Forum Post: Sears to Shut as Many as 120 Stores After Holiday Sales Fall
Posted 12 years ago on Dec. 27, 2011, 9:42 a.m. EST by GirlFriday
(17435)
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Yes, Virginia, the economy does suck.
Hmmmm...guess that means that life wasn't as grand as it was made out to be on Black Friday, eh? It is time to start counting,
The brick-and-mortar retail business will continue to decline. All that on-line shopping comes at their expense, and there's not enough business left to support the number of brick-and-mortar players remaining. Sears/K-Mart has simply not done a good job of adapting in the fight for the retail customer.
Who puts Sears or K-Mart at the top in their respective market segment ? What other retailer is worse than they at attracting you into their stores ? Wll-mart skims the low cost consumer off K-Mart, Target grabs the lower middle segment, Macy's has the upper middle, and Nordstrom has the upper end. Best buy has the electronics and durable goods market, Home Depot/Lowe's have the home improvement sector, and a plethora of specialized clothing shops have the apparel market. Each of these brands does a good job of getting their message out to their respective market. Sears/K-Mart is squeezed.
Sears/K-Mart has been living off customer loyalty built before the specialization and on-line shopping trend, and they have been idle while others eroded their base. We must lose some brick-and-retail capacity in response to the on-line shopping trend, and Sears/K-Mart seem deserving.
P.S. Remember Borders? They never did figure out how to respond to Amazon. Barnes and Noble did, and they're hanging on (if by a thread). They'll likely fall to the content bundlers like Apple/Amazon.
Remember Blockbuster ? Caught between franchise loyalty and technology trends they only recently gave up and restructured their business model to compete. Too little, too late. It's not clear they will survive the Amazon/Apple juggernaut either.
That'll teach those "evil rich SOB's". They couldn't figure out "change" and that's what they have left.
Wally World are the "dominators". Yah - selling all that "cheap chinese made disposable junk" to the "job seeking Americans" who continue to wonder - "WHERE ARE THE JOBS"?.
Yep. See my old post at http://occupywallst.org/forum/the-power-of-the-people/ .
Sears and k-mart have been going down for years because people don't shop there. Their stuff sucks and Sears, who used to give credit to anyone, ripping people off with extremely high rates, is no longer the only game in town - competition is killing them. And it should. Look up their history of store credit.
Read the horror stories here. 25 percent interest rate!
www.cardoffers.com/Credit-Card-Commentaries/Sears-Card/
I don't shop at either place. I don't like them. Many years ago, Sears was the place to go when appliances broke down. That changed.
If all those ex-consumers would just go get jobs after they take baths...(sarcasm intended)
Yeah. Tells you exactly where msm is to promote something that you cannot count until it is all over.
Here's a gem from the Bloomberg article that most struck me.
“They are not making the investments in the stores so customers are not coming,” Gary Balter, an analyst with Credit Suisse Group AG in New York, said in a telephone interview today. “There is this philosophy that you don’t need to make as much of an investment in the stores if you have a brand. That has not worked,” said Balter, who rates the shares “underperform.”
Investments in THE STORES Mr. Balter? Does this guy think Sears' closing 120 stores is because of a lack of investment in stores???
If starting a fund drive to buy this guy a clue would help, I'd do it immediately.
Help me Obi Wan Kenobe. You're my only hope.
By "investments in stores," he was likely referring to the need to keep them current and appealing to the shopper. Have you been in a Sears or K-Mart lately ? They both rate on par with Wall-Mart in terms of ambiance and appeal, and their prices aren't as good. See my comment at http://occupywallst.org/forum/sears-to-shut-as-many-as-120-stores-after-holiday-/#comment-541684 .
Rico - I read your post and I would agree that business models need to be almost fluid in order to keep up with changing consumer trends and tastes. I realize I'm a bit of a dinosaur when it comes to shopping, but I think of it mostly as a tactile experience. I want to see and feel the quality of my potential purpose, as opposed to shopping on-line.
I think that what Balter asserts in the Bloomberg article is out of touch in the extreme. He'd do well to make a trip to any Sears store in many parts of Michigan, for one example. He needs to see some of the 25 million who live at or below the poverty level. Those are the customers lost to Sears, not so much those who find other retailers' "shopping experience" more pleasant and rewarding.
Edit: I DO shop at Sears and my reasoning goes thusly: They aren't Wal Mart and they have a program that assists military families.
Economic growth is constrained by physical resources? Huh? WTF?
Sears is closing because it's customers don't have any money to buy their products.
It is not surprising since half of Americans currently earn less than $26,000/year.
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Can you spell CRASH ?
Consumption economy is failing
Or Kmart just gets beat by the trio of WalMart, Target, and Best Buy. I mean have you been in a Kmart lately. They are awful compared to those other 3.
Exactly. This thing is going to go in the tank this winter/spring.
If after all these bailouts, most under reported, and MF still goes bankrupt, and flat out tells people they arent getting all their money back, it should be a warning.
This MF Global thing was exactly like Bear Sterns went under. No one knew, no coverage, and no talk of how such a large institution that deals with money could just go kaput!
The truth will set us free!
If you really want to know why we had the economic meltdown.
Watch the Documentary; Inside Job.
This will without a doubt explain the Occupy & 99% movements as well as the increasing attacks on the Occupy & 99% movements.
Share, circulate, educate and inspire.
http://occupywallst.org/forum/inside-job-documentary/
What is Sears?
Sears started out selling watches and jewelry and then moved into mail order catalogs that sold everything, even houses and cars for a short time. They were also called wish books. Sometime in the 1920s they opened department stores and later on got involved in other crap (insurance, brokerage firm, etc.). Overtime mail order dropped, in large part there is usually a Sears nearby somewhere.
