Folks, it appears that Sears is going to liquidate.
I've been a loyal Sears shopper for decades and will miss them.
Dean
End Of An Era
I've been a loyal Sears shopper for decades and will miss them.
Dean
End Of An Era
- Thread starter Dean
- Start date
Billy Shafer
Well-known Member
They did it to themselves.
Janicholson
Well-known Member
They could have been Amazon before Amazon. The entire operation and catalog based customer relationship was a direct flip over to on line sales. Complacency and failure to read the consumer trends was the major mistake. Jim
Sears has been liquidating here in ohio for months now. Went to the local sears in the mall last Friday. Selling fixtures and everything else. Lot of tools left,but at only 30 percent off list price still to high. I bet there wasn?t 50 people in the whole mall. It used to be elbow to elbow walking around on a Friday night. Now there are empty storefronts and 70 percent sales in most stores.I guess the internet is killing the malls.
Mike(NEOhio)
Well-known Member
- Location
- Newbury, Ohio
My father-in-law's wood silo was from Sears.
whereswaldo
Member
Yep, they closed their catalog center first. Extremely stupid management from the top down. Don't go to Wal*Mart often but this morning at % I saw the former K-Mart manager working as a STOCK-BOY.
wildcat445
Member
Legacy costs did not destroy Sears. Inept, disengaged management killed Sears. They abandoned their core business, mail order. They shortsightedly discontinued their signature brands, starting with Silvertone and Allstate in the 1970's.
They been gone for quite a while around me. I see no light at the end of there tunnel. They were "out of it" for a long time certainly not in tune with the customer. Selling well pumps was an example, around me people did not go to sears for that stuff, like they did in the 1950's Clothing: seemed to be stuff no one wanted. They missed the boat in the 1990's could have been like home depo, TSC, and other success stories along with online.
Traditional Farmer
Well-known Member
- Location
- Virginia
I guess its been 25 or more years since I was in Sears think they are still at one of the malls,they didn't get killed off they committed suicide
Billy Shafer
Well-known Member
I am sure Lampert will get his cut.
Russ from MN
Well-known Member
- Location
- Bemidji MN
It was suggested they start an online shopping network, before Amazon got going, the management at Sears said it wouldn't fly, that's when they shot themselves in the foot big time. With their vast infrastructure and locations they could of been a leader, now they're history. We were faithful Sears customers for many years.
Texasmark1
Well-known Member
Dish channel 132 carries Turner Classic Movies, interruption free. Was viewing a few nights ago and the movie "Coal Miner's Daughter", aka life of Loretta lynn was showing. Dad orders shoes for the 6 kids or how ever many there were....from the Sears Catalog. Most anything for sale including houses . Rumors of the usage of old catalogs including as I recall Norman Rockwell did one on a line to the Privy one morning. Dad had one tucked under his arm and the kids had a few pages. Pages too slick if you ask me. Where I grew up corn cobs were the joke. Tommy Lee Jones, as usual, outdid himself in that one......Sissy Spacek didn't miss a beat as Loretta either.
Why would anyone buy an appliance at Sears, when you can buy the exact same model across the street at Home Depot for $200.00 less. They cheapened the Craftsman brand and sold them at Kmart then just sold the brand for cash(currant owner is a Holding company and that is what they do). I bet it has been ten years since I have been in a store.
Tony in SD
Well-known Member
In 1975 I was farming with my dad. When I sold my grain after harvest, I went to the local Sear, Roebuck & Co. store. I bought $500 worth of tools. Boy was dad mad that I spent that kind of money on tools. He asked if I was planning on being a mechanic. I kinda thought a was the mechanic on our farm but I didn?t say anything. You know how dads are. Funny thing is that I never heard dad complain when he used my tools to fix something. I still have 99% of the original tools and all 3 tool box/chest. I bought 1/4? , 3/8?,1/2? & 3/4? drive socket sets, 1/4? to 1 1/8? open, box, & combination sets, ignition set, pliers, screw driver set, and a few other misc. items. I wonder what it would cost to replace them with the same quality.
Indeed. This was the last interaction I had with Sears back in 2015.
"Please refer to your service order number 41433215. My Kenmore Elite (hah) range lost its control panel in an electrical storm. I discovered that the part was no longer available but I called your service department hoping there was one on a service truck somewhere. Your service scheduler assured me the range could be fixed as it is only 12 years old. Your service man came and told me what I already knew - the control panel was fried and no longer available. Then he insisted on swiping my credit card for $95. I told him if he swiped my card it would be the last of my money that Sears ever saw. He did anyway, and I thought you should know that I've cut up my Sears card and my Craftsman Club card and I've cancelled all of the email spam that you used to send me. You lost a customer of over 30 years due to stupidity and greed. My children know the story too so I doubt you'll ever sell them anything either. Customer "service" like this is the reason the Sears brand is failing. It deserves to."
Customer service is king. Holding companies don't get that.
