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]
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Sears Holdings Admits: Yep, We’re Probably Doomed
By 3.22.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
Like a chess player who realizes their only chance of not losing is a tornado that whisks the table away, Sears Holdings is now making it clear to investors that there’s a good chance the company won’t be around much longer. [More]
JCPenney Goes For Sears’ Jugular With Expanded Home Services
By 3.13.17
With questions arising about Sears’ ability to make it through another year without borrowing even more money from its own CEO, JCPenney has been quietly expanding its business to be more like the Sears of old, selling appliances and even heating/air-conditioning systems. Today, JCP went even further in its apparent efforts to kick Sears while it’s down. [More]
Sears CEO Tells Employees Things Look Great After Losing $2.2 Billion In 2016
By 3.9.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
Years ago, Sears Holdings chairman Eddie Lampert came to our attention by publishing a 15-page manifesto about pretty much everything. Since then, Lampert has taken on the job of CEO, despite not having any experience in the retail business and having what at times seems like an active dislike of the retail business. He periodically issues mini-manifestos for employees and for the public about how everything is fine, and published another this morning. [More]
Craftsman Recalls 46,000 Collapsable Saws Over Laceration Hazard
By 3.7.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
Working with saws and other tools can be a dangerous activity, and the risk increases when the table saw you’re using unexpectedly collapses, as is the case for some 46,000 Craftsman portable table saws now being recalled. [More]
Sears’ Empty Sales Floors May Be Turning Customers Off
By 2.24.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
It should be pretty easy to tell a fully operational department store from one that it is closing down, but some Sears shoppers have found that their local store is not doing much to alleviate concerns about the company’s death spiral. [More]
Sears Tries Combining DieHard Brand With Auto Centers
By 2.21.17
Last year, Sears Holdings announced that it would begin looking for new ways to extract money from its best-known store brands: Kenmore, Craftsman, and DieHard. So far, its efforts have included Kenmore televisions, DieHard tires, and selling the entire Craftsman brand. Now it’s lending the DieHard name to a new version of its Auto Center. [More]
Sears, Kmart Dropping 31 Trump Home Items From Online Stores
By 2.13.17
Last week saw multiple retailers either dropping or de-emphasizing Ivanka Trump-branded products in their stores, and now two more chains are stepping back from the family name: Sears Holdings announced over the weekend that Kmart and Sears are pulling 31 Trump Home branded products from their online stores. [More]
Sears Holdings Outlines New Plan To Escape Death Spiral
By 2.10.17
Everyone except chairman and CEO Eddie Lampert thinks that Sears Holdings is in an inescapable death spiral, as the company sells its brands and real estate and lays off employees. Today, the company outlined plans for the near future that are more of the same: selling more real estate, selling off more key Sears brands, and depending on the Shop Your Way rewards program and e-commerce when the customers it still has aren’t especially interested in either. [More]
Time Running Out For Sears To Figure Way Out Of Death Spiral
By 2.7.17
For quite some time, Sears has managed to stay afloat by selling off real estate and brands, closing stores, and borrowing huge piles of cash from its CEO, which is not exactly a plan for long-term sustainability. If that all weren’t grim enough, now comes news that raises even more doubt about the future of this once-great retailer. [More]
Kmart Lays Off More Employees, Turns Sales Floor Into Big Pile Of Boxes
By 1.27.17
The apparent inescapable death spiral of Sears continued last week when the retailer laid off an unspecified number of full-time employees from its Kmart stores. [More]
7 Things We Learned About Sears Holdings’ Apparent Death Spiral
By 1.9.17
According to Eddie Lampert, CEO and Chairman of Sears Holdings, the company is in the middle of a “transformation” into a profitable enterprise that integrates online and offline retail. Yet everyone from former high-ranking executives to anyone who has ever set foot in a Kmart says the retailer is in an inescapable death spiral. [More]
Craftsman Tool Lovers Worried For Brand After $900M Sale To Black & Decker
By 1.5.17
In a bid to keep its sinking retail ship afloat, Sears on Thursday announced the sale of its iconic tool brand Craftsman to Black & Decker for a mere $900 million. But with the change of hands, many stalwart Craftsman lovers aren’t sure if they’ll be sticking with the brand in the future. [More]
Here Are All Of The Kmart, Sears, And Macy’s Stores Closing This Spring
By and 1.5.17
It’s shaping up to be quite a depressing spring for a few retailers, after Sears Holdings announced it would be shutting down 150 Kmart and Sears stores in the next few months, and Macy’s notifying customers that 68 stores would close. Here is the list of all the stores that will be turning off the lights for good, where they are, and when they’re closing. [More]
Sears To Sell Craftsman Brand To Black & Decker For $900M
By 1.5.17
Sears isn’t just trying to stave off the grim reaper by closing stores and borrowing hundreds of millions of dollars from CEO Eddie Lampert twice in two weeks. The beleaguered retailer is selling off its iconic Craftsman brand to Stanley Black & Decker for $900 million. [More]
Sears And Kmart Announce 150 Store Closures, Including The First Kmart
By 1.5.17
Last week, we shared a list of Kmart and Sears stores that we were able to confirm would be closing this spring. The list just grew, reaching a total of 108 Kmart locations and 42 Sears locations that will begin their store-closing sales this week. [More]
Sears Borrows Another $500 Million From Its CEO Until It Can Sell More Stores
By 1.4.17
Sears Holdings, the parent company of Sears and Kmart, has lost billions of dollars in the last few years. The last time that it did turn a profit, it was because the company had just sold a few billion dollars’ worth of store buildings to its affiliated real estate investment trust. Now the company is borrowing some cash from its CEO in anticipation of raising more money the same way. [More]
Lawsuit: Sears, JCPenney, Kohl’s & Macy’s Misled Consumers On Sale Prices
By 12.8.16 — Updated: 12.9.16
In recent years, a spate of retailers have been accused by customers of advertising “false” original prices on discounted or outlet merchandise in order to make consumers believe they are getting a steal of a deal. Now, the city of Los Angeles is joining the fray, suing JCPenney, Kohl’s, Sears, and Macy’s, alleging that in order to increase sales the companies used so-called “false reference pricing.” [More]
