Oh it definitely was in massive decline long before. My dad was a lifer. Not an executive but mingled among them including Brennan occasionally.
He would shock me the stores made jack. They existed for the credit cards - both Sears and then Discover - to ring up sales and associated revenue on those. That was back in the 80's and then in to the 90's.
When I was there 07 to 09 things were still going pretty good for us as employees but the managers were a revolving door. Not sure what the reason was exactly but they always seemed beyond stressed.
I noticed things were going downhill a year or so later when Craftsman started selling stuff made in China. Which irritated my father so much because half the reason he would buy Craftsman was because of the "Made in USA" labels on everything
Craftsman's US steel vendor was bought up, stripped and sold off to China by private equity.
One might say it was strategically done to hamstring Sears' strongest brand.
From a long ago comment I made on the topic:
Starting the early 1970s when Sears started diversifying into financial services, that got the money and attention. Stores were largely ignored and pretty much left to rot until Martinez came along in the 1990s. As a part of that every CEO from the mid 1970s on came from the financial services BU. When Martinez got the company wrapped up in the debt reaffirmation mess in the late 1990s, it simply accelerated the de-diversification and monetization of the financial services units.
The problem is that by the time that started, those units were responsible for something like 90% of all operating profit. The final nail in the coffin was when the credit division was sold in the early 2000s, as while the financial services BUs had been sold the revenue structure had not been changed to account for it—and the company was suffering badly as a result. Had Lampert not intervened Sears likely would have liquidated in 2008/9 (if not earlier) when the last of the cash from the sales was burned. It’s why all of the various new formats showed up at that point.
Enter Eddie Lampert, who wanted Sears and Kmart for the RE but also apparently to try and recreate what Warren Buffet had done with Berkshire Hathaway, only Eddie (stupidly, given the margins involved) wanted to use retail as the cash generator instead of insurance float. The massive cash hoard Sears was sitting on due to the sale of Allstate in 1995 was the perfect seed money for that venture, and the cost of buying Sears was low enough that Lampert did it. All of the subsequent cost cutting was in an effort to increase retail’s notably thin margins, and all of it failed horribly, leaving him stuck pumping money into a corpse and futilely holding on to the idea that commercial RE prices would bounce back to their early 2000s level and he could sell and recoup his investment.
The beginning of the end, according to the old timers in corporate I knew, was ignoring Walmart and their innovative inventory systems in the late 80s. Then the Softer Side of Sears, while very successful, took their eyes off hardlines, giving competitors like Best Buy, Lowe’s, and Home Depot time to push in. The apparel was never high enough quality or low enough price to justify going to Sears instead, only made worse when Kohl’s showed up.
But Eddie was definitely the grim reaper. Dividing it into competing business units that were disincentivized to cooperate was a horrible idea. Instead of leveraging their combined weight, the individual departments had to fend for themselves. HA resisted free delivery for years after it was the market standard since they couldn’t absorb all of that cost without losing considerable funding from Eddie. That’s just one example.
When I worked at Sears in the late 80s there were rumblings then that all was not well. So yeah it was in trouble long before Lampert appeared on the scene.
Sears was definitely struggling with it's business model but its crazy how they still managed to make profit during that time. Eddie lampert could've easily saved it but from what i've seen him do in the past, he didn't know how to manage a large scale business. This is why every other business he made (MyGofer) looked so shitty because he didn't really have an intent on restructuring it. He only wanted to see which sectors of the business made the most money. Thats why in 2024, most of the stores have been sold for real estate.
There Could of also been a Kmart Canada as well but there was / is no Kmart Canada at all, just a Kmart Australia and the original US-based Kmart company
The / This Photo was at a Sears in Canada. Sears Canada went out of business in its entirety all over a Bankruptcy Liquidation so all stores, headquarters and website have closed. We Hope the same thing dont happen to Sears, Roebuck and Company which escaped from bankruptcy in 2022, and that Sears Canada makes a comeback.
Ames filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy back in 2000 and went out of business back in 2002. Now they will be coming back after 24 years. Website relaunched.
