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Posted: 12/27/2016 2:51:17 AM EDT
What a depressing place it's become. I know it's the day after Christmas, but the store was basically empty except for people returning things and many of the tools had opened packaging and clearly been returned. What a sad departure from the place I used to visit with my Dad as a kid.

I know there was a thread on this not long ago, but to see it firsthand was eye-opening. None of the employees (who probably want $15/hr) were helpful and were just sitting on their phones and joking around while people were waiting for help.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 2:56:26 AM EDT
[#1]
When I was a kid, I thought Sears and Roebuck, sold Robots.  I had a great Aunt who lived in a home sold by Sears.  It is sad to see.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 3:01:49 AM EDT
[#2]
Terrible story.  -2
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 3:09:45 AM EDT
[#3]
Our Sears and Kmart both closed this year.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 3:11:19 AM EDT
[#4]
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 4:00:06 AM EDT
[#5]
Quoted:
None of the employees (who probably want $15/hr) were helpful and were just sitting on their phones and joking around while people were waiting for help.
View Quote


A long, long time ago, I worked along side a few Sears employees who were on commission. They moved a tremendous amount of merchandise - mostly due to individual initiative - and made excellent money doing it.

Nowadays, nobody is on commission at Sears.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 4:13:35 AM EDT
[#6]
I did some Christmas shopping at the one near here a couple of weeks ago. I remember thinking that it looked sad and depressing just like Kmart. They removed the appliance department but left all of the signage and shoved clearance clothing racks into that space. Nothing in the clothing department was merchandised properly to make any sense at all.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 5:42:07 AM EDT
[#7]
The sears at our local mall closed years ago. The space was eventually sold to Rose's, a ghetto-fab variety merchandise store for those not familiar.

We still have a Sears but it is a very small independently-run store mostly tools and appliances. Owner is a prick.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 5:57:34 AM EDT
[#8]
I have a real US made Craftsman 3/4" drive ratchet wrench that gets stuck, and I went into a Sears this summer to look at replacements.  Made in China.  Nope.  There weren't even any new tools I would buy.  What a shame.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 6:08:59 AM EDT
[#9]
The only thing I ever did with sears is learn about bewbies in the bra section of the catalog that came to my house 40 years ago.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 6:17:30 AM EDT
[#10]
Yup.  The one here has store closing signs up. I haven't brought myself to go inside yet. My parents said that it's mostly empty.  The situation is compounded by the fact that it is located at the huge mall that has also gone completely empty over the last couple years. Was once the place to be here in town. Hundreds of stores with 5 large department stores and a big food court now just a jcpenney and the doomed sears.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 6:19:53 AM EDT
[#11]
It was a really good place to shop at when I was young but the place has been circling the drain for years now. Bad Economy or Lack of Customer service. 
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 6:31:53 AM EDT
[#12]
I used to love sears. The local one used to be a damn good place to buy tools 20 years ago. It is kind of hard to pinpoint where they went wrong but the place sucks now.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 6:47:27 AM EDT
[#13]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Our Sears and Kmart both closed this year.
View Quote


Same here...well Sears last year and Kmart this year....
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 6:51:24 AM EDT
[#14]
Where in the USA was this, OP?
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 7:02:19 AM EDT
[#15]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Where in the USA was this, OP?
View Quote


Anywhere in America, pick a Sears.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 8:29:47 AM EDT
[#16]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
When I was a kid, I thought Sears and Roebuck, sold Robots.  I had a great Aunt who lived in a home sold by Sears.  It is sad to see.
View Quote

My house is a Sears house built in 1948. There are several on the block. Growing up it was Sears or JCPennys








Link Posted: 12/27/2016 8:38:43 AM EDT
[#17]
We have a Hometown Sears here; it was purchased by a shipmate and his wife several years ago, seems to be doing well. We still get that personal service that will keeps us as loyal customers.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 8:47:28 AM EDT
[#18]

One of our local Sears stores went out of business, and two others are still doing a pretty good business. The Sears hardware store also folded.

Oddly enough, the Sears store that closed seemed to focus its clothing lines on a certain demographic, that we are not part of. Lots of "getting dressed up for a trip to the Bodega" stuff, but nothing in the way of suitable business casual work clothes.

We used to drive to the further away store just to find stuff that was wearable.

