Penney in the mall nearest me has a beauty salon or at least it did the last time I checked.  Sears has a optician as well as the Walmart in Greer, SC.  

ETA: Why does all this make me want to read that classic Small is Beautiful: a study of economics as if people mattered by FE Schumacher?

[Briefly]

1 hour ago, SilverBeach said:

Walmart has all of these ancillary services, one near me now has a Quest Labs in it! Some of them have Subway. Meijers has Starbucks, hair and nail salons, optician, etc. Not a relic at all.

It really  is a relic, in the sense that the hair salon, opticians, etc. were part of the Sears or Penneys store and not an outside company.  Subway,  and McDonalds are not owned by Walmart, they just rent the space.

[PennySycamore]

The optician at our Sears was part of Lenscrafters.

[PopRox]

The tiny town where I grew up no longer has a Sears department store or a JCPenney (though both are in nearby city Allentown), though they still have a K-Mart, Bon- Ton, and Boscovs (please never die Boscov's, I love you). Then again, it's one of those small town that feels like it's always at least 20 years in the past (with the exception of downtown), which has been updated beautifully.

My hometown still does have the Sears Hardware store, and I hope it doesn't close-- my Mom buys Christmas gifts for her husband and stepson there every year.

My auntie has a Sears kit house! She bought it sometime in the mid-2000s. It's very cute.

[SilverBeach]

13 minutes ago, Briefly said:

It really  is a relic, in the sense that the hair salon, opticians, etc. were part of the Sears or Penneys store and not an outside company.  Subway,  and McDonalds are not owned by Walmart, they just rent the space.

I know that Subway, etc. are tenants. The services are still available under one roof, just as convenient for the consumer. Not a relic in the functional sense. But Yes, Sears was all things to all people back it the day. My mom shopped there every Saturday. Shoes, car batteries, roasted peanuts. Modern stores tend to farm out ancillary services, although Walmart does own it auto services. Sears became a Titanic, convinced of it's invincibility, and did not look forward to see that the model it operated under was no longer viable. Same as Detroit automakers.

[PennySycamore]

@SilverBeach, your mention of roasted peanuts reminded me of the time when many stores had candy counters which if you were lucky also sold nuts and popcorn.  I loved cashews and getting them when we went to get our eyes checked was a treat.  I sometimes worked at the candy counter at the dime store I worked at when I was a kid. It had an old fashioned cash register (with keys for a nickel, dime and so forth)  and you had some math to do if the sale was more than a dollar.  We were allowed to get popcorn at our breaks and slurpees for free as long as we used to cheap cups. 

I took the plunge and ordered a used copy of Small is Beautiful from Alibris.

[PopRox]

19 minutes ago, PennySycamore said:

@SilverBeach, your mention of roasted peanuts reminded me of the time when many stores had candy counters which if you were lucky also sold nuts and popcorn.

Boscov's-- at least the one in my hometown-- has a candy counter still. No nuts/popcorn/Slurpees, but you can get fancy cookies and chocolate- covered ANYTHING there, and it's divine. Some family members would give Boscov's candy to others as gifts!

I'm personally sad about the decline of department stores, as they were such a big part of my childhood plus they're super-convenient. Your holiday shopping list includes a scarf, a toy, jewelry, a kitchen appliance, and a decorative candle? One store! AND you can spritz yourself with a perfume sample at the cosmetics counter and walk around smelling lovely! (P.S. I still do that when I go to Boscov's)

nyone remember going to Woolworth or Orr's?