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From the very moment that news broke about K-Mart's owner buying and purchasing SEAR's Roebuck and Company I felt that the death Nell was sounding for all SEAR's stores.  This was a man that either had good intentions but little to no experience or knowledge in making retail work.  Not only was SEAR's suffering from online competition but SEAR's suffered from it's own self inflicted problems brought on by decisions that were made in order to try and compete with Online and emerging retail trends such as open malls etc.   

SEAR's was failing due to many things such as reduced "motivated and experienced" workforce meaning much fewer number of employees to help customers.  SEAR's was also, mostly, located in Enclosed Malls that themselves were seeing unprecedented declines in the American retail market and Sears as one of the anchor stores was tied to the same sinking ship at a time when Sears was being hit on multiple fronts.  

Now the only question, surrounding Sears and K-Mart is how long till they enter total obscurity and become only a memory.  K-Mart will always be a story about how they failed to compete against WalMart.  WalMart, starting out, was always smaller with less inventory than K-Mart who was everywhere and growing what with their unannounced "blue-light" savings specials that often brought people in to shop.  Walmart knew they were smaller and fighting for market share but they competed in areas that K-Mart was grossly deficient in. 

Walmart's customer service was exceptional and their return policy was such that they would take back anything for any reason.  It was so liberal that it was abused often but it brought in customers who felt better about buying form WalMart where they could return what they got for whatever reason, than their aggravation from dealing with K-Mart's stingy return policy and dealing with their countless numbers of rude and non-caring employees.  Then WalMart made the decision to build, construct, and open Supercenters where multiple shopping needs could be accomplished with one trip to one store.  

Ironically, today, WalMart, from it's lofty position on top of the hill, is facing similar threats from online but also from a much growing number of much smaller stores such as Dollar Tree and specifically Dollar General stores.  Dollar General Stores is attempting to knock off the big guy (WalMart) with huge numbers of stores such that people can make a short, quick, trip, have great parking options and be able to get in and get out quick with what they want.  

K-Mart, and Sear's by association, was destined to fail and close because they had no one in leadership or ownership with any clue as how to succeed in the Retail market.  Obstacles became permanent blocks to business due to the owner not caring or knowing about how the retail market works and why Sear's was so successful for years.  

It's sad to see so many employees lose their jobs and sadder to see such a major established company, like Sears, to fall on such hard times.  As one anchor store of most malls Sear's was unable to help slow the demise of the traditional enclosed shopping mall but rather could be said to potentially contribute to the demise that many feel was eventual.

Be as the Bereans ( Acts 17:11 )

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Yep..When Kmart bought out Sears, you had to ask yourself. What!! You got to be Kidding? Kmart was a looser type of retail brand & terrible customer service. WalMart was the new kid on the block in 1982. I hated to have to deal with having to take something back to Kmart for a refund for faulty product. Products were junk and did not hold up over time.  Whereas, the Sears Brands were known for Quality long lasting products & service. Kenmore, Craftsman, Diehard, etc.

It is what it is. The longest running corporate liquidation in history. CEO Eddie Lampert has steered the selling of assets to offset it liabilities, to the point there is not much value left, to pay future debt. As Sears Holding Corp. sold Craftsman Brand last year for 900 million. (remaining cash reserve of $466M) They only have two Brands left to sell, Kenmore & Diehard. I think the Kenmore brand is loosing fans as repeat buyers, due to fact that Whirlpool makes the brand & is easily bought at many other retailers. Plus, fewer Sears locations remaining to Sell & Honor service work. More specifically, to help you when you walk into Sears and speak to a representative to discuss your issue with your Kenmore product needing repair...(Which rarely happen to our Kenmore washers & dryers)

Selling the real estate properties have been underway for a number of years. While some of the remaining stores are still profitable, a few locations are being leased from Eddie Lampert. (The Liquidator)

The Evidence: Sears Holdings (NASDAQ:SHLD) reports comparable sales fell off 12% inQ1, while total sales were down 31% as the company continues to shed business lines. https://seekingalpha.com/news/...er-ebitda-loss-sears

Nov 1, 2013 - Sears Stock was almost $48 bucks & as of Fridays close, $2.28. 

The End is Near..across 29 states, another 63 Sears & Kmart Store Closings in 2018 were announced. Liquidation sales begin June 14 at the locations closing, similar to Florence & Muscle Shoals locations. None were in Alabama.

River Runner, reading your post/reply mentioning about going into Sear's appliance department shopping around brought back memories and something I failed to mention.  Sear's, at least the Sear's of the past, would make sure they had experienced, knowledgeable sales people who could actually answer questions you had to ask about the department they worked in.  They almost had specialist or at least sales people who were knowledgeable about  their area of sales and the products that they had in that area.

One of the first downward spirals that I noticed was with respect to the Craftsman tools and it's "lifetime" warranty.   I had a "Craftsman" tool that failed due to defective part and when I returned it for replacement the sales person didn't pull a new one off the shelf and hand it to me in exchange for the defective part/tool but they brought out, from under the counter, a small tool box with lots of small parts and various diverse parts and there before me attempted to repair the tool.  It wasn't replace with a new tool anymore it was repair if at all possible, not a good omen for things to come.

Sadly online buying is hurting local areas across the country.  Local governments think the answer is raise taxes, which then hurts them more. Sure They can push for online to be taxed. However take Florence, the buying population is 6 times its population?  People that would come into Florence can buy on line for 8% cheaper.     As far as Sears, and Kmart it has already been said their stores were run down and poor service.  

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