Sears Holdings, the parent company of Sears and Kmart, doesn’t like articles about how many stores it’s closing. Instead, the company tries to limit news releases about its plans to local news outlets. The company reportedly plans to close 49 Kmart discount stores, 16 Sears department stores, and seven Sears Auto Centers. [More]
sears holdings corporation
Sears CEO Says Suppliers Are Taking Advantage Of “Dire Predictions” About Retailer
By 5.15.17
Eddie Lampert, the manifesto-writing chairman and CEO of Sears Holdings, really wishes that members of the media would quit reporting that his company is imminently doomed. Why? The news reports are causing problems in the retailer’s negotiations with its suppliers. [More]
Sears Changes Its Tune: No, We’re Totally Not Doomed
By 3.22.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
After being refreshingly candid in its annual report, admitting that there is a lot of “doubt” about its ability to remain afloat in the long run, Sears Holdings is now doing an about-face, with its chief financial officer assigned to handle damage control. Get your “Sears Holdings Corporate Announcement Bingo card” ready. [More]
53-Year Kmart Employee Was There When Store Opened, Will Help Close It Down
By 6.13.16
In 1963, a young man working at a Walgreens in Illinois heard that a new discount chain called Kmart was opening a new store and looking for employees. He earned $1 per hour, and the shiny new store would pay $1.25, so he applied for a job. He began work in the maintenance department on May 15, 1963, was there when the store opened, and plans to stick around until the store’s last day of business on July 24. [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]
$400M Loan From Its Own CEO Is Only 1/10 Of What Sears Needs To Stay Alive
By 9.19.14
I don’t know about you, but if someone loaned me $400 million, it would just about cover all my debts. But I’m not a sagging national retail operation that hasn’t been relevant in decades. If I were, then I’d probably need a much, much, much bigger loan to get out of hock. [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 Borrows $400 Million From Its CEO, No Conflict Of Interest Here
By 9.16.14
Sears Holdings Company keeps losing money, and they need to borrow some cash. What do you do when you have trouble getting a loan and really can’t afford to pay a lot of interest on the money you desperately need? You ask your parents. In the case of Sears, its dad is Eddie Lampert, the company’s manifesto-writing chairman, CEO, and biggest investor. [More]
Sears Circles Back Around To Idea Of Selling Sears Canada Stake
By 5.14.14
Sears Holdings Corporation first started whispering that it might spin off or sell its stake in Sears Canada a few years ago, when the company first started publicly naming parts of itself that it could sell for cash. Since then, Hometown and Outlet stores are thriving as a spun-off company, so why not Sears Canada? [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]
18 Photos That Prove The Impending Demise Of Sears
By 10.21.13
As we’ve often discussed on this site, Sears doesn’t seem to want to sell merchandise to customers anymore. They’re apparently more interested in selling the real estate that their stores sit on. We know many talented and dedicated Sears employees, but the big picture remains grim. Want concrete proof that will make you sad? You could visit your local store, or just look at these pictures. [More]
Sears Lost Even More Money This Quarter Than Experts Expected
By 8.22.13
No one with any sense of how capitalism works would expect the profit and loss numbers out of Sears Holdings Corporation this week to be good. It turns out, though, that the company lost even more money in the second quarter of 2013 than experts had anticipated, and needs serious help to get out of its downward slide. [More]
I Want To Buy A Sorbet Maker, Sears Keeps Hanging Up On Me
By 12.27.12
We have a hypothesis here at Consumerist. The Sears Holdings Corporation is no longer a retailer, but is only an anti-capitalist prank on a global scale. How else can you explain a company that has a global retail presence, yet seems determined not to sell anything? The latest chapter in this saga comes from Kelly, who wanted to buy a small kitchen appliance that turns frozen fruit into delicious sorbets. Sears, perhaps with a hangover and in desperate need of some personal space after spending the holidays with its more crass cousin Kmart, keeps hanging up on Kelly every time she calls to see whether the item is in stock. She’s taking the hint now. [More]
Kmart Overcharged Me For Layaway Order, Then Their Servers Ate It
By 12.19.12
Caroline’s Kmart layaway order was wrong. After she placed the order online, the contract came back $92 more than it was supposed to be. Well, okay, no problem: she could just call up Kmart and straighten it out. That’s why stores have a huge customer service staff. Except for how she called up Kmart and they told her to direct her problems to her local store. For an online layaway order. She’s been struggling with Kmart for a month now. The staff at her local store have been extremely helpful, but that doesn’t solve her core problem: she’s been overcharged for an order that still hasn’t shipped after being paid in full. [More]
