One by one the icons fall

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

Concur.

In my part of the world there is a move away from the big box stores to smaller, more locally focused inventory businesses: True Value, for instance, knows their customer base extremely well, is 1/10th the size of a Lowes and is always packed.

Just a better shopping experience with very helpful floor folks.

The Dollar General model seems to flourish here as well...small, well stocked stores that are convenient to the customer base.

WAWA is another example. I did my undergraduate economics thesis on convenience stores - circa 1980!

WAWA has simply destroyed the 7-11's of this area.

Same. I like to think of it as tactical shopping vs strategic.. Ace Hardware is big around here and always packed, get in and get out in 5 minutes. All of the recent retail built has been more of the targeted boutique type stores vs the big box general sales model. DSW Shoes vs Dillard’s for instance. Much like malls I think people are tired of wandering aimlessly through millions of square feet to purchase a single item.

[GH85Carrera]

Long ago one of my photographer buddies was a big wig at the Sears Catalog photography department. He mentioned the catalogs were scaling back and in 1993 the catalog was gone. I was glad I did not go to work for him back then. If Sears had just been smart enough to keep all those employees around and just changed to Internet sales and made a Amazon like presence, they would be growing like Amazon. They already had the distribution and products, but management was locked in the the "we have always done it this way" brain set, and the world moved on.

[Por_sha911]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

I don’t think the latest management’s goal was to make the company successful. They wanted to tear it down for the purpose of transfering as many of the company’s assets to their own pockets as possible. Sears didn’t die because of management’s incompetence, it was killed for the benefit of its owners. It’s a get rich scheme that’s been going on for many years. One example is well documented in a book entitled “Glass Houses.”

Your bitterness is a little overblown.
I'm not disputing the looting but it only began when the company had one foot in the grave and another on a banana peel. No one sells a healthy profitable business to an investment or private equity firm when all is well. They do it out of desperation. The buyers then begin to do whatever it takes to turn a profit out of a loser.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by Por_sha911

Your bitterness is a little overblown.
I'm not disputing the looting but it only began when the company had one foot in the grave and another on a banana peel. No one sells a healthy profitable business to an investment or private equity firm when all is well. They do it out of desperation. The buyers then begin to do whatever it takes to turn a profit out of a loser.

I don't think it's overblown at all.

No one sells a healthy profitable business to an investment or private equity firm when all is well.

This simply isn't true.

[Por_sha911]

OK, give me a few examples (large business, not mom and pops that retired).

[onewhippedpuppy]

Sears was already circling the drain when it was sold to current ownership, whose publicly stated plan was to sell off the valuable brands and real estate then liquidate the remainder of the assets. The past few years have simply been the time required to execute that plan. There has been no plan to save Sears under current ownership, it was simply on life support while the organs were harvested.

[Alan A]

Originally Posted by Por_sha911

Your bitterness is a little overblown.
I'm not disputing the looting but it only began when the company had one foot in the grave and another on a banana peel. No one sells a healthy profitable business to an investment or private equity firm when all is well. They do it out of desperation. The buyers then begin to do whatever it takes to turn a profit out of a loser.

Marketo?

Was profitable and healthy before it was sold to PE.
Adobe done F’d up the first go round.

[lendaddy]

Carving and looting healthy companies certainly happens but no one here is claiming that was the case with Sears are they?

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by lendaddy

Carving and looting healthy companies certainly happens but no one here is claiming that was the case with Sears are they?

Anyone who claims otherwise must live on a different planet than I have....the "sellout" part. I lived it during most of my corporate career...from banking to the one they made a movie about (KKR/LBOs)...and watched the demise of the whole furniture industry too .

[Dantilla]

Originally Posted by madcorgi

I would not be surprised to see one of the Big Three go under, due to their move to trucks, especially if we have any kind of real or imagined oil shortage. Ford and Chevy are pretty much ending as car manufacturers who build trucks, and becoming truck manufacturers who build cars.

I don't think they have intentionally moved to trucks as much as they have responded to supply and demand. People are buying trucks. The big three have offered a full line up of cars, but trucks are the big sellers. Either build trucks, or have a bunch of small cars sitting on the lot while customers go elsewhere.

A few decades ago, dad went to the car dealership and bought a vehicle that would haul the family and tow the boat to the lake cabin on weekends. It was called an "Impala" or "LTD", had a V-8 and a full-perimeter frame with towing capacity.

Today, dad goes to the car dealership and buys a vehicle capable of hauling the family and towing the boat to the lake cabin on weekends. It's now called "F-150" or "Silverado", and has a V-8 and full-perimeter frame with towing capacity.

