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Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

cnbc.com

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Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#11

Post by bluedino »

How much of Sears's demise was due to Walmart? It's not like retail completely died.

The home improvement chains hurt them too, once they started selling tools and appliances.

We bought everything at Sears in the 80's. Electronics (including computers), appliances, toys, clothes, tools, lawn and garden...

Was Sears too 'friendly' with their suppliers? When I worked at Sears at the end of the 1990's (the store was a ghost town then), many of the long-time employees were making pretty decent money. Way more than people at Best Buy, Target or Walmart made. Plus actual benefits. The must have had huge legacy costs, especially at the higher levels.

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#13

Post by cmiller1 »

Still would go there occasionally for clothes. Brick and mortar has been mostly replaced for me except for groceries (I'm aware there are services but I'm in a pretty rural area right now) and clothing where I still appreciate the benefit of trying them on before buying.

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#14

Post by bluedino »

erickhill wrote: post #3

Sears was my go-to place for tools for years. Then, at some stage, the quality noticeably changed and it started to feel like a cheap knock-off, like what happened to Stanley Tools ages ago. But I did very much appreciate their return-tool policy. I used that a few times. It was a great customer loyalty tactic.

At some point, cheaper Chinese tools became good enough. When I was a kid I remember my dad would curse cheap imported wrenches and tools. Now, he buys 75% of his stuff at Harbor Freight.

Sears ended up going down in quality while trying to keep their brand names and higher prices. Surprising it didn't work out.

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#15

Post by eesmith »

threatofrain wrote: post #4
arbitrage wrote: post #2

Eddie Lampert is a monster.

Not disputing the CEO is a force of destruction, but ought not some businesses close? What’s the place of Sears in the modern age?

Of course some businesses should close. That's not an interesting question.

In the modern age, after Sears was destroy by vulture capitalism (https://prospect.org/article/it-was-vulture-capitalism-kille... ), its place is in the grave.

I think the interesting questions are:

- Amazon is the modern mail-order company. Why didn't Sears (re)discover that niche?

- Does this (finally) drive a stake through the heart of the idea that following the ideas of Ayn Rand is bad for business? If not, why not? https://www.inc.com/erik-sherman/sears-ceo-eddie-lampert-sho...

- When do we change the law so that "loading up a company with debt and then paying yourself exorbitant fees and dividends and manipulating the share price at the expense of the company" is illegal? (Same prospect.org link)

- When do we change the law so that the company head who strips assets for his own profit isn't allowed by the bankruptcy court to keep control of the company? (same prospect.org link)

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#16

Post by lotsofpulp »

bluedino wrote: post #11

How much of Sears's demise was due to Walmart? It's not like retail completely died. The home improvement chains hurt them too, once they started selling tools and appliances. We bought everything at Sears in the 80's. Electronics (including computers), appliances, toys, clothes, tools, lawn and garden... Was Sears too 'friendly' with their suppliers? When I worked at Sears at the end of the 1990's (the store was a g…

It's a good example to those that claim companies should pay employees liberally. Unless you're in a niche that people are willing to pay a margin for or serve upscale customers who also don't mind paying margins (Costco, Whole Foods, Nordstroms, Apple, etc), then you're going to lose business to competitors offering lower prices.

In this situation, the only way to improve the well being of those whose labor isn't as valuable is to restrict their supply, either by educating them to give them other valuable skills or providing paid leaves so they can go on vacations and forcing employers to hire more people. All of this extra wealth for those at the bottom would, of course, have to come from the margins those at the top are earning.

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#18

Post by Tsubasachan »

wombatpm wrote: post #5

Sears had everything. Global supply chain, check. Top notch distribution operation, check. System and infrastructure to take orders and handling billing, check. Name recognition and established customer base, check. They threw it all away, ending catalog operations in 1993 a year before Amazon.com opened in 1994. They owned part of Prodigy in 1984! Yet somehow thought it was a better move to expand into bigger box re…

Those who are first will later be last for the times are changing...

Is there anything people don't buy online these days?

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#19

Post by mondo9000 »

wombatpm wrote: post #5

Sears had everything. Global supply chain, check. Top notch distribution operation, check. System and infrastructure to take orders and handling billing, check. Name recognition and established customer base, check. They threw it all away, ending catalog operations in 1993 a year before Amazon.com opened in 1994. They owned part of Prodigy in 1984! Yet somehow thought it was a better move to expand into bigger box re…

The other point is Sears Catalog was empowered by the railroads, then along comes the Internet and they miss the analogy.

Re: Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

#20

Post by wil421 »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #16
bluedino wrote: post #11

How much of Sears's demise was due to Walmart? It's not like retail completely died. The home improvement chains hurt them too, once they started selling tools and appliances. We bought everything at Sears in the 80's. Electronics (including computers), appliances, toys, clothes, tools, lawn and garden... Was Sears too 'friendly' with their suppliers? When I worked at Sears at the end of the 1990's (the store was a g…

It's a good example to those that claim companies should pay employees liberally. Unless you're in a niche that people are willing to pay a margin for or serve upscale customers who also don't mind paying margins (Costco, Whole Foods, Nordstroms, Apple, etc), then you're going to lose business to competitors offering lower prices. In this situation, the only way to improve the well being of those whose labor isn't as…

Costco is an upscale place to shop? I’ve never seen them lumped together with Whole Foods or even Apple.

Edit: Wow I didn’t realize Costco’s profit margin was higher than Whole Foods, Wal Mart and almost a full percent above Kroger’s.

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