Thread: Sears ..sign of the times

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I know I read it here some place that you guys had said that sears was in trouble, they anounced on the news last Thursday that they were closing 140 stores, between sears and K-mat here in Calif, they also have the OSH harware store here in Calif, wonder if it will effect that one as well,

Yeah, Sears is another of the old line catalog based companies that did not seem to adjust to the times. Our local K-Mart parking lot is generally less than 10% full, and Sears is not much better. They tried to breathe some life into Sears by bringing in specialty lines like Lands End a few years back, but too little, too late seems to me - all it did was make Lands End on-line charge state taxes across the nation. Many of the Craftsman tools are sold in our ACE hardware stores, which is a good change. So far the list of closings seems to be more focused on the SSE portion of the country - here's a list that was released Friday, but it may not be 100% http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business...tore-closings/

You'd kinda think that a company that was one of the originators of NON-store(cataloque)sales could of adapted over the years((instead of adapted--make that lead))
I can imagine a catalogue that doesn't need a computer for online sales, with those little simbles that you just scan with your i phone(i don't have one) and it would automaticly order your size to your address and put it on your sears credit card----oh, thats right, they sold off the SEARS credit card , didn't they?

well maybe they should go back to selling farm equipment and stock feed -----

and Illinois Gov just gave them multi million tax deal a few days before this annoucement----I wonder if Sears had alerted him or kept it quiet like the solelidare??? solar panel federal deal???

In my area we have a K-mart which seems to be doing fairly well, but Sears - sucks!! I made my yearly wander through one of their big stores and their pricing is beyond ridiculous for about everything. The Craftsman tools are more expensive now then the Lowe's Kobalt and Home Depot Husky brands. What's worse, I can buy most of those same tools at any swap meet for a lot less. My wife bought a couple of Land's End shirts on line to give as Xmas presents for about half of the store price, including the shipping. The local stores will be staying open according to this mornings paper

There's no doubt that they will close many stores but how
do they explain doing something like this at the same time?
Craftsman Bringing 'Luxury' Tractor To Detroit Auto Show | Fox News

It's funny, here our Kmart has crappy customer service at the register. People they hire can't count, and seem to have no manors. I bought about 12 items a few years ago at Kmart, and the clerk rang me up, then moved to the next customer. I asked for a bag, and the look she gave me was pricelesss, along with the "whatever" comment. Thus I don't shop there anymore. Orchard Supply Hardware also in town, has much better customer service with nice polite staff. Sears closed our local shop years ago. The one north of me in Santa Rosa, again seems to have friendly staff, but not too knowledgeable about the products they sell. I guess to compete with the discounters, they have to cut money in the customer service areas. Myself, I'd be happy to pay more for the good service! Probably why I shop at the local Ace Hardware, when I can.

Turning a long standing brand image in a different direction (up market in this case) isn't easy. Takes commitment, and resources............both of which would seem inconsistent with the rest of this story. Getting "lean and mean" is an old strategy that works for some, but fails for many more. The Craftsman lawn/garden tractor history is pretty spotty. Some models served well for the intended purpose and price point, others..........not so much. When we bought the house we're in now I had to redo most of the landscape, including an all new lawn. I rewarded myself with a JD tractor/mower. Within two years three of my neighbors had come over for a visit and ended up getting a green and yellow lawn tractor too. Quality sells. I would be surprised if someone with one of these new, higher end Craftsman units would have neighbors reacting similarly just because of the long developed reputation for lower end machines. In today's parlance "It's a viral thing...".

Good thing someone told me they were closing a bunch of stores----I doubt I would have noticed otherwise!!!!

Wouldn't even guess how many years it's been since I was in a Sears or Kmart.... I suppose Target stores will be next, then we'll be down to nothing but WalMart!!

We have a local company, called Campbell Supply. I think they have 6 stores in the area. They've got tools, paint, car parts, work clothes and boots, electrical supplies, most anything a guy would need. They're locally owned, not some dang huge conglomerate, pride themselves on customer service and are very good at it! No reason to shop elsewhere unless it's something they don't handle. I like to see my money stay in the area, not go off to some corporate giant.