topic Sears has 'substantial doubt' that it can survive in Credit in the News

Sears has 'substantial doubt' that it can survive

gdale6 — Thu, 23 Mar 2017 15:55:15 GMT

After years of huge losses and store closings, the future is officially in doubt for Sears and Kmart.

Sears Holdings (SHLD), the holding company for the two iconic retail brands, warned investors late Tuesday that it can't promise it will stay in business.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/22/news/companies/sears-kmart-future/

Re: Sears has 'substantial doubt' that it can survive

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Mar 2017 13:51:05 GMT

*sigh* I've never had credit accounts with either, but both stores were big parts of my life in my younger days from the 1960's through the 1990's. It'll really be a wrench to see two of the most storied names in U.S. marketing disappear, if it actually does happen.

Re: Sears has 'substantial doubt' that it can survive

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Mar 2017 05:59:48 GMT

I recall the "Sear's has everything" motto. I worked for Sears in college one summer. I still love Sears appliances. They were the best brands rebranded as Kennmore. I think the rise of Walmart and dot.com really hurt. The even had Sears catalog stores (franchise) in small towns all over. We even had one here in Smalltown.

Re: Sears has 'substantial doubt' that it can survive

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Mar 2017 09:58:06 GMT

Like Montgomery Wards ... Sears stuck to their old marketing and merchandise and have killed themselves. They were the number one retailer years back. Most unfortunate.

Re: Sears has 'substantial doubt' that it can survive

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Mar 2017 19:06:56 GMT

If they close down some one will buy the name and Kennmore Brand and keep them as an online store.Montgomery Ward is still alive this way. Also Spiegel. I can buy Craftsman tools already at Ace Hardware already. In the 1970's and 1980's they had the Sear's Financial Network which accounted for half of the co profit. It was Allstate Insurance, Discover Card, Dean Witter Reynolds,and Coldwell Banker Real Estate. They suffered from id crisis. What were they Sears the store or Sears Financial Network? I wrote a major paper on this while working on my MBA. Allstate as an insurance co. did very well and a large market share not because of rates but because they had offices in the Sears stores.

Re: Sears has 'substantial doubt' that it can survive

stellar — Sat, 25 Mar 2017 20:11:53 GMT

Another company ruined by poor management. Still sad about Sports Authority lol!

I would've been happy to shop at Sears online if they would've had low prices and free fast shipping like Amazon. Sears website is horrible, so difficult to use and confusing, many products don't even have detailed info.

I mean hey, if you're not going to keep your customer's happy and keep up with your competitors, then you're not smart enough to stay in business.

Re: Sears has 'substantial doubt' that it can survive

Anonymous — Sat, 25 Mar 2017 20:26:56 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
If they close down some one will buy the name and Kennmore Brand and keep them as an online store.Montgomery Ward is still alive this way. Also Spiegel. I can buy Craftsman tools already at Ace Hardware already. In the 1970's and 1980's they had the Sear's Financial Network which accounted for half of the co profit. It was Allstate Insurance, Discover Card, Dean Witter Reynolds,and Coldwell Banker Real Estate. They suffered from id crisis. What were they Sears the store or Sears Financial Network? I wrote a major paper on this while working on my MBA. Allstate as an insurance co. did very well and a large market share not because of rates but because they had offices in the Sears stores.

Sears Holding is exploring the sale of Die Hard Batteries and Kenmore Appliance ... that said creditors and those with investments in Sears are calling foul if Sears try to sell the brands lessing the amount of available cash should a bankruptcy be filed. The bet is Sears needs 2 billion in cash for operations for 2017 and the same for 2018. Since Sears has fallen out of favor with shoppers, creditors do not believe Sears/KMart cannot finish 2017. Maybe it is time for you to do an addendum to your paper as it seems to be an interesting time in Sear's life.

I remember when Mobil Oil purchased Montgomery Wards 1982 and threw in the towel 2000. As you mentioned a catalog for Montgomery Wards and Spiegel still exists. Until you mentioned it, frankly I had forgotten and I bet many other online shoppers forgot too as I never see anything on the two.

