Sears files for bankruptcy after years of turmoil
- Thread starter caffeware
- Start date
Sears was amazon 80 years before amazon. There mail order catalogue business would have scaled perfectly to a web based store as they already had the warehouses and infrastructure.
I don't think Sears executives didn't realize they were whistling past the graveyard, I think the incentives of a mature company to always show profit vs. a startup has a lot to do with it. Sears did try several times to push into online sales I believe, but it shows how much of a competitive advantage it is to have VC funding and an expectation to lose money for years that Silicon Valley companies have. Sears would have to justify sinking money into online to their shareholders.
Same issue Walmart and others have. In the short run it is more profitable to focus on what you do best and ignore the disruption in the marketplace.
I don't think Sears executives didn't realize they were whistling past the graveyard, I think the incentives of a mature company to always show profit vs. a startup has a lot to do with it. Sears did try several times to push into online sales I believe, but it shows how much of a competitive advantage it is to have VC funding and an expectation to lose money for years that Silicon Valley companies have. Sears would have to justify sinking money into online to their shareholders.
Same issue Walmart and others have. In the short run it is more profitable to focus on what you do best and ignore the disruption in the marketplace.
Vade
Member
This is so spot on and Sears did make a early move into online shopping, but similar to the blockbuster move to streaming once it was starting to show growth the chief proponent was fired and the program stagnated or was completely killed. Netflix's executives have said if BlockBuster had keep their streaming service and keep throwing money at it for R&D and overall quality of service Netflix had about 6 month left of cash and investors. However, Blockbuster fires their progressive CEO and then moves back to ancient business structure and Netflix starts to eat them alive.
Cybrwzrd
Banned
I'm surprised they held on as long as they did. Inept top management for decades ruined them as a company.Now Ex-CEO Eddie Lampert (And majority shareholder) took the company apart piece by piece for his own benefit. He is going to be the only person not to lose in the end. Tens of thousands of retirees are going to lose their pensions, and have lost from the tanking of the company stock. I don't normally like to wish harm on people, but a timeline where he didn't survive his kidnapping and never bought Sears would have been better for tens of thousands of people.
https://www.inc.com/erik-sherman/se...anies-can-thank-ceo-eddie-lampert-for-it.html
https://www.businessinsider.com/sea...sing-edward-lampert-bankruptcy-chances-2017-1
http://fortune.com/2018/09/14/sears-ceo-retiree-pensions-hurting-business/
https://www.inc.com/erik-sherman/se...anies-can-thank-ceo-eddie-lampert-for-it.html
https://www.businessinsider.com/sea...sing-edward-lampert-bankruptcy-chances-2017-1
http://fortune.com/2018/09/14/sears-ceo-retiree-pensions-hurting-business/
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TheShadowLord
Member
KMart is next though I am surprised sears going as I thought Kmart would be closing before sears. Live to fight another day, I guess.
Mr Nash
square pies = communism
Department stores are largely dinosaurs today. Consumers will either go to specialized shops, outlet stores that have big discounts, or, most commonly, just get the stuff online. About the only types of vaguely department store-like places I see continuing to exist in a brick and mortar fashion 10-15 years from now are upscale ones that cater to a very specific, very well-heeled clientele.
BANGS
Banned
Doesn't Sears own Kmart???
Pagusas
Elden Member
Sears owns Kmart...
dolabla
Member
I'm surprised they held on as long as they did. Inept top management for decades ruined them as a company.Now Ex-CEO Eddie Lampert (And majority shareholder) took the company apart piece by piece for his own benefit. He is going to be the only person not to lose in the end. Tens of thousands of retirees are going to lose their pensions, and have lost from the tanking of the company stock. I don't normally like to wish harm on people, but a timeline where he didn't survive his kidnapping and never bought Sears would have been better for tens of thousands of people.
https://www.inc.com/erik-sherman/se...anies-can-thank-ceo-eddie-lampert-for-it.html
https://www.businessinsider.com/sea...sing-edward-lampert-bankruptcy-chances-2017-1
http://fortune.com/2018/09/14/sears-ceo-retiree-pensions-hurting-business/
I've always heard Lampert was a huge pos. I'm not surprised at all.
