Sears Holdings, the company that owns Sears and Kmart, is focused on “restoring profitability,” but so far the only method that the massive department store chain has found to do that since 2012 is by selling its stores to an affiliated real estate investment trust. Sears has a lot more real estate to sell, and could keep this charade up for a while yet. Will it? [More]
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Only Three Stores Opening On Thanksgiving At Mall of America
By 11.14.16
The Mall of America, tourist destination and temple of commerce, announced last month that it would not be officially opening on Thanksgiving Day, though it gave individual stores the option to open if they wanted. The only retailers to take the mall up on that offer were Sears, Macy’s, and The Crayola Experience, and Crayola is the only store staying open that lacks its own entrance. [More]
Report: Suppliers Starting To Cut Sales To Sears And Kmart
By 11.9.16 — Updated: 5.25.17
Retailers’ shelves and warehouses are stocked up for the holiday season, but suppliers are reportedly holding back from the stores belonging to one company. Sears Holdings, the parent company of Sears and Kmart, reportedly is having shipments to its stores cut by suppliers, who don’t want to be stuck with the bill if the company files abruptly for bankruptcy protection. [More]
Sears Will Open On Thanksgiving Then Close For Five Hours
By 11.8.16
For every retailer like REI, hhgregg, and TJMaxx that proudly announces they are bucking the trend of opening their doors on Thanksgiving Day, there’s a counterpart sticking to its guns and opening to holiday shoppers on an actual holiday. To that end: Sears will open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving. [More]
Sears Tries Giving Away Rewards Points With Branded Credit Card
By 10.26.16
Sears Holdings, parent company of Kmart and Sears, is depending on the company’s Shop Your Way rewards program to save the company. It is a very nice rewards program, but is it enough to get customers to spend? Don’t most store cards come with special rewards or discounts? [More]
Other Tool Companies Interested In Buying Craftsman
By 10.4.16
The legend says that 89 years ago, the head of hardware at Sears Roebuck really liked the name Craftsman, and bought the trademark from an existing tool company for $500 ($6,921 in 2016 dollars). Today, parent company Sears Holdings is troubled and in need of a cash infusion, and has quietly solicited bids for Craftsman. It’s reportedly worth around $2 billion. [More]
Sears Holdings CEO Blogs: Kmart Is Doing Just Fine, Thanks
By 10.3.16 — Updated: 11.10.16
Sears Holdings chairman, CEO, and chief manifesto-writer Eddie Lampert wants shoppers like you and writers like us to know something very important: Kmart is doing just fine. It has some stores that are profitable, and the retailer is continuing its turnaround plan and the “transformation” of its business into something with fewer stores and more online sales. [More]
NC Mall Wants To Evict Sears For Low Sales, Lack Of Effort
By 9.30.16 — Updated: 10.3.16
Sears had a deal with the Holly Hill Mall in Burlington, NC that isn’t unusual: the retailer gave the mall a small percentage of its sales instead of paying a fixed rent. That amount has evidently fallen over the years as the popularity and business prospects of Sears fell, and now the mall has sued Sears for failing to keep up its end of the lease. [More]
Report: Sears Holdings, Claire’s, Rue 21 At Risk Of Bankruptcy And Liquidation
By 9.28.16
Think of your favorite troubled or defunct retailer: does it or did it have a reason to exist? That’s the deceptively simple question raised in a new report from financial ratings firm Fitch Ratings, which predicts that the combination of e-commerce, disinterest in malls, and a lack of strong brand identity for some troubled retailers could spell doom in the next year or so. [More]
Moody’s Is Kind Of Worried About Sears Holdings, Especially Kmart
By 9.14.16
While Sears Holdings keeps trudging along its alleged “path to profitability,” Moody’s Investors Service has some doubts about the retailer’s prospects, and has downgraded its liquidity rating. That means that its analysts are concerned about the ability of Sears Holdings to keep its doors open and merchandise on the shelves. [More]
Sears Bringing Paint Back To Store Shelves Nationwide
By 8.30.16
Now that home improvement materials are selling like hot cakes, Sears is hoping it can capitalize on the DIY trend by selling paint for the first time in four years. [More]
As Sales Continue To Drop, Sears Borrows $300 Million From Its Own CEO
By 8.25.16
As more shoppers go online — or turn to retailers that don’t feel like they’ve just given up — same-store sales at Sears and its corporate kin Kmart have continued to sink, leading the once-great department store chain to borrow $300 million from the hedge fund owned by none other than Sears Holdings CEO Eddie Lampert. [More]
Sears Trying New “Fashion-Forward” In-Store Concept
By 8.24.16
Sears may be closing stores faster than we can keep up, but the once-great retailer is apparently not ready to throw up its hands and give up. The department store chain has embarked on yet another tactic it hopes will finally be able to drum up some sales, righting the sinking ship. The plan this time? Showcase foreign apparel brands with a store-within-a-store concept.
Raiders Of The Lost Walmart Will Administer Antibiotics To Your Windows Vista PC Now
By 8.2.16
The Raiders of the Lost Walmart are the brave mall explorers who scour the nation’s clearance racks for the most comically overpriced retail antiquities. Here are some of their latest discoveries. [More]
Retail Rivals Pulling Out Their Own Deals In Effort To Compete With Prime Day
By 7.12.16
Just because Amazon is calling today Prime Day doesn’t mean other retailers can’t offer their own discounts and deals, too. As such, a whole bunch of retailers are pulling out specials designed to lure shoppers today, while carefully avoiding any mention of “Prime Day” [More]
All That’s Left At The Oldest Remaining Sears Are Fixtures And Khakis
By 7.12.16
The Sears store on Lawrence Avenue in Chicago is winding down operations. That’s a normal part of the retail cycle: when a store is no longer making money, you shut it down. What’s different about this store closure is that the Lawrence location was one of the oldest still-operating Sears department stores, open in that location for 91 years. It survived the Great Depression, but not the era of e-commerce and of Eddie Lampert. [More]
Sears Expands Another House Brand, Sells Kenmore TVs
By 6.22.16
A few weeks ago, Sears announced with its quarterly earnings that it was looking into doing some unspecified money-making thing with its signature house brands: Kenmore, Craftsman, and DieHard. Most observers assumed that this meant selling the brands, since Sears Holdings needs some cash flow. Instead, the company is expanding the brands to include new and related like DieHard car tires and now Kenmore-brand televisions. [More]
