Eddie Lampert, the manifesto-writing hedge fund manager who runs Sears Holdings, the company that owns Sears and Kmart, doesn’t understand retail. That’s isn’t always a bad thing in a manager: sometimes leaders with fresh perspective bring in fresh ideas. For Sears and Kmart, it’s meant over a decade of no investment in the company and the slowest liquidation and dismantling in retail history. [More]
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Sears Holdings Cares More About Wall Street Than About Customers, And That’s Why It’s Doomed
By 6.16.16
Sears Expanding DieHard Brand With Foray Into The Car Tire Business
By 6.14.16
After hinting that it would be exploring unnamed options for getting more out of some of its signature house brands, Sears has announced that it will be expanding DieHard’s reach in the automotive market by selling passenger-car tires under the brand. [More]
The 5 Meanest Quotes From Report On Sad State Of Sears
By 6.3.16
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]
Lands’ End, Eddie Bauer Deny PETA Accusations Of Using Down Ripped From Live Geese
By 5.31.16
If you yank the soft down feathers from the body of a goose that’s still alive, here’s the thing: the goose can grow that plumage back, and you can pluck it again. That’s apparently the inhumane practice on some poultry farms in China. A continuing investigation by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals discovered live-plucking on farms linked to suppliers of well-known U.S. retailers Lands’ End, Eddie Bauer, L.L. Bean, Sears, and Amazon. [More]
Oversized Box From Sears Has Enough Room To Stash Preteen Daughter
By 5.27.16
Amazon was once notorious for shipping items in comically oversized boxes, an e-commerce phenomenon that we blame on mysterious employees called the Stupid Shipping Gang. We don’t hear about over-packaging from Amazon that much anymore, perhaps because the Stupid Shipping Gang has all moved on to jobs packaging e-commerce orders at Sears. [More]
Sears Looking To Make More Money Off Its Kenmore, Craftsman Brands, Won’t Say How
By 5.26.16
Sears Holdings has a great idea: instead of relying on sales of washers, dryers, and tools, it’s going to work on a way to make more money from its trusty brands like Kenmore, Craftsman, and DieHard. As for exactly how it’s going to do that, Sears isn’t saying. [More]
What Are Shoppers Buying Since They Aren’t Buying Clothes?
By 5.23.16
It’s bleak out there for a clothing retailer, with sales slumping at many chains, leading some — American Apparel, Aeropostale, Pacsun, among others — to declare bankruptcy. So if we aren’t shopping for items to clad our bodies, what are we shopping for? [More]
Raiders Of The Lost Walmart Uncover Ancient Memory Stick At Sears
By 5.18.16
A “memory stick” sounds like some kind of fascinating tribal artifact, perhaps a staff that elders hold while telling ancient legends. In electronics, of course, it was a revolutionary flash storage device from the late ’90s that made taking digital photos cheaper and easier, eliminating the need to attach a floppy drive to your digital camera. Unless, of course, you’re Sears. [More]
Why Is JCPenney Trying To Be More Like Sears, When So Many Sears Stores Are Closing?
By 5.16.16
In a previous era, JCPenney and Sears competed against each other for sales in just about everything from apparel to appliances to towels and sheets. Gradually, the rivals’ paths diverged somewhat: JCPenney focused on clothing, while Sears lowered its price point to push its core business of tools and appliances. So why, with Sears in the process of closing so many of its stores, is JCPenney once again going head-to-head with its old nemesis by getting back into the appliance game? [More]
Sears Opening Smaller-Format Appliance Stores
By 5.11.16
Even though Sears is constantly adding underperforming stores to its list of closing locations, the once-great retailer isn’t ready for burial just yet. In an effort to focus on one of its core businesses, Sears is thinking small.
Sears Will Close Its Oldest Operating Store, Which Opened In Chicago In 1925
By 5.6.16 — Updated: 1.4.17
Corporate cutbacks mean losing company history, and the next store on Sears Holdings’ closing list is historic: having opened in 1925, it’s the oldest still-operating store in the chain. The store, which is in Chicago’s Ravenswood neighborhood, will begin its liquidation sale in two weeks, on May 19, and will ultimately close in August. [More]
Report: Sears Would Need To Close Nearly Half Its Stores To Succeed
By 4.25.16
While last week’s announced closings of 78 Sears Holdings stores made headlines, the company has been quietly culling retail locations for years. But a new analysis of the department store sector concludes that Sears and other mall mainstays are far from finished with eliminating stores. [More]
Sears Holdings Will Close Additional 68 Kmart Stores, 10 Sears Stores
By 4.22.16
In their recent rounds of store closings, Sears Holdings tried something new: they announced them to the stores’ local news outlets, but didn’t release a nationwide list of stores slated to close. We started compiling our own list based on local news stories and reader tips at the beginning of this year. Late Thursday, Sears Holdings announced an additional 78 store closings, and saved us some work by putting out a national list. Scheduled to close in this round are 65 Kmarts, 3 Super K stores, and ten Sears stores. [More]
Sears Delivers Filthy Oven, Has No Idea Why
By 3.3.16
A woman who loves to bake for her family saved for two years to buy a new built-in convection oven. Sears delivered it, and then she had to wait a few weeks to have it installed. That’s when she discovered a problem: what was supposed to be a new oven was full of baked-on filth and even grime on the glass. Sears says that this shouldn’t be possible, yet somehow it happened. [More]
Sears Loses $580 Million In Last Quarter Of 2015, Still Working On That ‘Transformation’ Thing
By 2.25.16
Earlier this week, we received an email from a reader with a tip for our Sears and Kmart store closings list. We checked it out and learned that her local Sears store was actually staying open, which took her by surprise. “It sure looked like that part of the mall was being taken down,” she wrote, relieved, mirroring many shoppers’ reactions to the continued existence of Sears and Kmart as a company. [More]
Stock Analyst: Sears Is No Longer ‘Viable As A Retailer’
By 2.10.16
You might not realize it when looking at our coverage, but we aren’t cheering for Kmart and Sears, the stores of Sears Holdings, to go out of business. The company’s continued survival is impressive, and sort of a surprise, but one stock analyst thinks that the company won’t survive without doing something drastic. [More]
Sears Holdings To Accelerate, Expand Planned Store Closings
By 2.9.16
The only bit of good news in the most recent financial report from Sears Holdings, parent company of Sears and Kmart, is that the sibling stores had better sales during the holiday season than last year, and not just because they kicked off Christmas in mid-September. Unfortunately, the news isn’t very good other than that: the company is still losing money in its retail business, and plans to speed up its planned store closings. [More]
Why Are So Many People Reporting Kenmore Oven Door Explosions?
By 2.4.16
Let’s start by pointing out the obvious: oven doors are not supposed to explode. They’re supposed to keep hot air in while letting us view the food cooking inside. Yet hundreds of customers with Kenmore ovens have reported shattered doors to retailer Sears, and Sears and the Consumer Products Safety Commission have reacted with a collective shrug. Past one year, issues like this are officially the customer’s problem. [More]
