Neither is the United States for that matter.

I worked part time for Sears Auto Center in the early 90's , and I could have told you back then that they were circling the drain. They hired ANYBODY, no experience required. Take a few tests on the little computer in the back room, and you were a " Cerrified Sears Master Tech" , and could do any service that rolled in the door. It was terrible. The guy who ran the auto center, came from the furniture department, and could not have replaced a battery if his life depended on it.
I never worked with so many schlubs in my life. I was like a hero to them. I had a work ethic, and actually knew what I was doing. I could have owned the place if I wanted to, but was embarrased to say that I worked there. It was good part time extra money for me though. and I could set my own hours.

She was a sociopath. All she did was attempt to make total selfishness a human virtue. Rabidly anti-religion, something her political fans in public office tend to overlook when they trumpet her philosophy. (She was her god.) Carried on several sexual affairs in front of her husband without the slightest care for how it affected him. (See: cuckold.) Ayn Rand is the hero of sociopaths and psychopaths and helped make it possible for them to be accepted into mainstream society. Phil Donahue used to have her on his show and try as he might to reveal any conscience at all in her, she stood firm that selfishness (and thus greed) is the only normal human emotion. Love, compassion, empathy, remorse, guilt--all are meant to restrain and control selfishness and have no place in the Ayn Rand philosophy.

In business, her philosophy can be stated as simply as, "Fu*k'em." If people are hurt by your actions then they had it coming. Fu*k'em. Next victim. No conscience, no remorse. Take the money and run. That's what is happening at Sears.

Ayn Rand writings were Ego Porn.

Sears is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sears_Holdings_Corporation
Not to defend them, but the company was faced with competition in all their core sectors.

Instead of strategically enhancing their best attributes and listening to the customer, they went haywire: Tools made in China to try to compete with HF/Kobalt, poor quality merchandise, going online-only to compete with Amazon(LOL), a crappy .db system and using old computers just like Borders, parts and delivery were a mess, encouraging inter-department fighting, poor employee environment with no incentives, no focus at all, etc.
These are all pure top-level management mistakes.
Central command abandoned their physical stores with its customer foot traffic long ago.

Who is at the top? Corporate Evil: Sears & Kmart connected to Romney’s Bain Capital! Bain Capital working with Carlyle Group! | Blind Bat News

My dad's good friend worked his way up the Sears ladder from dock worker to regional manager. He was a hell of manager too. He retired about 7-8 years ago when he finally realized the was no turn around coming. He always says Sears was very good to him...WAS very good to him.

Target made a political stand, when you do that, you effect your customer base, similar to the up-roar over hobby-lobby or chic fil a.

I do not think the security breach with target helped much either.

I also think other stores caught on to what made target tick. (Reverse engineering customers data to specifically market to people.)

The sears near here is in the shopping mall of doom. I stay away from there if I can. Its a great way to get your 944 turned into a smaller 944.

Sears' imminent death will make way for better retailers.

If only the legacy domestic auto makers had been allowed to die and be replaced, we'd probably be better off there too.

FWIW - 'Tarzhay' (Target) & Sony are 'pullin-the-pin' here & the Sears death spiral has been evident for a number of years now - Oh well - as long as Pelican & its forums survive - I'll be OK as the magic coffee is tasting pretty good right now.

Cheers
JB

The only thing that will be missed from Sears will be Craftsman tools - and maybe Kenmore appliances (are they made by Whirlpool?).

With any luck, Craftsman will be sold off/licensed and maybe the new owner will bring them back on-shore.

Whirlpool and GE mostly. I think it's been that way since about 2006, maybe longer.

Just curious on any suggestions people here may have on how to save Sears.

I don't think you can just change the current business model and suddenly revive sales. Prices seemed to have dropped at Sears but the local store was still empty over the holidays. The local Sears always seems dirty and dingy. Most of the people working there are friendly but you normally have to drag them away from a conversation with another employee to get them to locate something or ring up your sale.

JCPenny's tried to re-brand itself as JCP (similar to GAP) and did away with sales. Prices always seemed higher and the stores started to resemble the GAP. They recently changed back to the old ways with sales and discounts. (JCP stock price was around $40 in 2011 and is closer to $8 today.)

Is it a change in consumer culture or something else?

I think they generally are found in troubled locations. Indoor malls that have been in a slow, decade or longer decline. They need to go where people are and want too go. That probably means downsizing a little and moving out to strip malls.

I inherited a bunch of C'man wrenches when my Dad passed away. I still use them and they are SOLID tools. The new stuff not as good. IF C'man is sold off you just know it'll be to a cut rate,don't care about quality owner.

Maybe he was the manager?

It has probably reached the point that every day of continued operation just takes value from shareholders. It should probably shut down and be liquidated, returning what it can to shareholders. The company simply has too much baggage to change directions, let a lone innovate.

Could you use more Cliches? Obviously you've never been to Aus.

They were the everything-store long before Walmart.

Their auto service/batteries/USA tools were something I always liked.
Adding fasteners and all parts .db system(walk in and they will find and order it for you) and they could go against Ace some of the auto supply places. One stop shopping.

Make better Kenmore products/equipment and offer longer and better warrantees. If they know they sold a junk product, then give something back to the customer such as discount towards the next purchase. Customer loyalty tracking should affect this heavily and repeat customers should be heavily rewarded. CC's do points, airlines do mileage, and Sears could do colored percentage-off levels or partner with other company(such as a coffee card for purchases over $50).

Overhaul management and employees and get people working together again, to give customers answers. Big time.

Get rid of (or expand) clothing, furniture, or other peripheral departments which aren't part of their core moneymaker. Maybe expand camping or outdoor gear and massage chairs. I don't know the numbers or the business. Maybe these are for the honey which bring in the flies(males).

The buildings seem dirty, cold, sterile and run down at this point. Everything there can be bought individually in other places. Add lazy staff who don't know anything, waiting and waiting and waiting around, and it just sours the entire experience.
Shopping should be fun. They rode on a loyal customer base for a long time and could possibly bring that back with a major overhaul and "we want you back" campaign.

That's how they wring all the cash out of the business. Bleed it dry and then shut it down. The top few will pocket the cash and a great American brand will be dead. Yeah, sometimes it's inevitable but in Sears' case it wasn't. Creative destruction is what they call it in polite company. Create wealth for a few while destroying it for everyone else.

I once bought a Kenmore vacuum with a 3 year warentee. The roller froze up literally two days after it expired. Drove across town and went in.
1). They didn't have the outdated belt in stock and couldn't order it. They wouldn't even bother to find it at a different store.
2). I couldn't just pay cash and special order the $25 roller to pick it up there, or even have it mailed to my home. I had to order online. But couldn't in the store.
3). The online registration was completely intrusive with personal information and a major hassle.

In the end it would have been easier to buy a new vaccuum down the block at ABC Warehouse.