Last week, Sears all but admitted that it was looking to cast off the little that remains of its identity with the possible sell-off of its signature house brands Kenmore, DieHard, and Craftsman. What the heck happened to this once-great pillar of American retail? A number of industry insiders have their theories, and they aren’t pulling punches. [More]
sears deathwatch
Sears Promises Early Payment To Vendors, Ties Up Cash Flow
By 3.18.15
While Sears struggles to get customers into its stores and lost $1.7 billion last year, the retailer is also encountering problems in keeping its shelves stocked with merchandise. The company’s vendors are reportedly nervous to ship to the retailer given its poor financial results and touchy cash flow situation. Vendors are asking Sears to pay their bills sooner in exchange for a discount. This ties up tens of millions of extra dollars’ worth of capital up at a time. [More]
Sears To Close Parts Distribution Center In Dallas, Lay Off 77
By 1.6.15
The new year has barely started, but it’s already time to shed a few more tears for Sears. The American retailing legend is trying to stage a comeback as a place where Americans are willing to shop again. Part of that comeback is shedding stores and facilities that it no longer needs. It’s time to add facility to that list: a parts distribution center in Dallas that employs 77 people. [More]
Sears Closer To Goal Of Becoming Landlord, Leases Parts Of Seven Stores To Primark
By 10.20.14
Back in June, we pointed out something interesting about Sears and Kmart: part of the company’s comeback plan is to rent or sell any stores that it can. Vacant buildings seek new owners or tenants, and stores that will remain in business want to sublet part of their space to a roommate to keep the lights on. Today, Sears announced that they’re renting seven spaces to Irish clothing retailer Primark, closing one of their stores to rent out instead. [More]
Sears To Sell Sears Canada Stake To Raise More Cash
By 10.2.14
Sears Holdings Corporation, the company that runs Sears and Kmart, needs to raise some cash to get through the rest of the year. When a person needs cash, they look around the house for things to sell. Sears did that, and what it saw was Sears Canada. The company announced today that it will sell part of its 51% stake in the company to current Sears Canada shareholders. You’ll never guess who’s buying! [More]
Sears Survives For Now, May Not Make It Through 2016
By 9.18.14
Earlier this week, we learned that Sears Holdings Corporation is borrowing $400 million to pay its bills from a hedge fund owned by its own CEO. Yet experts look at this transaction from the outside and wonder: what does it tell us that the company’s own CEO has stopped offering it unsecured credit? [More]
Sears Admits: People Only Come To Our Stores To Park
By 12.17.13
This holiday season, Best Buy is embracing their reputation as America’s Amazon showroom in their marketing. It’s not clear yet how well this strategy is working, but another retailer has an ad campaign based on the same concept: embracing and turning around what consumers make fun of them for. This commercial for Sears that’s currently on the air takes a perceived weakness (Sears has vast, empty parking lots) and turns it into a selling point. Kind of. [More]
Sears Even More Doomed Than Usual, Considers Spinning Off Auto Centers And Lands’ End
By 10.30.13
As anyone who has read Consumerist or casually browsed any business section knows, Sears is not doing well. Our ongoing joke for years has been that Sears is a vast anti-capitalist prank, since no business that’s actually out to make money could stay so institutionally awful for so long. Today, the company announced that two of its most viable divisions may get kicked out of the nest: Lands’ End and its auto centers. [More]
