AaronHernandez

So sad,I have so many fond memories growing up in the 90's when this was the anchor store. Sears was the go to place as the store you walk through to get to the other stores when it's raining or super hot outside

Josh-da-man

My memories of Sears mostly revolve around the Christmas catalogs when I was a kid.

Growing up in Podunk, Kansas, the only toys I ever saw were the picked over selection at twenty miles away at Alco and K-Mart. If you wanted cool shit, you had to order from Sears or JCPenney.

http://www.wishbookweb.com/the-catalogs/

BobO'Link

Yeah... the day the Wishbook came in the mail was a great day for us kids in the boonies. I remember when it became a rather small booklet when my kids were little and the local store reduced the toy section to a couple of very short isles off hardware. It was a sad day.

mspmms

Groucho

Funny cartoon, but I don't think it was entirely Amazon. I don't think I've seen Sears do anything to improve or compete in over 20 years.

Noonan

I'd say Target & Walmart have more to do with Sears troubles than Amazon. Plus, as Groucho mentioned, they haven't done a damn thing to stay relevant in decades.

thetao

I'd put K-Mart in the same category. We know what Wal-Mart and Target stand for, but Sears and K-Mart have long been in search of an image. They just...exist. And with Sears having sold off Craftsman, they have that much less relevance. The last Sears Catalog was released in 1993, and while there wasn't much of an Internet then, they never thought to try replacing it with anything. If Sears had jumped on the Internet bandwagon early, today they could have been Amazon. I remember hearing somewhere a few years ago that the K-Mart (or Sears?) CEO was "a good numbers guy". They didn't need someone good at cutting costs, but someone with SALES EXPERIENCE who could introduce new and innovative ideas and re-brand the chain. Locally, we still have our Sears and there are still four K-Marts within driving distance, but the two closest to the city (where Wal-Mart set up next door) are gone, and the larger landscape is bleaker. At this point they're in such a deep hole that I don't know how they're going to climb out.

Oh, and in checking the last Sears Catalog, ironically the first Google hit was...Amazon.

PhantomStranger

JC Penney is very likely to go bankrupt in Q1 of 2019 unless they have a phenomenal Christmas.

Josh-da-man

Back in the day Sears was like the man store/catalog with an emphasis on tools and electronics, and JCPenney was the woman store/catalog with towels and clothes.

Hence the big marketing push about the “softer side of Sears.”

While Amazon didn’t do them any favors, Walmart moving into rural America in the late 80s and early 90s really ate them alive, because, all of a sudden people out in the sticks could just go into a store and buy all of the stuff they previously had to order from catalogs.

lwhy?

Thanks for posting that link. I spent an hour reminiscing and clicking through the 1991 wishbook.

rw2516

And in the cities people were abandoning Sears because they didn't carry brand name items.. Every single item in a Sears store was Sears brand. Sears shoes, Sears jeans, Sears vcr, etc.
The first move they did to counter this was "Electric Avenue". They let Sony, Pioneer, etc. products in. People no longer wanted a Sears brand stereo system.
Later they added Levi's, Calvin Klein, etc.
Instead of using the Sears brand they gave each product line it's own name. Sears jeans became something like "Rustler" or whatever. Sears boots were re-branded something like "Wildcat" or whatever.

My dad worked for Sears 25 years. Auto mechanic. This was an old style downtown city store. Not suburb mall store. As a kid I'd hoof it downtown to see a movie, then walk to the Sears store to get a ride home with dad when he got off work.

Back then every Sears had a candy counter. Various candies and nuts in glass cases. Priced by the pound. Tell them want you want and it would be weighed out on a scale. Also had caramel corn.
My favorite Sears memory is the smell of the candy and caramel corn. It hit you the moment you walked in the door.

Every store had a lunch counter also. Hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled cheese, fries.

Bluelitespecial

My memories of Kmart and Sears are similar but very different. The Kmart opened in my town about around 1988. I'd always get to shop there with my mom when I was younger, and of course I worked at the store close to home for a very long time. The Sears use to be the anchor store in the Metcalf South Mall in Overland Park, KS. I remember going there many times during the Christmas season for shopping, and the mall was torn down last year. The store closed in the fall last year as well. I don't remember a lunch counter in Sears, but we did have a restaurant in my old Kmart.

rw2516

I lived in Grandview from 1979-84. Would go to Metcalf South until Bannister Mall opened.
The Sears store had a lunch counter back then. All of the stores got rid of them at some point.
The Sears at Independence Center never had a lunch counter.

All the discount stores like K-Mart, Target, Venture, Turnstyle, Spartan's and Woolworth were around when I was a kid but never seemed to hurt the department stores.
I remember when department stores like Sears, Penny's, Macy's, Montgomery Ward, Dillard's, Jones Store were always closed on Sundays and the discount stores like Target and K-Mart would be packed on Sundays.

Bluelitespecial

I liked Metcalf South much better than Oak Park Mall. It had more history and a lot more character. I never went to Bannister Mall.

jpcamb

another 40 stores closing

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/08/busin...res/index.html

fujishig

Ironically, Amazon sent me a physical toy catalog the other week, like an old school callback. No prices of course, because they change prices on amazon on a whim. And only toys, so they omitted probably the most perused section of the old Sears catalog, at least by young boys.

Abob Teff

The last K-Mart in Springfield is closing. They said on the radio that it is one of the longest continually operating K-Mart stores. It opened in 1963.

zyzzle

Amazon keeps killing 'em off like flies. Evil, evil abomination -- Amazon is doing such harm to local communities. Nothing local anymore.

Why So Blu?

Sears is whack. I haven't stepped into one since like 2002.

Bluelitespecial

I'll bet it still looked like 1963 when you walked in the store.

Abob Teff

Other than the photo studio is now a Little Caesar's Pizza ... I wasn't around in 1963, but I would say it couldn't have looked very different.

I won't say that Amazon played NO role ... but I think a significant part of downfall of Sears and K-Mart was the fact that they never updated their stores. They had NO shopping appeal whatsoever.

Then again, I can't think of any large stores that do have shopping appeal to me. On a related note, our Walmarts around here have been getting a facelift. I have to say it is a MASSIVE step backwards. They ripped up all the tiling from the floors. In the clothing area they put down "wood" floors which is OK, but in the grocery sections they simply waxed over the nasty-ass marked up concrete. It looks like shit.

Bluelitespecial

Well the its supposed to be a make or break holiday season for Sears. Does anyone know if they'll have any deals on Black Friday? Also Sears is seeking a court approval to give out $19 million of bonuses to its top executives.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/16/busin...ses/index.html

Sonic

I can't remember the last time I bought something good in Sears. I know I would complain how prices are so high. It's not JCPenny where I can find great deals.

KMart is another piece of shit business.

Nick Danger

K-Mart is the same business. They bought Sears decades ago.

Bluelitespecial

Kmart acquired Sears in 2005.