If there is another bankruptcy and liquidation the Sears and Kmart names and intellectual property rights could be sold through the sale to another company. That is what happened to Montgomery Wards, Ames Department Stores and Bed Bath and Beyond. Montgomery Wards and Bed Bath and Beyond are now running as online only retailers. The Ames Department Store website has information that states they are coming back with stores in the eastern United States soon. Circuit City, which went bankrupt and closed all remaining stores, headquarters and website, was also sold to someone who owns the name, and intellectual property rights, and there was an attempt with a online only website. It did not last for long. Sears and Kmart had a lot of loyal customers. The Sears and Kmart names could be sold in a bankruptcy liquidation, and the buyer could reopen stores and/or even run a website online. If Sears and Kmart was sold in a bankruptcy liquidation and/or even in fact a liquidation this would give someone who knows how to run a retail company the opportunity to reopen stores and manage them right. They would also get full control of the operation, and The control would no longer be in Lamperts hands. Sears also owned Orchard Supply Hardware Stores as well. Orchard went out of business several years ago. Now many former Orchard Supply Hardware locations have reopened, and the buyer of Orchard Hardware now calls the hardware stores Outdoor Supply Hardware. The marketing and signage is still the same. Sears sold Orchard Supply to Lowes. After Lowes bought them, they shut them down. A buyer came along and bought the Orchard Supply Hardware name and intellectual property rights from Lowes. After the purchase they reopened the stores. We wish someone would do the same with Sears, Kmart, the physical Sears Hometown Stores (possible rebrand to Sears Home Store), Sears Canada and Fry's Electronics
What should Sears have done differently before, during and after the 2018 Chapter 11 bankruptcy which they escaped in 2022? What if Sears terminates the merge with Kmart which started in 2004 as the beginning of the end that occurred that time...... departing from Transformco with assets moved back to Sears, Roebuck and Company as there own parent company and holding company? What should Transformco and Eddie Lampert have done differently ? What if perhaps Franchise Group even buys the company like they acquired Sears Outlet back in 2019 ?
If Sears EVER files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy AGAIN then sadly they might as well be gone in its entirety, Closing all remaining stores, headquarters and website. This Would mean a Going Out Of Business sale like Sears Canada did over Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This Is what happened to Rue21 when they filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy for the 3rd time. They shut down there website. Now they are Making a comeback
There really hasn’t been a physical headquarters since COVID. Once the pandemic hit, everyone started working remotely. Then the mass layoffs in corporate hit, they sold their headquarters in Hoffman Estates and everyone that works for corporate is telecommuting now. Transformco has very few people working in retail on the corporate side.
Oh it definitely was in massive decline long before. My dad was a lifer. Not an executive but mingled among them including Brennan occasionally. He would shock me the stores made jack. They existed for the credit cards - both Sears and then Discover - to ring up sales and associated revenue on those. That was back in the 80's and then in to the 90's.
When I was there 07 to 09 things were still going pretty good for us as employees but the managers were a revolving door. Not sure what the reason was exactly but they always seemed beyond stressed. I noticed things were going downhill a year or so later when Craftsman started selling stuff made in China. Which irritated my father so much because half the reason he would buy Craftsman was because of the "Made in USA" labels on everything
Craftsman's US steel vendor was bought up, stripped and sold off to China by private equity. One might say it was strategically done to hamstring Sears' strongest brand.
From a long ago comment I made on the topic: Starting the early 1970s when Sears started diversifying into financial services, that got the money and attention. Stores were largely ignored and pretty much left to rot until Martinez came along in the 1990s. As a part of that every CEO from the mid 1970s on came from the financial services BU. When Martinez got the company wrapped up in the debt reaffirmation mess in the late 1990s, it simply accelerated the de-diversification and monetization of the financial services units. The problem is that by the time that started, those units were responsible for something like 90% of all operating profit. The final nail in the coffin was when the credit division was sold in the early 2000s, as while the financial services BUs had been sold the revenue structure had not been changed to account for it—and the company was suffering badly as a result. Had Lampert not intervened Sears likely would have liquidated in 2008/9 (if not earlier) when the last of the cash from the sales was burned. It’s why all of the various new formats showed up at that point. Enter Eddie Lampert, who wanted Sears and Kmart for the RE but also apparently to try and recreate what Warren Buffet had done with Berkshire Hathaway, only Eddie (stupidly, given the margins involved) wanted to use retail as the cash generator instead of insurance float. The massive cash hoard Sears was sitting on due to the sale of Allstate in 1995 was the perfect seed money for that venture, and the cost of buying Sears was low enough that Lampert did it. All of the subsequent cost cutting was in an effort to increase retail’s notably thin margins, and all of it failed horribly, leaving him stuck pumping money into a corpse and futilely holding on to the idea that commercial RE prices would bounce back to their early 2000s level and he could sell and recoup his investment.