Your paper could also add in the death of the Mall Shopping Centers in America due to our move to the internet. I was involved in building a $35 million dollar Outlet Mall and the retailers questioned the viability due to the over malling of America back to 1993+. The Outlet Mall is doing very well with about 120 stores and 300,000 sq. ft.+ but, some of the other malls have dropped out of sight. Some even have been transitioned to other uses or been demolished.

In reading the last few days, loosing anchors stores such as Sears, Macys and the like will make the mall form of life even more difficult. Strip Malls are the wave of the future so I read yet, many of the stores attracted to strip malls are dying at accelerating rate. As you are aware ... we overbuilt Malls and Stores in general so a market shake out was due a long time ago and actually predicted clear back when we built the outlet mall.

Re: Sears has 'substantial doubt' that it can survive

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Apr 2017 03:00:06 GMT

It will be sad to see Sears become an online-only retailer like Montogomery Ward became (If it happens) Kmart was a big part of my life from age 0-8 ish

I would say Montogomery Ward online is just like Fingerhut same overpriced items and same pay in low payments easy credit type of gimmick.

I did not get to see Montogomery Ward before it closed or any other famous retailer(Parisian, McRaes, Thalheimers, etc) but I enjoy reading about them and think it would have been awesome to actually go shopping in a downtown full of busy stores!

Re: Sears has 'substantial doubt' that it can survive

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Apr 2017 04:33:14 GMT

Sears at one point did have price matching. I pricematched several big ticket items. They were my first credit card. Also my parent's first card. They were in my 2006- 2008 cld chase so I closed them. By then they closed the Sears store here in small town. When we did our kitchen I wanted to go with Kennmore but their refrig we liked was 1/4 of an inch to wide.

Re: Sears has 'substantial doubt' that it can survive

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Apr 2017 09:17:59 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Sears at one point did have price matching. I pricematched several big ticket items. They were my first credit card. Also my parent's first card. They were in my 2006- 2008 cld chase so I closed them. By then they closed the Sears store here in small town. When we did our kitchen I wanted to go with Kennmore but their refrig we liked was 1/4 of an inch to wide.

Share some of your memories!

Re: Sears has 'substantial doubt' that it can survive

marty56 — Sat, 08 Apr 2017 13:10:33 GMT

I will never forget as a kid there was a sign around Christmas time in the Sears store on Long Island saying if you paid $3(not sure, so long ago), Santa would give your kid a gift.

Sorry for the people who will loose their jobs but the compay itself should have gone a long time ago.

Re: Sears has 'substantial doubt' that it can survive

grillandwinemaster — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 06:50:54 GMT

My parents bought me my first suit at Sears. It was a navy blue suit back in 1982... It was an old 2 story Sears in El Monte, CA.

That property was converted to the famous Longo Toyota dealership.

Good times...

Re: Sears has 'substantial doubt' that it can survive

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 14:22:24 GMT

@marty56 wrote:
I will never forget as a kid there was a sign around Christmas time in the Sears store on Long Island saying if you paid $3(not sure, so long ago), Santa would give your kid a gift.

Sorry for the people who will loose their jobs but the compay itself should have gone a long time ago.

Share your comments! Sears like Montgomery Wards (I worked there at one time) gave the impression they knew best what we needed for products and what to purchase. As we all know the retail business is ever evolving. Sears still clung to the old ideas they would guide our buying habits. Many who were tolerant to a point finally drifted away and Sears and KMart face the end (most unfortuante). Many on this board are pretty welled schooled in the latest on the retail industry and likely there will be more major shakes revolving around JC Penney's and Macy's possibly Kohl's. Seems retail is moving faster than the big guys. Even Walmart has had to drop back and punt bringing them to e-commerce. The future of Target is unwritten but they will need to stay in snyc with tastes or they will hit the list of dinosaurs. Interesting my title is Dinosaur and I have seen a lot but never anything like is happening today!!!

Re: Sears has 'substantial doubt' that it can survive

gdale6 — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 23:09:13 GMT

@grillandwinemaster wrote:
My parents bought me my first suit at Sears. It was a navy blue suit back in 1982... It was an old 2 story Sears in El Monte, CA.
That property was converted to the famous Longo Toyota dealership.
Good times...

Yup, am from that area know it well.