When you’re a company that’s struggling not to lose customers and you’ve been trying to build yourself up to some semblance of your formal glory, everything matters and any negative news isn’t going to help. Sound the pity horn if you have one, because there’s yet more bad news for Sears: One of its suppliers is suing the company, saying Sears would “routinely and deliberately” cancel already placed orders and then refuse to accept delivery or pay up. [More]
tears for sears
Eddie Lampert Blogs Mini-Manifesto About Why Sears Has Shed 200 Stores
By 12.16.14
Americans seem to love and hate their Kmart and Sears stores: our posts linking to unofficial but comprehensive closing lists have been very popular in the last few weeks. Americans apparently love to complain about their Sears Holdings stores, but don’t really want them to go away. Sears Holdings CEO and chief manifesto-writer Eddie Lampert recently took to the company’s blog to explain why the chain is getting rid of up to 200 stores. [More]
Sears Distribution Center In Mississippi Available For Lease, No One Will Say Why
By 12.10.14
Great news if you’re in the market for 800,000 square feet of warehouse space: the owner of the building in Mississippi where Sears houses a distribution center is reportedly quietly marketing the facility. Why? Where is Sears going? The company that owns the building won’t say, and of course neither will Sears. [More]
Sears Holdings Admits Plans To Close 105 More Stores, Won’t Say Which Ones
By 12.5.14
Last week, we shared an updated version of a list naming 109 Kmart and Sears stores reported by employees or local media outlets to be closing by early 2015. While Sears still won’t confirm or deny these reports on a company-wide level, the company did tell investors as part of its quarterly earnings report this week that it plans to close 105 more stores by the beginning of next year. [More]
Where Do People Buy The Stuff They Used To Buy At Sears?
By 11.26.14
Many American consumers have sworn off shopping at Sears and Kmart, their local stores have closed, or they have just forgotten that the chains exist. Business that once went to Kmart now goes to discount store competitors Target and Walmart, logically enough, but where do Americans go for the things that they once bought at Sears? [More]
Report: 109 Sears And Kmart Stores Now Expected To Close By Early 2015
By 11.24.14
There’s more cost-cutting planned at Sears Holdings through the end of this year and the beginning of next year. That news shouldn’t surprise anyone, but the total has increased to 39 Sears stores, and 70 Kmart stores, along with one Sears distribution center, one Kmart distribution center, and three Sears repair centers. [More]
SUV Drives Into Closing Sears Store, Injures No One
By 11.13.14
When a driver lost control of her Lexus SUV in the parking lot of a mall in Solon, Ohio yesterday afternoon, the story could have had a tragic ending. Instead, only the driver sustained minor injuries. While there was property damage to the shopping center, the car ended up inside a Sears Grand department store…one that is scheduled to close before the end of the year. [More]
Sears Holdings Ponders Forming A Real Estate Trust, Selling Stores To It
By 11.7.14
Two things are true about Sears Holdings: the company owns a lot of stores, and those stores are not selling enough merchandise. In order to raise some cash, in the last year the company has spun off its best quality clothing brand, sold shares in its Canadian subsidiary, borrowed money from its CEO, and taken on some roommates. What’s next? Selling some of its stores and leasing them back. [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 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]
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]
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 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]
