This year, Kmart is sticking with its dubious tradition and opening on Thanksgiving Day. Like last year, they’re opening at 6 A.M., and will keep the doors open for 42 consecutive hours until midnight on Saturday. Maybe if they keep the doors open for that long, someone will wander in. [More]
sears
Sears Holds Appliance Sale, Redefines The Word ‘All’
By 11.3.14
In recent weeks, Sears has had some really great appliance sales, trying to drum up some business. That’s great news for Sears and for anyone who needs a new dishwasher, but confusing news for consumers who took last week’s ad literally. It offered an additional 15% off “all appliances” for customers who used their Sears credit cards, which some customers naively thought meant all appliances. [More]
Kmart And Sears Closing List Keeps Growing, Now Includes Distribution And Repair Centers
By 10.27.14
When representatives of Sears Holdings argued that a recent national store closings list compiled by financial information site Seeking Alpha was inaccurate, maybe what they meant was that the list was incomplete. Since then, the list has grown. Depending on whether you choose to count Sears and Sears Auto stores closing at the same time as separate units or not, either 99 or 131 stores will close, in addition to a Nevada distribution center and an Ohio repair facility. [More]
Sears Says Reports Of Planned Store Closings Are Wrong, Won’t Elaborate
By 10.23.14
Sears Holdings wants you to know that the rumors of planned store closings by the end of this year are wrong. After a report earlier today put together information from local media reports about which Sears, Sears Auto, and Kmart locations are currently scheduled to close, Sears representatives reached out to major outlets like USA Today and the Chicago Tribune to explain that the reports were incorrect. [More]
Sears And Kmart Will Close 78 Stores By End Of 2014
By 10.23.14
Sears Holdings, the parent company of Sears and Kmart, needs to lose less money. Their current plan includes closing underperforming stores, renting out vacant space, and borrowing money from its manifesto-writing CEO. These are all very sensible things to do, but will they be enough to save Sears? [More]
Sears Inventory Clerk Accused Of Stealing $2.6 Million In Merchandise
By 10.21.14
If Sears wants to lose slightly less money in the last quarter of 2014, maybe the company needs to check its employees’ metaphorical pockets. For example, there was the employee in a New Jersey distribution center who was recently arrested and accused of stealing merchandise worth $2.3 million, with a retail value of $3.7 million, and selling or bartering the merchandise to people in multiple states. [More]
Sears Apologizes For Selling Swastika Rings In Online Marketplace
By 10.14.14
After a third-party listing for a men’s “Thai silver Swastika ring” popped up on Sears’ online Marketplace, the company has pulled the “punk rock style” jewelry and has been busy apologizing to upset customers for selling it in the first place. [More]
Suppliers Are Concerned That Sears Can’t Pay Its Bills
By 10.6.14
The holiday season is crucial for American retailers, and Sears is trying to make sure that they actually have some merchandise on the shelves in case any customers wander in on their way to another store from the vast, empty parking lot. Filling those shelves will be harder: there are reports that suppliers have less confidence in Sears’ ability to pay its bills than they used to. [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 Promises 5-Minute Returns And Exchanges Without Leaving Your Car
By 9.18.14
Sears is expanding the number of in-person services that they offer to customers who are horrified at the prospect of walking into a Sears. Now you can perform in-person returns and exchanges at your local store, but without getting out of your car. What kind of wizardry is this? It’s the department store chain’s new bid to win over customers with ease and convenience. [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 Continues Retail Death Spiral, Still Sells A Few Useful Things
By 8.21.14
For the ninth quarter in a row, Sears Holdings Corporation has lost money. Even as the company closes stores, rents out remaining stores, and tries desperate moves like opening early on Thanksgiving Day and making fun of itself in its own ads, the company continues to sell itself for parts in a sad retail death spiral. Yet is there anything that you should consider buying at Sears while it still exists? Are Americans who sneer at Sears missing out? Maybe. [More]
Police Hunting For Man Who Stole 9 Lawnmowers From Sears… One Mower At A Time
By 7.29.14
When I first heard about a man wanted in Alabama for allegedly stealing nine lawnmowers from a Sears store, I assumed he’d swiped all the mowers at once with the aid of a truck or moving van. But no, this mower thief had the idiotic bravery to steal the nine mowers one at a time… in the backseat of his sedan. [More]
Sears Ships Tiny Wrench To Store In Giant Box
By 7.15.14
You would think that when ordering an item online for in-store pickup, a retailer would package the item in an efficient way, perhaps putting it in a box with other tools being shipped to the store. No. Not at Victor’s local Sears. [More]
Walmart, Amazon, & Sears Pull Poster Featuring Concentration Camp Sign
By 7.9.14
Oh, those troublesome third-party vendors: In yet another example of why it’s smart to keep the corporate eye on what products you’re shilling, Walmart, Sears, Amazon and other retailers have quickly moved to pull a poster that features a sign from Nazi Germany’s Dachau concentration camp. Yes, that was really for sale. [More]
Pretty Much Every Sears And Kmart Store Is For Rent Right Now
By 6.29.14
Sears Holdings Corporation, the company that runs Sears and Kmart, has a problem. They have a lot of real estate, and not enough sales to keep all of that real estate busy. One solution is to close stores as they underperform or as their leases expire, which is what the company has been doing. Another solution? Rent out that space. For the right customer, virtually every Sears and Kmart store is up for grabs. [More]
Sears Reminds Customers: Only 199 Shopping Days Until Christmas
By 6.9.14
Reader Andy sent us this e-mail he received from Sears as an example of Christmas Creep. He was confused that the retailer has already started its holiday marketing. A look through the Consumerist archives leads to a different perspective. It indicates that maybe Sears has figured out when the major gift-giving holidays actually are. [More]
