Sears has another chance to avoid closing down

Post by fireattack » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 11:21 PM UTC

Marsymars wrote: post #420

fireattack wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Global supply chain I know you said "supply chain", but do Sears really have much presence outside the US? I'm asking because I never heard of Sears before coming to the US. Might not be zero (I find there is Sears in Mexico at least), but definitely not strong compared to Walmart, Carrefour, etc.

> I know you said "supply chain", but do Sears really have much presence outside the US? Depends how you count it. Sears Canada had about double the number of stores per capita as Sears USA. By the end, they were mostly a separate corporate entity from Sears USA, and shuttered all their stores over a year ago.

Post by dsfyu404ed » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 11:24 PM UTC

stronglikedan wrote: post #371

mikestew wrote: post #36

Lampert might have "saved" AutoZone, which AFAICT was the feather in his cap to make him "the next Warren Buffert", but if you asked me I'd be hard-pressed to tell you how the shopping experience changed. I speak from ignorance, and the laziness that prevents me from researching deeper, but I assume he did some accounting tricks, sold a few inefficient assets, etc. But as the owner of some old vehicles and a frequent…

Ah, good ole' NAPA, where you pay twice as much for half the quality (in their house brand anyway). At least, that's why I avoided them like the plague a quarter century ago when I was building muscle cars. Also, they always seemed to prioritize their garage delivery service over their walk-in customers. Although,that was a long time ago, and perhaps they've gotten better over time.

Post by Fricken » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 11:29 PM UTC

Post by Spooky23 » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 11:33 PM UTC

kevstev wrote: post #396

jlarocco wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't remember that big of a price advantage, but they definitely had a HUGE selection advantage compared to the book stores in my city. To a certain extent the price didn't matter much because it was the only way to buy a lot of books.

I agree here. I don't remember price being an advantage at all in the 2000s. I remember it being roughly comparable to local stores, and a refrain was often "but at least you don't pay the sales tax!" Perhaps on certain things like accessories- IE cables that stores normally had huge margins on- you could find generic equivalents for cheaper prices, but not in a general case. Until maybe 2009 or so, it was always abo…

Post by rossdavidh » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 11:40 PM UTC

kraig wrote: post #426

rossdavidh wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Truth. I think that might be a reason why none of the retail incumbents, not even the ones with a by-mail background, did well. If you were an upstart, by-mail-only internet company, you didn't need to know how to run a bricks-and-mortar retail chain (of large size). It is probably relevant to consider Amazon's (limited) forays into bricks-and-mortar establishments. They have had about as much impact as the online ve…

I think amazon got to play by different rules though, it would be a very different thing for an established company like Sears to reinvest all of its profits into growing its digital platform in the 90s, 00s, or even now. There is no way investors would have stayed on for that ride.