They are now a department store that has refused to update its style and because the delivery, installation and repair is contracted out-completely sucks.
Are you saying sears survived the great depression, but can not survive this one?
yes
What are we calling surviving?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/danforth/2900738474/
http://usahomeandgarden.com/architecture/sears-homes/sears-homes.html
Their difficulties were there long before Black Friday got here. One shopping season was not going to change this. As a small business owner, I find it incredibly stupid to place all your bets on event. The holiday shopping season can become that boost for a nice bonus, but should never be relied on to save your year. Sadly, companies as big as Sears have a very hard time adjusting to current economic conditions. Even more so when trying not to disrupt their workforce that is in place. Small businesses have a much better chance of adjusting to these conditions as long as they have been running in the black and taking baby steps in growth. However, job losses would still be an ultimate result.
Imagine, Sears and others operated within their means with a bigger saving margin in place. If people, did not go out and piss their meager earnings on some much holiday crap. Save then buy.
I know small retail business owners who say that the first 10 months of a calendar year pay the bills and all of their annual profits come from sales occcuring during the holiday season.
Those conditions are true. I work with a lot of those companies. I have to be truthful, though my business does not depend on the Christmas holiday directly, I am very aware that if those companies fell, then my bottom line gets tighter too. I am fortunate to have a strong following and have diversified my niche markets enough that my work stays very consistent through the year. The type of work changes, but the quantity has stayed the same. I just hope that others can maintain the same discipline, so we can all pull out of this together.
That's just about the truth of it. I owned a small retail business for 12 years (Irish gift shop) Christmas as well as St. Patrick's day was what gave us what little profit we made.
I worked at sears when they would never sell an item that wasn't American made. First the imported electronics became accepted, and then the whole product line was infested.
Please tell Sears that I said they can find Sympathy between Shit and Syphilis in most dictionaries.
What about all those people who will now be out of their barely above minimum wage and no benefits jobs?
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As I'm sure we're all well aware, Wal Mart started the ball rolling as far as the making of the modern retail business model which consists of growing the number of retail outlets to such large numbers that it doesn't make it possible to survive as a manufacturer of retail goods without having your products in Wal Marts. Wal Mart then dictates terms and conditions to those manufacturers, which are accepted because of the manufacturer's need to get into Wal Mart. This is where manufacturing in China comes into play. Because of lower manufacturing costs in China, manufacturing jobs are there and not in the US.
Sears has had to compete with Wal Mart. Sears adopted the Wal Mart business model.
A loss of manufacturing jobs caused the economy to spiral downward to the point we are at now.
Sears' having to close stores is more the result of a bad economy than a failure to invest in stores as noted in the Bloomberg article, I think.
Increasing import tariffs by 1.75% per year until we're at the rates of Western Europe and China would minimize effects of inflation (as opposed to an all-at-once increase) and create tax revenue to pay down the national debt. As the tax rate increases further it causes the manufacturing business model to return to one of domestic manufacuring, thereby creating jobs here in the US. NAFTA and CAFTA would also have to be addressed for this to work.
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It's reported that Warren Buffet gives away 80% of his wealth. Likewise Bill Gates. What would you say of them? Please know that I'm not advocating in favor of them or against them, but am simply asking the question.
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Yep more empty real estate, more job seekers, more unemployment, the Great Depression of 2012 is finally beginning....
120 less dumpsters for you to dig meals out of. Well, back to toilet bobbing. People, please be generous and leave the lil lady large tootsie rolls while conserving our planet's dwindling water supply.
Thou bawdy rough-hewn canker-blossom!
I am going to Chicago Cross Jostle you for three additional hours after you start bleeding out your ears. If you so much as wimper or try to stop before I'm done, I'll donkey punch you with a subway train.
Thou dissembling pox-marked malt-horse!
You're worn down and even more haggard from all this being so outclassed and outgunned, aintcha Pooptwat?
Not even close. I am just enjoying how desperate you are for my attention.
Did he just threaten you?
Consistently.
Shut up shim and stay out of our foreplay. You don't own me.
You are being exposed for the Soros paid shill that you are. You post many outright lies as has been confirmed many times by teams of fact checkers.
There will be people coming to talk to you very soon so clean your ears out with some battery acid overnight.
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Your dim bulb wishful thinking connection between Sears and a record-setting Black Friday takes .3 seconds to refute. Shouldn't you call for a boycott or an occupy of something at this point? I recall it was Black Friday, ridiculous. Then it was Christmas, laughable. And so goes the 'movement'. A joke.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/26/idUS51864+26-Nov-2011+PRN20111126
You idiotic fucktwit.
Had you followed the threads that were here on Black Friday they said it was going to be the greatest of all seasons. Blah, blah, blah. I said then and I say now, wait until it is all said and done. You still don't have that full information as it doesn't come out until the 5th. This is the time period that stores are going to make up for losses. Had you read the article and the postings that followed, there isn't any way that Sears is closing this many stores because of the holiday season.
But, you didn't. Because you are a douchebag Koch whore.
Can always count on your classy reply. Let's do a drum circle until you're right, 'k?
Can always count on your ignorant comments. Go fuck yourself. 'k?
What I think you're trying to say here is "Blubba blubba blubba" with your index finger placed horizontally between your lips, yes?
Sounds like the economy is not as rosy as the Obummer admin claims it is, yet they will fudge the unemployment numbers again and his little sheep will again fall for it
I think that during such difficult times, leaders find it necessary to give the masses something positive to cling to. Many do, in fact, find reassurances comforting. All those years ago FDR told the nation "...the only thing we have to fear is fear itself!"