In all of our reporting on the recent woes of Sears Holdings, the real message is that we want Sears to stage a comeback and return to the retail greatness of decades past. Yet things don’t look very promising over at Sears HQ, and today the department store chain announced that its sales across comparable stores have fallen more than 10% in the last quarter.

That’s not how it’s supposed to work. The company has been quietly closing underperforming Sears and Kmart stores across the country here and there, and the point of shuttering stores is to lose less money and to maybe recapture some of that business by getting shoppers to visit surrounding stores or shop online.

Instead, Sears Holdings reports that sales are down across its Sears and Kmart stores, with a 6.9% decrease at Kmart and a 13.9% decrease in Sears stores. A partial explanation, the company says, is in its consumer electronics business, or maybe we should say their failure to sell consumer electronics. The company describes that whole category as a “business we are altering to meet the changing needs of our members,” and points out that not counting decreased sales in consumer electronics, comparable-store sales only fell 9%.

The sales decrease is about the same as last quarter, though. Either the brilliant turnaround plan for Sears isn’t working as well as anticipated, or it’s just taking a lot longer than shareholders would expect.

Sears Holdings Provides Update On Anticipated Financial Performance; Announces Cash Tender Offer For Up To $1 Billion Principal Amount Of Its Outstanding 6 5/8% Senior Secured Notes Due 2018 [Sears Holdings]

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