Average cars today have unibody construction and front-wheel-drive. Fine for commuting to work and back, and a couple bags of groceries. Unless one has multiple vehicles, the trucks and SUVs are the ones that can cover all the needs.

Any business must have what people want to buy. The problem with automakers is the long time and expense required to change the lineup. If people quit buying trucks, they will be caught with their pants down. Again.
But if they weren't building trucks now, they would already be without their pants.

[widebody911]

Either build trucks, or have a bunch of small cars sitting on the lot while customers go elsewhere.

Customers wanted small cars, just not the Scheiße that Detroit was barfing onto the lots. Honda, Toyota, Datsun, et al were eating their lunch in this segment. Truck sales were protected by tariffs, or they would have suffered as well.

[sugarwood]

I have not set foot in a mall for 15 years.
The only exception is to get food, when I am at the nearby library.

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Same. I like to think of it as tactical shopping vs strategic.. Ace Hardware is big around here and always packed, get in and get out in 5 minutes. All of the recent retail built has been more of the targeted boutique type stores vs the big box general sales model. DSW Shoes vs Dillard’s for instance. Much like malls I think people are tired of wandering aimlessly through millions of square feet to purchase a single item.

+1. Our local ACE doubled down when Home Depot came into town. Well, 6 miles away into town. But they hung on and we locals still make them our first stop.

[Danimal16]

We have the same thing here, an ACE in Moorpark and Fulkerson's hardware in Somis (a legend). My younger neighbors are now taking up the DIY thing. They come to me for tools and they get some pretty darn good advice at the local HW Stores, mostly regarding other sources of help from the local community.

When I look at all of the retail stores that are going by the wayside, I think of how my parents and my grand parents world was pretty stable during those days. Change has accelerated in our current world, and the boomer generation is merely the witness to the transition from old to the new world.

[GH85Carrera]

Back in the "Leave it to Beaver" era where I was raised...........

We moved to San Marcos, TX in 1963 and it was a rental. Dad wanted to repair some areas of paint that needed attention in the living room and one bedroom. He went to the local hardware store and the man at the store asked the address, and instantly said, Oh that living room has this brand and color on the wall, and the bedroom would be this. Of course, he was right. No computers, not special mixes, just an old man with a good business.

When I finally bought my first house here in Oklahoma City I went to a local hardware - lumber yard. Old school, with bins on nails, and lots of old grey haired men that hung out there for the free coffee and donuts. They were all retired tradesmen, and I wish I still had access to that knowledge base. ANY home repair question I ever had, they knew a way to do it. My house was built in 1950. Not one item was standard to the way it was done when I moved it. It had lead pipe drains, and faucets that were nothing like what was sold then. Those guys could show me how to rebuild a faucet with or-rings and seals of the day, and make it work perfect, and fit back in place. If I needed a real tradesman, they would give me a number and tell me to tell the guy I call, tell him Fred gave you the number. I would get the buddy treatment.

[Fly Mach .86]

It looks like in the future, the only two left standing will be Walmart and Amazon. Amazon by the way is buying their own airplanes and I expect that soon (if not already) they will have their own airline certificate.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by widebody911

Either build trucks, or have a bunch of small cars sitting on the lot while customers go elsewhere.

Customers wanted small cars, just not the Scheiße that Detroit was barfing onto the lots. Honda, Toyota, Datsun, et al were eating their lunch in this segment. Truck sales were protected by tariffs, or they would have suffered as well.

You do realize it's 2019, not 1979, right? The shift to trucks and SUVs is being followed by everyone, including the import automakers. Ford in particular was actually building some damn good cars, I would quickly grab a Fusion over a Camry in the rental car aisle. At the moment customers simply don't want cars, and if you don't build what your customers want you won't be in business for very long.

Originally Posted by Fly Mach .86

It looks like in the future, the only two left standing will be Walmart and Amazon. Amazon by the way is buying their own airplanes and I expect that soon (if not already) they will have their own airline certificate.

They already have Prime Air, I saw one of their planes at SEA last month. They also have their own over the road trucks and local delivery drivers in cities where they offer same day delivery.

[slow&rusty]

And just a few days ago Ford just announced they will NO LONGER be building any cars except the Mustang...their focus will be trucks and SUVs....no more Taurus, Fusion, Fiesta, Focus etc etc...amazing

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

You do realize it's 2019, not 1979, right? The shift to trucks and SUVs is being followed by everyone, including the import automakers.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

You do realize it's 2019, not 1979, right? The shift to trucks and SUVs is being followed by everyone, including the import automakers.

However this chart seems to bear out the migration to larger vehicles