Link Posted: 12/27/2016 8:53:16 AM EDT
[#19]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
I used to love sears. The local one used to be a damn good place to buy tools 20 years ago. It is kind of hard to pinpoint where they went wrong but the place sucks now.
View Quote


Easy for me to pinpoint. Walked in several years ago and saw Chinese Craftsmen and all the signs were bilingual.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 8:54:28 AM EDT
[#20]
My local Sears closed over a year ago.  It was an anchor store and about 1/4 of the rest of the stores in the mall were closed too
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 9:00:49 AM EDT
[#21]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
I used to love sears. The local one used to be a damn good place to buy tools 20 years ago. It is kind of hard to pinpoint where they went wrong but the place sucks now.
View Quote View All Quotes
View All Quotes
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
I used to love sears. The local one used to be a damn good place to buy tools 20 years ago. It is kind of hard to pinpoint where they went wrong but the place sucks now.

Nah, it's easy to pinpoint....................


Eddie Lampert.
Hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert took over as Sears CEO in 2013, promising a turnaround. Instead he has presided over a remarkable dismantling. Having already spun off Lands' End, Sears Canada, Sears Hometown & Outlet Stores and much of the company's real estate, the core company was worth little more than $1 billion in 2016. Revenues have fallen every year since 2006, and the company is exploring partnerships or transactions for 3 of its remaining assets: the Craftsman, Kenmore and DieHard brands. A lawyer's son, Lampert read corporate reports and financial textbooks in high school before heading to Yale, where he was a member of Skull & Bones. After graduating, he learned alongside fellow billionaire investor Daniel Och in the risk arbitrage department at Goldman Sachs before going solo in 1988. He survived a kidnapping in 2003 and was released by his captors after two days.

Kidnapping gone bad.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 9:01:04 AM EDT
[#22]
Sears was once the greatest general store ever devised. Wal-Mart, Lowes and Home Depot destroyed them.
in Tulsa, Sears and Kmart cater to the mexicans and those from central and south america.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 9:02:02 AM EDT
[#23]
The two closest Sears stores here closed in recent years. They were usually pretty dead. I didn't go there often, but I did go there for some things. I kind of miss having them around.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 9:05:12 AM EDT
[#24]
Growing up in the 70's you got everything from Sears--my school clothes,all of our appliances,Dad's tools,fishing and hunting gear,furniture etc.As time went on they failed to keep up and became an old persons store.It's sad to see how far one of the mightiest retailers has fallen.Whoever has been the CEO's for the past 20 years shouldn't be allowed to manage anything bigger than a hot dog stand.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 9:06:45 AM EDT
[#25]
Our local small Sears is great
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 9:09:14 AM EDT
[#26]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History



Ok, i laughed.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 9:13:10 AM EDT
[#27]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Yup.  The one here has store closing signs up. I haven't brought myself to go inside yet. My parents said that it's mostly empty.  The situation is compounded by the fact that it is located at the huge mall that has also gone completely empty over the last couple years. Was once the place to be here in town. Hundreds of stores with 5 large department stores and a big food court now just a jcpenney and the doomed sears.
View Quote

Hoodrats running wild killed malls starting in the mid-90's.
Sears, K-Mart and JCP were mall anchor stores.
Just like everything else, "white flight" was the final nail in their coffin.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 2:47:28 PM EDT
[#28]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Sears was once the greatest general store ever devised. Wal-Mart, Lowes and Home Depot destroyed them.
in Tulsa, Sears and Kmart cater to the mexicans and those from central and south america.
View Quote


Amazon, too.

Agreed on the hood rats ruining malls.

This Sears is in CA, and it's crazy to see how they shed off one part of their business after the next. They no longer do car service at this one. The building where they used to do that is now owned by the city. I wonder if they used eminent domain to take it.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 2:50:24 PM EDT
[#29]
It's dead, Jim.

Link Posted: 12/27/2016 2:50:44 PM EDT
[#30]
The only thing I get from Sears these days, are my open-end wrenches.  They work fine.  The one here, is also almost a ghost town.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 3:04:07 PM EDT
[#31]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:

Nah, it's easy to pinpoint....................

http://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/57e183fa4bbe6f6781c52e74/320x486.jpg?fit=scale&background=000000
Eddie Lampert.

Kidnapping gone bad.
View Quote


Sears was going down long before Lampert. Ten years before, if not more. Without the catalog, and a poor internet strategy, Sears was doomed. Add in Home Depot and Lowe's stealing the appliance and tool business, Another million competitors in electronics...  Yeah, they were done in the early 2000's. 
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 3:10:08 PM EDT
[#32]
I love looking at the reprint of the 1894 sears catalog and seeing all the cool things you used to be able to mail order.

