Now where will I buy my Craftsman tool? The end is near for Sears.

https://news.thestreet.com/independent/story/14139739/1/yes-sears-stock-is-still-crashing.html

The company 's stock has lost a quarter of its value in the last nine days and markets are betting on a debt default in 12-24 months.

Nice video here on Sears mail order homes. Wapo vid

66 More stores to be closed. Most of them K-Mart.

No, my local Sears at UTC Mall is getting the axe. That mall is one of the few malls that is doing well and even expanding as it is right next to La Jolla. That said the Sears building looks seriously dated. Just about all the rest of the mall has been updated or remodeled yet that Sears seems stuck in the early 1970's.

I bet the mall owners tear it down and have someone custom build a new store.

I remember some of my friends in high school working at that Sears when we were teens. Last time I went in it was years ago and I remember thinking the place looked like a dump.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/13/news/companies/sears-canada/index.html

Sears Canada says they are alnost out of cash and may close.

Sears destined to go the way of the A&P!

RIP Sears!

Maybe someone should start a candlelight vigil for Sears thread?

It'd be a searing tribute

And the hits just keep on coming. Twenty more stores to close. They should just Kevork the company and put it out if it's misery. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-sears-kmart-20170623-story.html

So, what are the Vegas odds on Sears staying open after 2018?

I worked for them as an appliance repairman back in the early 90s. I could tell it was a declining empire back then. Lots of wrong decisions being made. They were always trying to find a way to get rid of the service department. They did not understand that a lot of people bought sears electronics and appliances, heating, cooling, etc. because there was always someone reliable that they could call to work on them. They kept trying to compete with wal-mart even though, in the beginning, they were a completely different type of store that had its own type of shoppers and didn't need to do that.

Besides, why go with craftsman tools when you can buy this

At this point, it's really starting to look like the retail version of Terry Schiavo.

More at the link, but you can pretty much guess what it says.

After 17 years my Sears washer stopped working.
The store at Quail Springs Mall has closed.

I found them online and called them.
They were terrific.
They scheduled an appointment, and the guy came out and fixed my washer.

I'm glad they're still in business.
There are a lot of Sears appliances out there.

Might not be the thread for it, but I am questioning our current setup for publicly traded companies. Obviously a tiny example but when you look at the autobailout you have:

Chrysler: Majority owned by private equity firm: went bankrupt, had to be bailed out and sold to a foreign company.
GM: Publicly traded: Went bankrupt, had to be bailed out.
Ford: Publically traded but controlled by Ford family. Didn't need a bailout b/c had thought strategically in mid 2000s and already trimmed company.

In Seattle the Nordstrom family is considering taking the company back private as they think the market demands for short term gains are not conducive to moving the company through the current retail transformation. Seems like a smart move.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/08/business/dealbook/nordstrom.html

I'm certainly sick of working for media companies that are publicly traded.

Yeah, I kinda hate the stock market for that sort of reason, but it's so ingrained now as part of everybody's retirement funds that how are you going to get it out?

i came across a Tumblr post where a former employee says Sears hasn't made a profit from retail in over two decades. What's kept them in business was buying out the land and building malls around the Sears and leasing properties out to the other retailers. So far, most of the first stores to get axed have been the ones at standalone locations, the auto centers and Kmart.

Still, the company may as well go casket shopping. It's not a matter of if it can be saved but how long do they wanna fight the symptoms.

Thing is, Sears doesn't make appliances. They brand Whirlpool, GE, LG and others as Kenmore. But you knew this. There will be no shortage of parts for your Kenmore or people willing to repair them. I'm sure the Kenmore brand will be sold at some point to walmart or best buy.

After four years our Kenmore "Elite" HE washer (made by Whirlpool) was making noise when spinning like a freight-train. The Sears repairman quoted us $550 parts plus labor to fix. Apparently the tub and direct drive motor are a single unit. It isn't possible to replace just the bearings. We purchased this pair after returning another pair of Kenmore "Elite" HE appliances (made by LG) that couldn't get through a single spin cycle without having nervous breakdowns. When they sold us the pair they offered an extended warranty that we declined for more than $500.

We replaced the washer with a Maytag HE machine (made by Whirlpool) for $600. It purrs like a kitten. The female has learned the benefit of running the manufacturer's clean cycle on HE machines at the required interval. Home Depot only wanted $160 for the extended warranty that we declined.

Sears had a history of marketing well made appliances under the Kenmore name. I think this is no longer true.

While researching washers we found Maytag is owned by Whirlpool and the machines may be marketed as Maytag but the engineering is Whirlpool. Maytag almost went bankrupt in the mid 2000s as a result of their Neptune washer debacle. These were outsourced to Samsung and were nicknamed Stinkomatics by unfortunate buyers. The ensuing class-action suite, bad press, and costly repairs made a takeover easy.

Which is all just a long way of saying don't cry for Sears. They lost their way long ago.

Most washers made in the USA have been re-branded Whirlpools since the 90s. The factory for them was not far from where I live.

Toys R Us to become We B Bankrupt https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/18/toy...kruptcy-as-soon-as-this-week-sources-say.html

Retail is a hard business and the internet just makes it harder. Now you have to have the rock bottom lowest price or else people will find the lowest price on the internet and that is who gets the sale

Thing is, Sears was Catalog King long before the Internet ever existed. Poor vision on their part--they could've OWNED online shopping with a little foresight. But I guess the technology wasn't up to speed back when Sears was still strong.

Life after Sears:

Ponce City Market.

About twenty-five years too late, but serves them right for running Children's Castle out of business.

How much longer until Sears finally goes fully the way of "Drexell's Class"?

A key executive has bailed on Sears. http://www.businessinsider.com/sear...e-berkowitz-leaves-board-of-directors-2017-10

A broken jpeg link? Who would pay for that?

Whirlpool and Sears split. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-sears-whirlpool-appliances-20171024-story.html