It's so sad that people are going to lose their pensions. I just can't believe what both Sears and K-Mart have become. I have many good memories going to these stores as a kid. Got many games at K-Mart.
cryptoadam
Banned
Well I won't be around in 70-100 years to read that Amazon finally closed down.
Things evolve and business change. Sears had a good run. Feel sorry for anyone who lost money/pension/stocks on this bankruptcy.
Things evolve and business change. Sears had a good run. Feel sorry for anyone who lost money/pension/stocks on this bankruptcy.
Red Crayon Aristocrat
Member
I can't remember the last time my local Sears wasn't mostly empty of customers, even thinking back to memories of the mall from 2005 it was eerily empty.
TheShadowLord
Member
But I haven't heart kmart going out of business. Unless if sears goes out of business then kmart too
JORMBO
Darkness no more
I'm amazed Kmart is still around. Before they got rid of their gaming section here you could find 5+ year old copies of Madden still on the shelf at full price.
brap
Banned
I miss sears already 
I remember back in the early 2000s the one by me was still selling Game Boy cases and a few games lmao. Had busted up DDR boxes until like 2012 too. Kmart was always weird about games for some reason.
infinitys_7th
Member
K-Mart employees went through this already. I know a guy who worked for K-Mart for 35 or so years and lost it. It was devastating.
My local K-Mart always had the latest demo kiosk before they went out of vogue (I spent hours playing Spyro and Donkey Kong 64 at one), and they always had a ton of games on the bargain shelves. I got a ton of my DS and PSP collection from K-Mart, for anywhere from $5 to $20 a game. They had insane discounts on non-Nintendo 1st party games, and had weirdly obscure titles for a box store (Atlus games and the like). Got a bunch of PS2 and PS3 games from there as well, though the discounts were never as high ($15-$25 usually). Stuff just never sold. I'd usually go once a week and keep a tally of stuff I was interested in.
Cybrwzrd
Banned
What rock have you been living under? They have closed nearly every store they had near me over the past decade. After this round of closings there will be no stores left in my state. There used to be about 10 stores within a 50 mile radius of me in Atlanta, GA.
It's a bit frightening that you can work like 20 years for a company to qualify for their pension and they go bankrupt and bye bye retirement, back to the workforce you go. All in the meanwhile, some slimeball CEO or fund manager can walk away with a ton of money. I don't think retirement will exist for my generation unless you start your own business and get rich or you become a CEO or fund manager.
Cybrwzrd
Banned
pr0cs
Member
The last 20 or so years had some significant closures worth noting. Initially it was surprising but as time went on it made sense. It takes massive amounts of capital to keep behemoth chains like this afloat. At one time they could buffer these costs since they had a stranglehold on the market but with online sales and additional pressure from competitors it was pretty clear that the end was coming for a lot of them.
I remember Kmart closing here, Zellers opening to much fanfare, Consumers Distributing having a lot of buzz then vanishing what seemed like overnight.
Then Eatons closed and it was clear Sears was next. Thankfully I got in on some really good business clothing sales (of I'm wearing on the bus right now, on the way home from work).
I suspect The Bay is next, last few outings there have been less than stellar, understaffed and prices that I found surprising (business casual shirts that normally are over 60 here had for just over 20). Sears was the same way with surprising prices that felt like they were trying too hard to get people in the door.
I suspect history repeats itself in regards to small boutique type shops filling in the high fashion gaps and online eating the rest of the share
5secondrulesucks
Banned
there is a sears near me and its not the graveyard everyone says but its definitely thinning out. i think its kind of sad to see these giant stores closing but yeah if you dont adapt you get eaten up
Pallas
Member
Kmart will be closing stores as well with this bankruptcy that Sears is filing iirc.
Back when I lived in Nashville, the closest Kmart at the time were getting rid of gaming electronics(consoles, accessories, games, etc) to make room for other stuff. I asked the lady who ran the department at the time and she told me it was due to not making enough profits/underperforming.
Back when I lived in Nashville, the closest Kmart at the time were getting rid of gaming electronics(consoles, accessories, games, etc) to make room for other stuff. I asked the lady who ran the department at the time and she told me it was due to not making enough profits/underperforming.