I don't know what legacy costs are. But what killed them is getting rid of service departments in store. Wife and Mom both had dewing machines and every once in a while they needed adjusting, ysed to you could take in and talk to person doing service work so he would know what problem was so could fix it. Got rid of the service department and could no longer give input to what was problem before had to ship it out for a month and come back not fixed because the service person did not know what the problem was. And I had a mitor saw thar quit working, think switch but where to get one, Talked to store about getting it fixed. They wanted more just to look at it not repair it than to go across town a mile and buy a new one for less money than just to look at their brand. That is what killed them. No service after the sale.
I understand the legacy costs (leftover overhead from the past) os dead weight.
I realize zed they were done years ago when I went in for a part I needed for a lawn mower.
He gave me an 800 number and web site, said they don?t do parts any more couldn?t even do parts pickup.
If you are a physical store, and you tell customers not to bother stopping in.......
Duh.
Paul
I realize zed they were done years ago when I went in for a part I needed for a lawn mower.
He gave me an 800 number and web site, said they don?t do parts any more couldn?t even do parts pickup.
If you are a physical store, and you tell customers not to bother stopping in.......
Duh.
Paul
Traditional Farmer
Well-known Member
- Location
- Virginia
That's human nature not wanting to change and sticking with something while its dying a slow death.Reminds me of much of the farming situation these days.
Traditional Farmer
Well-known Member
- Location
- Virginia
Point is Sears had the customers that were willing to pay more because of the service,but they dropped the service and were then just another retailer but still had the higher price.
BarnyardEngineering
Well-known Member
- Location
- Rochester, NY
Sears hadn't been "catalog based" in decades. They had catalogs, but their bread has been buttered by their shopping mall "anchor stores" for a very long time.
Sears was in trouble long before Amazon, long before the Internet. They were too far gone to become Amazon when the time was right.
BarnyardEngineering
Well-known Member
- Location
- Rochester, NY
What? No it isn't.
CHEAPEST PRICE is king. People don't give two hoots about "customer service" until well after the fact when their cheap junk fails on them, and they've realized their mistake, and now they're mad at themselves, and they need to take it out on someone.
Then they go yell at the "customer service" or rant about how there is none. People never would've started buying their appliances and whatnot at places like Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot if they cared at all about service. They just saw it was 1/2 what the shop downtown was charging, so they put it in the shopping cart and wheeled it up to the checkout.
i would guess some of it might be lack of rent payment so they have to get out of that store or mall so no point in moving shelves and fixtures. they are selling everything in one of our bigger malls but the smaller mall you wouldn't know anything is a problem in that store.
We've bought quite a few appliances from Sears over the years and quite a few tools. mainly because, when on sale, their appliance prices were the best and have always had decent luck with Craftsman tools.
at Christmas i bought some gifts as the sale prices were good. I've been thinking about getting a bandsaw so i went over to that area to look... pretty much NOTHING for large wood working tools.
I remember a couple friends of mine in school EVERYTHING in their house was from Sears, even clothes.
sad to see... but like IH and White and AC bad management was their eventual doom (not completely but a big chunk).
amazoon is a bit scary as big as they've gotten. i see you can get stuff online from hoomedepot and wallymart ect ect too but i never shop at wallymart ever.. maybe go into a store 1 or 2 times a year. we don't buy much online but it seams some things are getting harder to get locally and i don't mind paying a couple bucks more locally but when the prices are 2X online i just cannot justify it (like WHeelhorse parts). I would say most of what i get online is from eebay, then other independent online shops then maybe amazoon. get some stuff online from advance auto when they have 20-25% coupons and then pick it up at the store.
We've bought quite a few appliances from Sears over the years and quite a few tools. mainly because, when on sale, their appliance prices were the best and have always had decent luck with Craftsman tools.
at Christmas i bought some gifts as the sale prices were good. I've been thinking about getting a bandsaw so i went over to that area to look... pretty much NOTHING for large wood working tools.
I remember a couple friends of mine in school EVERYTHING in their house was from Sears, even clothes.
sad to see... but like IH and White and AC bad management was their eventual doom (not completely but a big chunk).
amazoon is a bit scary as big as they've gotten. i see you can get stuff online from hoomedepot and wallymart ect ect too but i never shop at wallymart ever.. maybe go into a store 1 or 2 times a year. we don't buy much online but it seams some things are getting harder to get locally and i don't mind paying a couple bucks more locally but when the prices are 2X online i just cannot justify it (like WHeelhorse parts). I would say most of what i get online is from eebay, then other independent online shops then maybe amazoon. get some stuff online from advance auto when they have 20-25% coupons and then pick it up at the store.
Hay hay hay
Well-known Member
You are so right. And the more successful you have been in the past, the harder it is to leave your history and step into the future. One of the reasons so many big name companies eventually fail is that they are anchored to what "used to" make them successful.
And, It does not help that their loyal staff of 30 year veteran employees fights every change no matter how small or how logical.
And, It does not help that their loyal staff of 30 year veteran employees fights every change no matter how small or how logical.
BarnyardEngineering
Well-known Member
- Location
- Rochester, NY
Yes, but when Amazon opened shop, they were a BOOK STORE. It took years for them to build up to what it is now.
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