Sears helped build America if you think about it, mostly for out west and homesteading, all you had to do was ride to the rail station to pick up the order, even if it was a 3 or 4 days ride to get there you could get what you need and it helped with life on the frontier


Sad to see a great store die
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 3:21:09 PM EDT
[#33]
The big Sears in my hometown closed up. It was a huge money maker for the company.  They got rid of it because of the location.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 3:29:51 PM EDT
[#34]
Sears was Amazon before the Internet existed.
Their utter failure to jump on board the e-commerce train is what did them in.
They're the horse buggy manufacturer that thought the Model-T was going to be a fad.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 3:38:13 PM EDT
[#35]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
I have a real US made Craftsman 3/4" drive ratchet wrench that gets stuck, and I went into a Sears this summer to look at replacements.  Made in China.  Nope.  There weren't even any new tools I would buy.  What a shame.
View Quote


Call and ask a few of the older stores. I would almost bet money they have a dusty USA made rebuild kit in the back.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 3:38:44 PM EDT
[#36]
I, for one, welcome our new Amazon and UPS overlords.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 3:47:01 PM EDT
[#37]
Sears is in its death throes. This is just one part of a general problem -- the retail business model is changing, due to the Internet, and those who cannot keep up with the changes are going to go out of business.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 3:49:10 PM EDT
[#38]
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 3:52:12 PM EDT
[#39]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Sears is in its death throes. This is just one part of a general problem -- the retail business model is changing, due to the Internet, and those who cannot keep up with the changes are going to go out of business.
View Quote

I have personal experience with the current poor management by Sears.  It starts at the top.

I had a serious problem with a service they were supposed to perform.  Rather than trying to work with me to come to some kind of compromise solution, they dug their heels in and spent at least as much defending themselves in court as making me whole would have cost - And they never admitted that they had screwed up.

I have pledged never to spend another penny at a Sears store or any of their other holdings (K-mart, Land's End, etc.) ever again.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 3:58:34 PM EDT
[#40]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:

Nah, it's easy to pinpoint....................

http://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/57e183fa4bbe6f6781c52e74/320x486.jpg?fit=scale&background=000000
Eddie Lampert.

Kidnapping gone bad.
View Quote



It went bad because they bought the kidnapping from Sears.  
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 4:02:49 PM EDT
[#41]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:


A long, long time ago, I worked along side a few Sears employees who were on commission. They moved a tremendous amount of merchandise - mostly due to individual initiative - and made excellent money doing it.

Nowadays, nobody is on commission at Sears.
View Quote

The appliance salespeople at our local Sears are.   There is a black woman there named Sally who we have bought a fair amount of appliances from and she is great.   She does her research and knows the products she sells, my whole family buys from her.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 4:04:54 PM EDT
[#42]
Sears catalog bra section mmmmm you can almost see the nipple.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 4:07:10 PM EDT
[#43]
Sears needs to get rid of the clothes, and jewelry counter, nobody is shopping at Sears for that.   All that space should occupied by what people go to Sears from- tools, appliances, garden and outdoor stuff and home goods.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 4:10:35 PM EDT
[#44]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:

I have personal experience with the current poor management by Sears.  It starts at the top.

I had a serious problem with a service they were supposed to perform.  Rather than trying to work with me to come to some kind of compromise solution, they dug their heels in and spent at least as much defending themselves in court as making me whole would have cost - And they never admitted that they had screwed up.

I have pledged never to spend another penny at a Sears store or any of their other holdings (K-mart, Land's End, etc.) ever again.
View Quote


Lands End was spun back off 2013-2014. It is an independent entity again.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 4:22:09 PM EDT
[#45]
They missed the internet boom.

The "Wish Book" was a big part of my childhood Christmas season.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 4:29:40 PM EDT
[#46]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
I have a real US made Craftsman 3/4" drive ratchet wrench that gets stuck, and I went into a Sears this summer to look at replacements.  Made in China.  Nope.  There weren't even any new tools I would buy.  What a shame.
View Quote


You can get parts to rebuild that ratchet.


What happened with Sears is unfortunately the way most American businesses have been run for years.   Sears wasn't destroyed by competitors, it was destroyed by people promoted beyond their level of competence.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 4:31:15 PM EDT
[#47]
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 4:34:16 PM EDT
[#48]
during the 1970s, when I was a kid, Sears was the place to buy toys, appliances and tools.  We only ever went to the local department store for clothes, although who didn't have a pair of Toughskins jeans with the patches already on the knees?  The day the Christmas wishbook arrived was one of the best of the year.  My entire Christmas list was made from the wishbook, with page and item numbers listed for easy reference.

What is amazing is that Sears was basically an internet retailer before the internet existed, you just looked at a catalog instead of a web page.  Somehow they managed to f**k that up, and the end was already near by the time internet retailing got big.
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 4:35:00 PM EDT
[#49]
The only reason I ever go to Sears is because it has the most convenient parking at the mall. The place is always empty when I walk through. 
Link Posted: 12/27/2016 4:35:36 PM EDT
[#50]
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