5secondrulesucks
Banned
what was wrong with the matress
haxan7
Banned
Too firm for me and was giving me all kinds of pain
#Phonepunk#
Banned
this is pretty crazy. one of the titans of 80s captialism right here. i remember going to the Sears outlet store all the time as a kid. it was right next to the mall. malls used to be so central to life, it's crazy that all of that shit is gone now and everything is digital. mall/retail culture is now going to be relegated to history, all about a specific time/place.
anyways Sears was cool. they always had the newest electronic gizmos and stuff, like you would see 3D0s set up and early VR when those came out. you would also go there to put furniture or appliances on layaway. we got our SNES from there when that came out and my dad went to some kind of demonstration where they passed out flyers and graphs comparing specs between all the consoles.
the catalogs were pretty classic. like phonebook size full of everything they carried. they were useful for making christmas lists and makeshift softcore pr0n before the age of the internet. RIP to a legend.
anyways Sears was cool. they always had the newest electronic gizmos and stuff, like you would see 3D0s set up and early VR when those came out. you would also go there to put furniture or appliances on layaway. we got our SNES from there when that came out and my dad went to some kind of demonstration where they passed out flyers and graphs comparing specs between all the consoles.
the catalogs were pretty classic. like phonebook size full of everything they carried. they were useful for making christmas lists and makeshift softcore pr0n before the age of the internet. RIP to a legend.
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The one near me only sells tvs in the electronic section.
Man, I have the fondest memories of that store.
I'm surprised they held on as long as they did. Inept top management for decades ruined them as a company.Now Ex-CEO Eddie Lampert (And majority shareholder) took the company apart piece by piece for his own benefit. He is going to be the only person not to lose in the end. Tens of thousands of retirees are going to lose their pensions, and have lost from the tanking of the company stock. I don't normally like to wish harm on people, but a timeline where he didn't survive his kidnapping and never bought Sears would have been better for tens of thousands of people.
https://www.inc.com/erik-sherman/se...anies-can-thank-ceo-eddie-lampert-for-it.html
https://www.businessinsider.com/sea...sing-edward-lampert-bankruptcy-chances-2017-1
http://fortune.com/2018/09/14/sears-ceo-retiree-pensions-hurting-business/
This is a really one-sided view of the situation.
Sears was a shrinking business long before Lampert took over it(it's days were numbered after the 1-2 punch of Wal-Mart and Amazon). To be honest I am shocked that they have managed to delay it's death this long.
I know no one really like vultures, but they are an important part of the ecosystem.
Without the vultures, the company still would've just died and left everyone with nothing, probably way sooner at that. You can say 'but if they would have invested in the company they could have turned it around', fine, where were you with your tens of billions of dollars to invest in a risky plan to try and compete with Amazon after giving them a 10 year head start? The whole reason the vultures were able to take over the company was because no one wanted to put any capital into Sears for a decades, leading to the parts being worth more than the sum of them. At that point it was inevitable that someone was going to carve them up, even it it didn't end up being Lampert.
Red Crayon Aristocrat
Member
My local Kmart closed like 14 years ago, so long ago I barely even remember that it was once a thing.
I have many memories of when my local was absolutely HOPPING as a kid in the 90s and even as a teen in the 00s, while my local mall is doing better than many, it's not quite totally dead but it's a shadow of what it once was (and it has a Sears too, wonder if it's one of the ones closing)
It's weird to think that what was once such a ubiquitous part of American life is dying, especially given how sudden it happened, about a decade ago, in the late 00s, the golden age of my local mall was already over but it was still doing fine and up to the early days of the 2010s it and every other mall I went to seemed to be doing ok even it wasn't like it used to be, over the last 5 years though was things have gone south fast.
Also, props for the shoutout to catalogs, looking at the lingerie in those as a youngin' was an influential experience, although I think JCPenney is mostly what I looked at.
When private businesses went more towards 401ks, a big cause of concern was how much less you get compared to a pension. The counterpoint was always that 401ks are yours, and mostly kept outside of your employer so if they went tits up, your 401k is largely safe.
In the end, the 401kers were right. It's better to take a little less and know you got it, than hope and pray that corporations will always be around to cut you the pension check.
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