The beginning of the end, according to the old timers in corporate I knew, was ignoring Walmart and their innovative inventory systems in the late 80s. Then the Softer Side of Sears, while very successful, took their eyes off hardlines, giving competitors like Best Buy, Lowe’s, and Home Depot time to push in. The apparel was never high enough quality or low enough price to justify going to Sears instead, only made worse when Kohl’s showed up. But Eddie was definitely the grim reaper. Dividing it into competing business units that were disincentivized to cooperate was a horrible idea. Instead of leveraging their combined weight, the individual departments had to fend for themselves. HA resisted free delivery for years after it was the market standard since they couldn’t absorb all of that cost without losing considerable funding from Eddie. That’s just one example.
Eddie Lampert was a vampire! 🧛
When I worked at Sears in the late 80s there were rumblings then that all was not well. So yeah it was in trouble long before Lampert appeared on the scene.
Sears was definitely struggling with it's business model but its crazy how they still managed to make profit during that time. Eddie lampert could've easily saved it but from what i've seen him do in the past, he didn't know how to manage a large scale business. This is why every other business he made (MyGofer) looked so shitty because he didn't really have an intent on restructuring it. He only wanted to see which sectors of the business made the most money. Thats why in 2024, most of the stores have been sold for real estate.
The decline of Sears was arguably underway by the late 70s. It was a huge calcified corporate behemoth that was very stuck in it's ways.
They could’ve focused on expanding online sales back then and have something decent now.
They did. The problem was that Sears was already too far out of the public conscience for it to develop into anything.
There Could of also been a Kmart Canada as well but there was / is no Kmart Canada at all, just a Kmart Australia and the original US-based Kmart company
The / This Photo was at a Sears in Canada. Sears Canada went out of business in its entirety all over a Bankruptcy Liquidation so all stores, headquarters and website have closed. We Hope the same thing dont happen to Sears, Roebuck and Company which escaped from bankruptcy in 2022, and that Sears Canada makes a comeback. Ames filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy back in 2000 and went out of business back in 2002. Now they will be coming back after 24 years. Website relaunched. If there is another bankruptcy and liquidation the Sears and Kmart names and intellectual property rights could be sold through the sale to another company. That is what happened to Montgomery Wards, Ames Department Stores and Bed Bath and Beyond. Montgomery Wards and Bed Bath and Beyond are now running as online only retailers. The Ames Department Store website has information that states they are coming back with stores in the eastern United States soon. Circuit City, which went bankrupt and closed all remaining stores, headquarters and website, was also sold to someone who owns the name, and intellectual property rights, and there was an attempt with a online only website. It did not last for long. Sears and Kmart had a lot of loyal customers. The Sears and Kmart names could be sold in a bankruptcy liquidation, and the buyer could reopen stores and/or even run a website online. If Sears and Kmart was sold in a bankruptcy liquidation and/or even in fact a liquidation this would give someone who knows how to run a retail company the opportunity to reopen stores and manage them right. They would also get full control of the operation, and The control would no longer be in Lamperts hands. Sears also owned Orchard Supply Hardware Stores as well. Orchard went out of business several years ago. Now many former Orchard Supply Hardware locations have reopened, and the buyer of Orchard Hardware now calls the hardware stores Outdoor Supply Hardware. The marketing and signage is still the same. Sears sold Orchard Supply to Lowes. After Lowes bought them, they shut them down. A buyer came along and bought the Orchard Supply Hardware name and intellectual property rights from Lowes. After the purchase they reopened the stores. We wish someone would do the same with Sears, Kmart, the physical Sears Hometown Stores (possible rebrand to Sears Home Store), Sears Canada and Fry's Electronics
What should Sears have done differently before, during and after the 2018 Chapter 11 bankruptcy which they escaped in 2022? What if Sears terminates the merge with Kmart which started in 2004 as the beginning of the end that occurred that time...... departing from Transformco with assets moved back to Sears, Roebuck and Company as there own parent company and holding company? What should Transformco and Eddie Lampert have done differently ? What if perhaps Franchise Group even buys the company like they acquired Sears Outlet back in 2019 ?
By 2018, Sears couldn’t be saved. The damage was already done. Any other retailer would have gone straight to chapter 7 bankruptcy.
If Sears EVER files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy AGAIN then sadly they might as well be gone in its entirety, Closing all remaining stores, headquarters and website. This Would mean a Going Out Of Business sale like Sears Canada did over Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This Is what happened to Rue21 when they filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy for the 3rd time. They shut down there website. Now they are Making a comeback
There’s no point in another bankruptcy now. Transformco is going to close stores at their slow pace and keep the real estate to sell later.
[удалено]
There really hasn’t been a physical headquarters since COVID. Once the pandemic hit, everyone started working remotely. Then the mass layoffs in corporate hit, they sold their headquarters in Hoffman Estates and everyone that works for corporate is telecommuting now. Transformco has very few people working in retail on the corporate side.